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BOOK EXCERPT
"Declining by Degrees"
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From "LIBERAL EDUCATION: SLIP-SLIDING AWAY?"
by Carol G. Schneider
... The new importance of higher learning in our society ought to raise fundamental questions about what students - and society - should expect from a college education. What kinds of learning will serve graduates well over time? What kinds of learning do we need to continue to fuel a dynamic economy? If analytical skill, creativity, and problem solving are important to graduates' long-term opportunities, how are these capabilities best developed? What is the academy's role in preparing students both for democratic citizenship and for citizenship in a nation that now possesses unrivaled power all around the globe? And what about the most ancient rationale for a liberal arts education: the view that the unexamined life is not worth living?
These questions are fundamental, but there is no public debate about them. And in the prevailing silence, Americans should recognize the real and present danger that we may ultimately squander the opportunity now before us to provide this entire college-going generation with the full benefits of an empowering and horizon-expanding education.
Today, as higher education becomes the new norm, the core question confronting educators, policymakers and the public is whether to insist on an intellectually challenging and horizon-expanding liberal education for all college students. Or, following the pattern of the twentieth century high school experiment, will we decide to offer "elite" education to some students while providing a narrower preparation what policymakers now call "workforce development" - to others? ...
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MEET ADRIANA, JASON, MATT & BRITNEY
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