Knowledge-making in South African universities is set up and framed in particular ways, with a Euro-centric bias. We argue that many of the contributions that African first year entering students could make to this process of knowledge-making are dis-abled, leading to alienation. In this article, we argue for a different perspective and approach…

Health care in the 21st century has emphasised science and technology-centred practice, which might lead to dehumanisation such that healthcare professionals come to treat patients less like persons and more like objects. A programme of humanities for healthcare professionals has been suggested as a solution to overcome the problem of…

This article reports on an analysis undertaken in the field of African philosophies using selected conceptual tools from Maton's Legitimation Code Theory (LCT). In response to calls by South African students for 'decolonising' the Humanities curriculum, the practical purpose of the analysis was to generate theoretically-informed guidelines for…

Suggests that the problem of public space and the role that humanities disciplines play in both figuring and materializing space in higher education is lost in the debates about reform in the humanities. Defines "public space" as the multiple environments in which humanities disciplines attain their meaning and value. Proposes that literacy…

The current interest in relevance in education has encouraged many deletions in curriculum. The author declares that every subject is relevant to some person's life; therefore, there are no irrelevant subjects. (PG)

Goal IX of the Educational Quality Assessment (EQA) deals with appreciating human accomplishments. The assessment instruments concentrate on attitudes that measure the degree of value students place on areas of human accomplishment and the willingness of students to explore environments where firsthand experiences are available. The purpose of…

Technology, Change, and Society is a course designed to satisfy the requirements of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to include a humanities course in the technical education curriculum. Students see it as an opportunity to hear and appreciate several sides of technological issues and develop their own thoughts. (JOW)

In light of declining enrollments and decreasing funding in colleges and universities, humanities curricula should be reorganized to overcome negative student attitudes toward humanities courses. Recounts the successful use of collaborative learning experiences in teaching poetry and suggests the development of interdisciplinary career-option…

Author considered Western Civilization in the light of present realities and stated his reasons for believing that the course is not suited to the needs of the greatest number of those students who take it. (Author/RK)

Discussions about death, dying, and dissection during the first-year curriculum were initiated at the University of Massachusetts Medical School to deal with personal questions and emotions evoked by cadaver dissection. The evolution of these discussions, their timing, the present content of the sessions, and student response are described.…

THE STERILITY OF THE LIBERAL ARTS IN MOST COLLEGES TODAY IS BECOMING MORE EVIDENT. STUDENTS ARE TURNING TO "POT," LSD, OR IMMERSIONS IN ANOTHER CULTURE IN THEIR QUESTS TO EXPAND THEIR CONSCIOUSNESS. THE STUDENT'S NEED FOR A HEIGHTENED AWARENESS AND LARGER FRAME OF REFERENCE CAN BE FULFILLED BY A STUDY OF THE LIBERAL ARTS ONLY IF THESE STUDIES ARE…

Broad changes in the academic culture and the curriculum since the 1960s are reviewed, and the need is emphasized for a re-formation of the curriculum to bring the student back into focus and to rebuild the humanities. (MSE)

When the introductory philosophy course evokes cognitive dissonance over philsophical problems in which students are already interested, it can help develop students' skills in reasoning and assessing arguments. This kind of course should play a key role in the undergraduate curriculum. (MSE)

Team-taught interdisciplinary courses are seen as difficult to develop if an institution has a strong departmental structure. Course-pairs, a model to develop a truly interdisciplinary course while providing independent, coherent courses in history and philosophy, is described. The results of a student course-evaluation survey are presented. (MLW)

Discusses classical theory as a modernist endeavor to apprehend the phenomenon of "unity of disunity." Presents three ways that classical theory approaches the philosophy views of Durkheim, Marx, and Weber. Concludes that postmodernism validates the relevancy of classical theory. (CFR)