In this article, the author discusses Experiential Education and Liberal Learning. This topic has been on the mind of the author ever since he graduated from a liberal arts college many years ago and began his first real job, whereupon he discovered how much he did not know about putting his ideas to effective use in the world beyond academia. In…

The learning goals of a well-designed course in the liberal arts include not only the imparting of knowledge but also the development of critical thinking and disciplinary expertise. A class on Luther can help students acquire those intellectual skills associated with the discipline of history and the liberal arts more generally as they consider…

In this article, the author analyzes three common strands of current thought about education and the Internet. First is the idea that the instant availability of information online makes the memorization of facts unnecessary or less necessary. Second is the celebration of the virtues of collaborative learning as superior to outmoded individual…

Although high-needs schools rarely provide extensive scaffolding for beginning educators, liberal arts colleges that are committed to the moral and intellectual development of teachers can serve a pivotal role in helping their candidates choose such schools and commit to serving in them for the long term. This article describes ways in which…

Scholars contend that the college curriculum is increasingly politicized and trivialized in the name of diversity. Students are taught that Western culture is tainted by racism, sexism, and oppression, and the belief that liberal education can transcend differences and provide help in leading a moral life is being lost. (MSE)

The purpose of the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching is to recognize and enhance teaching as an art and as a profession, by providing career school teachers with opportunities to study advanced topics in the sciences, arts, and humanities, to engage in informed discourse, and otherwise to pursue scholarly interest. The Center…

At St. John's College campuses in New Mexico and Maryland, teachers and other professionals attending the Graduate Institute in Liberal Education explore new ways of understanding classical works in politics, literature, philosophy, and the sciences and discuss how these are relevant to their lives. (MJL)

A University of Maryland program of required upper-level undergraduate courses designed to foster intellectual maturity consists of a selection of general education courses reflecting the interests of individual faculty members and using more sophisticated intellectual skills than most distribution courses. (MSE)

Suggests that the perspectives developed by humanities as part of education in science, technology, and medicine can offer enrichment in ways that lead to both use and delight. Sketches some activities at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (ICSTM) in London concerned with liberal education and describes some of the…

This discussion on the merits of requiring four years of general education studies for prospective teachers focuses on the philosophical ingredients of liberal arts courses. One, perennialism, advocates students learning content from great minds of the past. The other, essentialism, emphasizes that basic subject matter can be identified and taught…

In response to an emerging anti-intellectualism on campus, Saint Lawrence University (New York) instituted an interdisciplinary first-year course built around themes of community and identity. The effort is designed to stimulate intellectual development, bring faculty and students into closer contact, and blend academics and student life. (MSE)

A study was done to examine the impact of two different models of liberal education on students at Miami University (Ohio). Students enrolled in two general/liberal education programs completed a wide-ranging battery of instruments to assess the impact which their educational experiences had on their intellectual and personal development. The…

Eckerd College's Academy of Senior Professionals brings together retired and semi-retired high-achieving professionals for continuing intellectual and cultural stimulation and to work singly or in groups on projects of personal and social significance. The program includes lectures, colloquia, forums, social and recreational events, and individual…

The rising popularity of career-oriented courses presents a new challenge to the concept of liberal education; however, evidence shows that a liberal education provides the versatility and adaptiveness vital to a modern executive. Visits to 20 liberal arts colleges with strong career emphases in their programs are described. (MLW)

The debate over teaching the "canon," a collection of great books authored by Homer, Plato, Shakespeare, Kant, Darwin, and others that has traditionally represented the Western intellectual tradition, as a core of the college curriculum, is examined. Discussion begins with a description of how the canon has been taught from ancient…