The introductory session reminded us that\u00a0Gen Ed is distinctive of US higher ed in comparison to others, especially the European model. For us, historically, being educated means more than just taking courses in one\u2019s major. O<\/span>riginally universities were not inclusive institutions. Over time we have expanded access but held true to conviction that breadth as well as depth is important.<\/span><\/p>\n At the moment this tradition finds itself under attack. This is by no means the first time voices have suggested that we should narrow our focus to career preparation. Yet at the same time, there is substantial evidence that gen ed is valuable for the workplace.<\/span><\/p>\n Scott Jaschik of IHE said, \u201cGen Ed is not the same at every institution, and I think that\u2019s a great thing.\u201d He then proceeded to share the aggregated results from a survey of provosts. Here are some highlights:<\/span><\/p>\n The MLA recently had a session on reviving English major. One successful strategy was to make top professors teach in gen ed. Enrollments in major and all courses went up. Students notice these things. It matters who is teaching in the core. In one instance, a d<\/span>epartment chair assigned themselves an 8am teaching slot, which sent the message this is important.<\/span><\/p>\n There was a time when a chief academic officer would have been embarrassed to say they eliminated history or philosophy. The shame is gone. When\u00a0<\/span>Wheeling Jesuit eliminated every liberal arts major, the Jesuits called it out and said they can no longer call themselves a Jesuit institution.\u00a0<\/span>Wisconsin undid the cuts previously announced. There is some encouraging news. See for instance the IHE piece about Stevens Point<\/a>. See too:<\/span><\/p>\n https:\/\/sententiaeantiquae.com\/2019\/04\/15\/reprioritizing-and-reallocating-tulsas-cuts-to-the-humanities\/<\/p>\n More bullet point highlights:<\/p>\n By a show of hand, most of us present at this workshop I am writing about had not seen cuts impacting gen ed at our institutions, but it was acknowledged that we were a skewed sample. Nevertheless, it is heartening to know that so many exceptional colleges and universities are not at all headed in the same direction as those that have been making the news.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Critics of higher education express concerns about high costs (Democrats), liberalism (Republicans), and not teaching 21st century skills (across the spectrum). The concerns should not be ignored, and one reason for some of the most common and widespread criticisms is a failure of universities and colleges, of faculty and administrators, to explain what we offer and why<\/a>. The other panelist in this session,\u00a0<\/span>Lynn Pasquerella, told a story about her son who ended up working on the Jerry Springer Show. After having previously complained about gen ed requirements as a student, he called his mother to say that he finally understood why a course in small group communication had been deemed necessary. No one had told him, or at least no one had explained it to him clearly and persuasively \u2013 and if this was true for someone in a family in which the parents were a college president (Mt. Holyoake) and a professor, it is surely even more true for others.<\/span><\/p>\n High impact practices make a difference, but we need to connect curriculum to career if we want people to see this and understand it. Doing this can be grounded in equity of access to high impact experiences, especially if we understand ourselves to be educating for participation in democracy.\u00a0<\/span>John Adams observed a more purely vocational emphasis at colleges other than Harvard, and viewed them with contempt, as keeping people dumb and thus unable to fully participate in democracy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One topic of discussion was whether foreign language should be part of gen ed. The answer should probably differ depending on context, or at least be flexible. It doesn\u2019t make sense to require two years of language if many students are native speakers of a language other than English. What is needed is not a rigid requirement, but advising, so as to encourage dabbling (if not more) in languages other than the standard ones of Spanish and other European ones, especially in the case of students who already know English and Spanish.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cMonolingualism is the worst form of American exceptionalism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Education is not just about how to be focused (as research faculty often are) but how to be flexible and adaptable. For this reason it is important for faculty to not just teach their specialty. There was some discussion of the use of introductory courses in disciplines for gen ed purposes, as opposed to courses specifically designed for non-majors. Often full-fledged g<\/span>en ed courses more exciting because of their interdisciplinarity and their connection of a discipline with concrete issues of our time. Remember that we teach people rather than a subject. One example that was offered was a \u201cNarrative and Moral Crisis\u201d course. It places students in the midst of an experience of moral confusion and invites them to think their way out of it. Often students are not invited to express their depths in classes.<\/p>\n Access to liberal education is a major component at many community colleges, but there is a need for more partnerships between 4-year institutions and community colleges to foster still further strides in this area. Experiential learning can help bridge the divide that often exists between these two types of institutions. We are also prone to forget that the current\u00a0<\/span>predominant focus on research and creation of knowledge has not been there throughout the history of higher education. It is a result of the creation of the National Institute of Health and other such institutions, which saw the potential for universities to become hubs of research. Today, universities need to emphasize that our mission is educational, to shift away from a culture in which it is only research and knowledge-production that lead to prestige. The difficulty of quantifying good teaching is of course also a factor. But we have clearly failed to truly value in the tenure and promotion process efforts of faculty to be\u00a0<\/span>public intellectuals beyond the confines of the academy. What we m<\/span>easure matters. What wins a president at a public university favor in the state capitol matters.<\/span><\/p>\n During the Q&A a professor from Scotland offered a Scottish perspective. There, no grades count towards graduation before the 3rd year. It was suggested that the American GPA approach (and obsession) creates pressure, which results in resistance to gen ed. But what would it look like to effectively eliminate grades from the core? A very interesting\u00a0Inside Higher Ed<\/em> article recently offered a way to still do graded research, and yet break it down into manageable chunks that will be experienced differently by students<\/a>. But beyond that, we should take seriously the fact that e<\/span>mployers are relying on portfolios more than transcripts today. Could we move away from focusing on a GPA in the first year or two of university, if not indeed beyond, and focus instead on narrative descriptions?<\/p>\n Jim Henderson, President at the University of Louisiana, was once told \u201cI don\u2019t need more college grads, I need people who can code.\u201d Jim asked if the man who said this whether he needs them to be critical thinkers, and the man said that\u2019s what he needs most! There is clearly a disconnect between the perception at least some people have of what college education offers, and these skills employers are looking for. The journalistic skill that led to the most significant moment in this exchange should be noticed: the importance of asking follow-up questions! Many hospitals and doctors offices are aware that those who have studied humanities, social sciences, different cultures, and communication will be better nurses. Recent stories highlighting s<\/span>uccessful dropouts may not convey that these were dropouts from liberal arts programs who were able to do so and thrive precisely because of the approach to education they embraced early on. Most employers and employees understand, or at least can understand, the need for more than just training in the job title and narrow skills. Perhaps\u00a0<\/span>getting students to engage in more self-reflective activity will also help. An illustration of these points came in the form of the story of a president at Wachovia Bank, who went to the bank straight out of the army needing quantitative skills for that entry-level position. But then to become a manager he needed an understanding of the local community.\u00a0As president he found himself thinking about philosophy. Without the whole curriculum that career path would have been blocked! In addition, as we often say, the jobs of the future haven\u2019t been invented yet. The best preparation will make you flexible. Colleges need to be student-ready as well as students being college-ready (Lynn Pasquarella).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n
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It is critically important to learn to speak across differences in our increasingly polarized world, to deal with unscripted problems of the future. We need to engage students in real-world application of skills we are teaching them. As\u00a0Lynn Pasquarella put it,\u00a0<\/span>everyone deserves the opportunity to find their best and most authentic selves through gen ed. To be given the opportunity to cultivate their capacity to\u00a0<\/span>write, speak, and think with compassion, conviction, and clarity. To think creatively, and understand and practice integration of skills.\u00a0<\/span>We need to explain how arts and humanities, and STEM, can and need to inform one another, and not only in one direction. A recent report emphasizing this<\/a> took its title from a quote from Einstein: \u201cBranches from the Same Tree.\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n![](\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1503275922&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jamefmcgrshom-20&language=en_US\")
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The session \u201cThe Data That Answer Gen Ed\u2019s Critics\u2026 if Only They Knew\u201d was presented by\u00a0<\/span>Richard \u201cRick\u201d Detweiler<\/a>. His main point was that there is qu<\/span>antifiable evidence that general education is good for you \u2013 not just your soul but also your bottom line.\u00a0<\/span>Economic and personal fulfillment measures confirm the value of gen ed. Detweiler acknowledged that p<\/span>arents and students are sometimes skeptical, and also acknowledged his role and that of other faculty in the overall situation: As a new faculty member in psychology, he understood his role and priority to be getting students to think like psychologists.\u00a0He didn\u2019t want gen ed to \u201cget in the way of\u201d the psychology curriculum. When his dean said he had to teach a freshman seminar, he was angry. This was at a liberal arts institution! With time, his views began to change. The world may need more psychologists, but it also needs people who think outside of narrow disciplinary frameworks. See the IHE<\/em> article \u201cMy Limited Liberal Arts Education\u201d<\/a>\u00a0for more on this topic. As Detweiler put it,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cStudy outside of one\u2019s major leads to life success.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n