Oral communication competence is essential for career success and for effective participation as a citizen in a democratic society. Unfortunately, many students do not have oral communication competence, and even more unfortunately the success of graduating students rests heavily on their communication skills. Oral communication competence,…

Our higher education system does not nurture the inner lives of students or help them acquire the self-understanding that is the basis for a satisfying life, nor does it provide the safe and nurturing environment people need in order to grow. What is needed is a more holistic way of conceiving education, one that accepts the importance of…

A classification system for freshman courses that is useful as a planning tool and descriptive guide is presented and examples of analogous programs are described. Three approaches to freshman courses--interdisciplinary, developmental, and utilitarian--form a continuum, since many courses are derived from more than one philosophical base. The…

Observations are offered on the curriculum of American higher education. It is noted that the curriculum is a major part of an institution's statement about itself, and the societal impact of higher education is likely to be determined more by the kind of people college graduates become than by what they know when they leave college. The…

The student development movement may have represented a digression from the central educational mission of higher education. The Student Learning Imperative is the latest attempt to redirect student affairs into a realignment with student learning. This article offers practical suggestions for conceptualizing the content, methodology, and…

Asserts that there is a need to provide students with an array of life skills, including the ability to be productive citizens contributing to the good of one's community. Examines the nature of ethics education in a college curriculum--the justification, other than pragmatism, for providing this kind of education; ways of providing ethics…

Issues in evaluating the quality and effectiveness of student services for a new population of students are examined, including: the place of student development; basic services; the relationship of services to institutional mission; faculty, curriculum, and academic environment; defining quality; student information systems; and the relationship…