This Civic Arts Review issue contains an essay by Stanley Manfred titled "The American University as a Civic Institution" which identifies some of the features which have made the contemporary American university a civic institution with important civic functions, and identifies some of the societal contradictions which impede recognition and…

The essays in this special issue of The Civic Arts Review address three fundamental issues concerning civic education: clarifying the meaning given to the word citizen; the nature of a liberal democratic political community; and (given diversity and pluralism), how educators can cultivate civic-mindedness and communal responsibility. An…

This issue of "New Directions for Community Colleges" focuses on the community college curriculum. The articles are based on a study of the college catalogs and course schedules from 164 colleges. The featured articles are: (1) "A Historical and Contemporary View of the Community College Curriculum" (Gwyer Schuyler); (2) "The Liberal Arts"…

An overview is provided of recent efforts to review and redefine the associate degree, with special focus on a workshop sponsored by the Center for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC) and the Miami-Dade Community College District (MDCCD) which attempted to sharpen the focus of the inquiry into the definition of the associate degree. First,…

Although the nation's two-year college movement has been largely successful in providing higher education to a broad range of people, new barriers are emerging to the performance of this function. The problem is evident in the fact that increasing numbers of students neither enter nor leave the educational system with the competencies necessary…

This bulletin describes the Dallas Community College District's (DCCD's) efforts to develop a common learning core curriculum. Introductory material discusses the creation of Committees for Common Learning to decide on standards and requirements for all students who enroll in degree programs at any of the seven district colleges and to design an…

The need to develop educational programs in universities that respond to the current need for liberally educated technical-professionals and employable liberal studies majors is considered. It is contended that few faculty are currently skilled to offer, and that no curriculum in higher education currently demands, sufficient and appropriate…

This report is one in a series of papers documenting, analyzing, and interpreting changes in federal educational policy since President Reagan assumed office in January 1981. The focus of this report is the future of educational policy. The root problem examined deals with electoral policies and the apparent apathy of the public. Results of polls…

Florida educators, parents, and school board members are intensely debating the issue of tracking and ability grouping. After summarizing recent research affirming the deleterious effects of ability grouping, this report describes a survey of 600 Florida educators regarding their perceptions of this practice and their beliefs about its…

Projects at liberal arts colleges to help students understand technology, most of which were funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundations' New Liberal Arts Program, are described. Also included are John G. Truxal's essay, "Thoughts on Teaching Technology," which includes an illustration of technological problems/solutions posed by the pacemaker. The…

Five articles by faculty members from the Community College of Philadelphia are presented in this journal issue. "Reconstructing the Academic Environment: A Proposal for the Revision of the General Studies Curriculum," by Martin B. Spear and Dennis McGrath, offers a conceptual foundation for decision making in curriculum development for general…

A program in civic education is or should be at the heart of general education in community colleges. Citizenship education is congruent with the mission of the community college in that it is a practical enterprise leading to self-governance; it is integrative, using a variety of cognitive skills, attitudes and knowledge; it is community…

Strategies and problems facing the small private liberal arts colleges as a group are described. Many of these schools have weathered the financial emergencies of recent years by cutting expenditures to the point where the quality of education is threatened. New measures have been called for to reduce the tuition gap between private and public…

This research brief examines the data on baccalaureate recipients in the humanities, especially the upward trend over the past 9 years. Highlighted findings include that: in 1971 the number of humanities degrees awarded peaked; this was followed by a decline of over 50% in the early 1980s; such degrees have been increasing since the low in 1983,…

A project to help small independent liberal arts colleges integrate technology and the liberal arts in the undergraduate curriculum is considered in this newsletter issue. The first two stages of this project on Technology and the Liberal Arts, which is sponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges, are described, along with the progress of…