All learning, particularly higher learning, is premised on the notion that there is such a thing as truth and that it is eminently worth pursuing. All serious inquiries into the various branches of human knowledge have the discovery and dissemination of truth as their end goals. The humanities are no exception. In the last several decades,…

Introductory students regularly endorse "naïve skepticism" -- unsupported or uncritical doubt about the existence and universality of truth -- for a variety of reasons. Though some of the reasons for students' skepticism can be traced back to the student -- for example, a desire to avoid engaging with controversial material or a desire…

This article traces the evolution of holistic student development as the centerpiece of the college experience in the 1960s to its current all-too-often overlooked function in postsecondary education, and it explains why students, employers, and the democracy all benefit from educating the whole person. Holistic student development encompasses…

This article focuses on Chinese state conceptualisations of the educated person, seen to be necessary for the continued national progress. Government campaigns provide clear narratives about the quality citizens that will ensure this will happen. Such narratives paradoxically also target rural people, migrant workers and their offspring for…

Urban college students (n=179) from diverse cultural backgrounds and regions received instruction in the writing of short narratives, or allegories, to express generalizations about human behavior. At the beginning of the three-month semester students were given samples of allegories concluding with a lesson and then were asked to create an…

Colleges and universities are places where students are immersed in course work and planned activities outside the classroom, where habits based on values and character can be formed. Whether working with students to achieve learning outcomes specifically related to academic courses or helping them work through the consequences of a conduct issue,…

With a knowledge of students' thinking processes, activities advisers and leaders can design environments for maximum learning and development. An interpretation of Perry's model of intellectual and ethical development is provided. (MLW)

Policies and procedures focusing on students as learners and as agents of their own development should be considered as a new framework for student affairs professionals. Explores the contradictions faced by student affairs professionals and suggests a model for facilitating development of individuals, groups, and the community. (MKA)

The effectiveness of using the Perry Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development (PSIED) was assessed with vocationally undecided students. Erwin's 1981 Scale of Intellectual Development (SID) was administered to 290 vocationally undecided college students (131 males and 156 females ranging aged 17 to 42 years with a mean age of 20.2 years) at…

William Perry's description of college students' stages of cognitive development is condensed into four classification categories, which are explained and told in an animal allegory. This presentation clarifies the theory for teacher use. (MSE)

The Perry scheme of intellectual and ethical development has become widely used in a range of academic disciplines and such areas as career training and faculty consultation. However, current measurement techniques for the scheme, whether interview format or paper and pencil measures, do not adequately address issues related to assessing cognitive…

Adolescents and young adults are likely to be sexually active and interested in sexual ethics. In order to tap into this interest and assist in their intellectual development, a sexual ethics continuum teaching strategy was developed during four semesters with six sections of two different college courses. A total of 52 behaviors of interest to…

This qualitative study sought to explore college students' spiritual beliefs in order to examine those beliefs and subsequent college experiences using student development theory. Data analysis revealed that peer and mentoring relationships were instrumental to students and shaped how students made meaning cf their academic and social experiences…