Problems associated with overspecialization in U.S. higher education are considered, based on the view that colleges provide training for an advanced society but fail to clarify how a particular career will be part of a larger social and global system that has many serious problems. An education that seeks to integrate ideas across disciplinary…

Background information on a new general studies curriculum at Southwest Texas State University is presented, along with faculty views about the new curriculum. The proposed three-level program covers essential skills, disciplinary perspectives, and integrative courses. Specific skills and content are outlined, along with the number of credit hours…

Fall 1985 and Spring/Fall 1986 issues of the History of Higher Education Newsletter are presented. Contents of the two issues include: comments by Lester F. Goodchild on George Keller's article on research about higher education that appeared in 1985 in "Change" magazine; a guest editorial by Lewis B. Mayhew on the field of higher education; a…

General education, or learning that should be common to all, is considered in five essays adapted from colloquium addresses and one essay, summarized in chapters 1 and 7 of this volume, that provided the colloquium theme. In "The Quest for Common Learning," Ernest L. Boyer identifies six essential objectives of general education. Wayne C. Booth's…

The extent to which U.S. colleges and universities contribute to the fulfillment of students' lives is discussed by Secretary of Education William Bennett in an address to Harvard University. Secretary Bennett's observations are based on his experiences as a law student, freshman proctor, and tutor at Harvard University, as well as his subsequent…

This research study used the Delphi technique to determine the ideal content of a college-level outdoor leadership course for land-based outdoor pursuits in the Pacific Northwest. Topics were generated and value-rated by 61 Pacific Northwest outdoor leaders using a Likert-type scale in three separate questionnaires. Thirty-five topics were…

An overview is provided of the governance, enrollments, programs, finances, facilities, and significant activities and concerns of Illinois' public community colleges. The report begins by describing the organization of the state system into 39 public community college districts and 52 colleges. The next section deals with student enrollment,…

A review of literature reveals a need to explicitly incorporate critical thinking skills in the college curriculum. Recent research and theories of reading provide some insight into cognitive processes that would provide a basis for study about how to foster critical thinking. Schema theory, in particular, provides a view of cognition that relies…

This transfer guide provides supplemental counseling for community college students from throughout Washington who intend to transfer to Washington State University (WSU) in pursuit of a baccalaureate degree. The information it contains is designed to help students to identify the most appropriate courses for them to take prior to transferring to…

This paper begins with a literature review of the objectives of general education, giving special consideration to the possible role of communications skills. Because of current discussion and disagreement about what the basic general education requirements of a university should include, a survey was administered in 1981-82 to full-time faculty…

Assessment in higher education is addressed in these proceedings of the 1987 conference of the North East Association for Institutional Research. Papers and authors include: "Assessing the Status of Assessment" (Peter T. Ewell); "Has the Middle Class Been Pressured the Most? Multivariate Analysis of Parental Contributions to Higher…

The results of several studies of the humanities and social sciences in undergraduate engineering education are presented and discussed. The first chapter explains the value of humanities and social sciences coursework and describes briefly some of the obstacles confronting efforts to improve it. The second chapter summarizes the findings of two…

Written from the perspective of a textbook editor, this paper reviews the limitations on curricular reform in mathematics. In the first section, an argument is presented that the style and manner of the presentation of educational materials are more important than the content presented. This section also raises objections to the current push to…

This article describes the development of an undergraduate psychology program in human factors engineering (the application of psychological principles to systems/technology development and usage). The need for such programs, as evidenced by the positive reactions of industry and academia to the program at Kearney State College, Kearney, Nebraska,…

Arguing that a successful general education program depends upon an integrated curriculum, this paper urges community colleges to take a strong leadership role in developing a curriculum that is consistent with historical, cultural, and biological realities. After underscoring the need for interdisciplinary education, the paper provides a…