Liberal Studies Commons^™

Perspectives Vol. 4 No. 2

Perspectives (1969-1979)

No abstract provided.

General Education And The Environment, Barry Commoner

Perspectives (1969-1979)

Featured Address presented at the Association for General and Liberal Studies' Annual Meeting, which was held at Southern Illinois University, October 21^st through 23^rd, 1971.

Enriching General Education: Seeds And Plowshares, J. W. Brinkman

Perspectives (1969-1979)

In the years during which debate over the purpose and content of general education has raged, every conceivable bit of curricular gimmickry has been proposed and often tried. With few exceptions most of these efforts were possessed of at least one common feature- they were conventional or quasi-conventional academic, classroom or laboratory experiences. Until recently little attention was paid to the possibility of employing a broad range of non-academic experiences in the total general education component of the college program of study. What follows is a suggestion of experiences or activities of a non-academic type which could be adapted to …

Law , Justice And Education, James Ahern

Perspectives (1969-1979)

James Ahern is the former Chief of Police of New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest. He was a featured speaker at the Annual Meeting of AGLS at Rochester Institute of Technology, October 26-28, 1972.

Strange Bedfellows: Academic Freedom And Violence, Glenda Lawhorn

Perspectives (1969-1979)

Although we are at the present time experiencing some relief from the violence of student unrest, the American society, especially the most formally educated part of it, seems to be even more confused than usual. On practically every campus in America, learned professors who vociferously decried the student's use of strikes as a means of gaining power are arguing in the same breath for the use of collective bargaining and the threat of strikes as a means of gaining power for themselves. More than ever, professors, college administrators and trustees are paying lip service to the idea of academic freedom, …

A Paradigm Of Virtue, Stanley L. Becker, Saundra R. Becker

Perspectives (1969-1979)

This letter was brought forcibly to mind at the December, 1972, meetings of the History of Science Society. Does it describe the present status of the History of Science? To put it succinctly ... What good is History of Science? During the session dealing with the goals and future of our profession, I heard plaudits for the good old days and sighs over the bad old days ... I heard suggestions made with respect to possible jobs for majors in history of science. I heard graduate students suggest time sharing, money sharing, and perhaps even a relief expedition. After all …

General Education In The Two Year College- Is It Meeting The Needs Of The Student And Society?, Joseph P. Cosand

Perspectives (1969-1979)

Featured Address presented at the Association for General and Liberal Studies' Annual Meeting, which was held at Southern Illinois University, October 21^st through 23^rd, 1971.

It is essential that we understand the philosophy and objectives of the various types of colleges and universities- both two- and four-year and that each type has equal status with the others. There can be no status continuum--each has its own responsibilities to the youth and adults to be served and each must then be held so accountable. The Community College can no more be cast in the image of the university …

Perspectives Vol. 4 No. 1

Perspectives (1969-1979)

This issue of Perspectives is devoted entirely to the proceedings of the Association for General and Liberal Studies' Annual Meeting which was held at Southern Illinois University, October 21 through 23, 1971.

The University, The Student And The Wizard Of Oz, Lynwood H. Bartley

Perspectives (1969-1979)

The teacher who demonstrates that choice is inevitable in the human situation and helps each student realize his responsibility to choose what he becomes, is doing an inestimable service for his students. Having become aware of this choice, the student learns that he has more control over what he sees, what he does, and how he interprets.

I do not assume that making someone aware presumes the absence of facts; I do assume the interrelation between facts. I do not want to see teaching or learning as a process move any further in the direction described by Marshall McLuhan, who …

General Education And Violence, Louis J. Andolino, John H. Humphries

Perspectives (1969-1979)

Since the issue of violence is of such paramount concern to the American public, it constitutes a pertinent topic for academic discussion and analysis. Because the topic of violence is an interesting and important issue of the day, germane to many fields, including general education, it was decided that the theme of this year's Association of General and Liberal Studies Conference would be General Education and Violence. This conference will be held on the campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York on October 26-28, 1972.

Violence And The Arts, Doris Hunter, Robert Golden

Perspectives (1969-1979)

Let us take each level of art, give an illustration or two from utopian literature and then see its relationship to the presence of violence or nonviolence within the social framework.

In addressing myself to this question of whether the arts could flourish in a nonviolent society, I would like, for the purposes of clarity and simplification, to restrict myself to a discussion of the relation of physical violence and the arts. There is, of course, such a thing as psychological or symbolic violence, but it is a kind of violence which is difficult to define with any reasonable degree …

Violence And Technology, John Humphries, Jeremy Mattson

Perspectives (1969-1979)

The level of violence varies, however, and in some societies it is considerably less than others. The reasons for this variance are hard to ascertain; but, I suspect, those reasons are of crucial importance if we are to fathom this subject.

From this view of the work of certain selected major American artists, work clustered roughly around the years 1930, 1940, and 1950, it is apparent that the artist was affected by technology, and more often than not one of the results of this influence was violence in the art. The two painters, Davis and Pollock, reflect a violence in …

General Education Structure And Curriculum: What Types Are Best For The Student?, Edward Joseph Shoben Jr.

Perspectives (1969-1979)

Keynote Address presented at the Association for General and Liberal Studies' Annual Meeting, which was held at Southern Illinois University, October 21^st through 23^rd, 1971.

On Tracking That Rarest Of Breeds, The New Humanities Teacher, Bryan Lindsay

Perspectives (1969-1979)

The new humanist is primarily dedicated to the task of equipping his charges with the tools for developing their own mature value systems instead of absorbing ad nauseam then puking back a la Pavlov the various introjected value systems which American education has traditionally attempted to force on its nurselings. Education in a self-enhancing and life-enhancing manner rather than indoctrination for a cog's role in the corporate state, that is the task the new humanists set for themselves.

But let's get back to the main topic: identifying the new humanities teacher and those characteristics which mark him as the "preacher …

Nonsense In The Classroom*, Richard R. Williams

Perspectives (1969-1979)

What is required is not so much a reformation as a revolution, and the arena for struggle is one's own consciousness. To discover how one's particular discipline is related to the mystical vision is not an ephemeral luxury, it is a project of greatest importance ... for those who have eyes and can see; and for those who have ears and can hear.

Philosophy And The Liberal Arts, Michael J. Buckley S.J.

Perspectives (1969-1979)

The focus of these remarks is a simple, general question: How should philosophy be taught to college students? Notice that the possibility is simply taken for granted. We do not ask if we can teach but how we can teach. Is this to treat philosophy like any other field within the humanities or sciences? We give instruction in mathematics, physics, history, English literature; can we not also teach philosophy? An etymological rephrasing would suggest this assumption is open to serious reservations. How can college students be taught "to love wisdom?" Can so radical a personality-commitment be taught, be the product …

The Small Liberal Arts College: No Apologies Needed, Leonard Tompos

Perspectives (1969-1979)

The question of the small college's future likely will be determined by the individual colleges themselves. If they make themselves irrelevant to their students, as well as to society at large, the small college may at best then hope for a hand-to-mouth marginal existence. But such a situation would, indeed be ironic. The irony would lie in the fact that the small, so-called liberal arts college seemingly can most effectively offer not only the type or quality of education most needed today in our society, but also can provide the optimum educational settings and conditions.

Hegel And The Rebellion And Counter-Rebellion Of Youth, Rudolf J. Siebert

Perspectives (1969-1979)

Can the philosopher and educator Hegel help American youth overcome romantic subjectivity and liberate itself toward a rational and free existence? Can he help them in the dramatic social development from civil society to the real non-repressive supra-national or even continental state? To lead Hegel and American youth into a new and honest encounter would be very worthwhile and necessary, but difficult. This new encounter would presuppose the success of an even more difficult task. This would be to let American youth take root in that healthy confidence, which Hegel characterized as threefold: 1) confidence is science, 2) faith in …

Perspectives Vol. 3 No. 3

Perspectives (1969-1979)

No abstract provided.

General Symbols And General Studies, Larry Tyler

Perspectives (1969-1979)

An inherent difficulty in trans-disciplinary general education programs is the lack of a theoretical framework from which to display the points of unity and convergence between those uniquely human endeavors that, in slavish compliance to custom, are yet discussed as distinct and separate concerns such as science, art, mysticism, philosophy, and so on. This lack of a general theory makes all attempts at integration seem strained and artificial. However, clues, hints, and some significant beginnings toward such a framework do exist in the work of several writers. A synthesis of those sources seems, perhaps, in order.

Getting With Spaceship Earth, Noel Mcinnis

Perspectives (1969-1979)

The environment into which we are born remains invisible to us unless one of two things happens: 1) we leave it, or 2) it changes drastically. Quite recently, both of these things have happened to man-on-earth. Man left the earth long enough to look it over, and brought back pictures which make it difficult for us to overlook the planet as formerly. And those of us who stayed on earth discovered our planet by virtue of the fact that its feedback is doing things to us which were entirely unintended in our doings to it. The coincidence of these events …

Perspectives Vol. 3 No. 2

Perspectives (1969-1979)

No abstract provided.

Ex Oriente Lux: Eastern Teachings Offer A Renaissance In Higher Education, Henry Winthrop

Perspectives (1969-1979)

With Yoga and Karate the educational staple of all citizens, the achievement of the good life is assured. When that time comes the words of one of our patriotic songs will carry their most impressive meaning. "Oh, beautiful for spacious skies" will then refer to the first national community that succeeded in making full est use of man's hidden powers via the method of universal spiritual education.

Team Teaching At The College Level By Horatio M. Lafauci & Peyton E. Richter, David Hargreave

Perspectives (1969-1979)

Team Teaching at the College Level. Horatio M. Lafauci & Peyton E. Richter. New York: Pergamon Press, 1970. x + 157 pp.

Thoughts About A General Studies Program, Ollin J. Drennan

Perspectives (1969-1979)

One of the often repeated goals of a program of general or liberal education is that of promoting an awareness of the meaning of being human. The following thoughts were stimulated by the question "What does it mean to be human?" They represent an exploratory, not a definitive, statement. If they excite a response, they will have served the purpose for which they were placed on paper.

Respite For Sciolism, David S. Deshon

Perspectives (1969-1979)

Higher Education: Demand and Response, Edited by W. R . Niblett; San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1970. 267 pages.

The Roads And The Purposes, Edward H. Levi

Perspectives (1969-1979)

We are all concerned about the ability of education to respond to diverse tasks which have been placed upon it. These tasks require many more kinds of institutions, much more flexibility in the kinds of programs and means of instruction. Some means has to be found, and I do not believe the road of subsidy, by itself, will accomplish it, to encourage the appearance and participation of these institutions, and the trying out of programs and methods of instruction.

A more open system has risks, but it could reassemble to greater advantage the strength which is there. Obviously, such an …

What Is Relevant In General And Liberal Education, Benjamin E. Mays

Perspectives (1969-1979)

We hear a great deal today about relevant education. We often hear our students say that this course or this curriculum is not relevant to our needs. They are all too often right. Our courses of study should meet the current needs of our students and prepare them as much as possible to do the work of the world that needs to be done.

Scholarship And Ideology, Bhikhu Parekh

Perspectives (1969-1979)

One of the most distinctive characteristics of the modern university is the tremendous emphasis placed on research, on "expanding the frontiers of knowledge." The faculty has argued, and the university authorities have in many cases accepted, that research is the only worth-while academic activity and that the university largely exists simply to promote it. In its name the faculty has sometimes even ignored, with official connivance, many of its academic obligations. Although, from the standpoint of the university, teaching is more important, research has become a new industry, a new god whose directives, it is believed, only the illiterate could …

Learning To Swim, Richard R. Williams

Perspectives (1969-1979)

For, regardless of the current flurry of excitement concerning new directions in teaching and learning, I feel that we are still adrift and perilously off course when it comes to assessing what is in our best interest. Almost everyone nowadays is talking about educational reforms and there is a good deal of agreement that change must be in the direction of fostering more humanistic, life-enhancing processes. More often than not, however, what we term bold new ventures into self-discovery, enhancement of growth, or whatever phrase suits our taste, are actually old and quite stale wines in new wineskins. An old …