Liberal arts colleges are seen as engaged in moral education. Three moral lessons that a college teaches are described as (1) love for the truth, (2) learning is a human good, and (3) learning requires intellectual rigor or "discipline." Colleges are seen as places of hope. (MLW)

Three broad topics are considered including the changing demographics of education and the accompanying interest in lifelong learning, motivations that lead adults to seek out education, and the relevance of the liberal arts to the mature student in the midst of that changing demography and pluralism of motivations. (MLW)

Based on a philosophy of self-direction, Urbana College's program teaches students to create their own futures. The seven levels and associated processes include: (1) growing; (2) thinking; (3) deciding; (4) self-marketing; (5) first job (risk); (6) lifetime career patterns (commitment); and (7) retirement. (Author)

Glasser's classroom meetings provide a promising structure for teachers' transpersonal skills and for providing a forum for discussion of transpersonal experiences, concerns, and questions. A preplanning worksheet developed by Bosner and Poppen demonstrating how to use the thinking meeting as a medium to teach relaxation skills is presented here.…

Relates an older peer counselor training program developed for paraprofessional volunteers, 55 and over, to assist elderly widowed people in their adjustment. Results indicate that the training program was effective in eliciting widowhood and counseling attitude change, and in providing trainees with the opportunity for personal growth. (Author)

Residency in a college dormitory during the freshman year of college positively influences educational and personal growth and academic persistence. The mediating effects of relationships with peers and the ambiance of the intellectual community are noted. (JD)

Our culture enforces compliance and obedience in all its institutions and at every level. These institutions systematically discourage independent thought or unconventional action. Schools can play an important role in educating strong, independent thinkers. Teachers should act to reward creative disobedience and to discourage conformity. (JN)

Briefly describes a hiking activity developed by high school counselors to provide challenges to themselves in order to discover their own problem-solving abilities and skills. (CJ)

Learning stess-management skills is an important aspect of development for college students. Because the experience of stress is quite individualized, comprehensive and flexible programing is required. Reports on a network of stress-management programs designed to provide maximum flexibility in meeting various student needs. (Author)

Suggests changes in the English-language arts curriculum at the junior high and middle school levels as a result of research and theory on brain growth periodization and levels of cognitive development. (RL)

Standard logic courses are seen as unsuitable for liberal arts curricula because they emphasize the formal logic of calculative thinking. To develop the capacity of students to make moral decisions, logic courses should emphasize thinking skills based on informal logic or rhetoric, a logic of practical reasoning and communication. (Author/MLW)

The study of literature is seen as one of the best ways to bring students through the curriculum to recognize and grapple with the moral dimension of human life. Such a focus for a basic course is especially important when students take only one literature course. (Author/MLW)

Future staff development designs must be consistent with the organizational and environmental realities teachers confront each day. Various existing staff development programs are described and suggestions are made for alternative solutions which incorporate organizational and environmental factors. (JN)

There is a great need for theoretical frameworks to generate research that could help to guide the development of teacher education programs. Studies of successful adult functioning in complex careers support the construct validity of developmental stage as predictor. (JN)

Middle school and junior high school students are caught "in between" in terms of their emotional, physical, psychological, and educational development. Paradoxically, with so many common problems, these students need to be treated as special and unique--as individuals. (RL)