I feel a little confounded by this assignment, whether my aim
should be to stick to core principles (or “goals”) associated with a “liberal
education” in concept, or perhaps provide a more practical discussion of my
views regarding its manifestation in the Furman experience. I have decided to initially address the
former followed by a few remarks about the latter that I will use to preface my
curricular proposal to be submitted at a later date. I introduce my comments on
liberal education with the ready admission that all of the committee members
who have already contributed to this discussion are far more eloquent than I,
and a summary of their statements would incorporate many the points I have
provided below. I also remain a work-in-progress in my thinking about this
issue – many of you would not debate that point in particular!
Irrespective of its original intent
and tradition in the early Academy, (apologies [. . .] for my ignorance here),
the liberal arts education as we know it today as emulated by the programs that
assert to provide it to the students who choose to participate in it typically
embodies the following elements:
(1) a focus on the development of the whole intellect, rather
than the assimilation of selected highly specialized parts. Practically, this
involves exposure and evaluation in both a variety of disciplines and perhaps
more importantly, a variety of perspectives. It also prescribes critical
introspection, consistent with developing the capacity to place one’s
beliefs, viewpoints and values within a greater global context.
(2) preparation of the scholar to enter a world in which
attributes such as reasoning, problem-solving, critical thinking,
communication, adaptability and the capacity to understand others with
different backgrounds and experiences trump simple vocational “training”
as defined by a learning only
a specific set of technical skills.
Note this does not imply that there is anything inherently
improper with learning applications, skills and techniques that may serve a
pre-professional or career-oriented purpose, so long as this does not supplant (1)
and (2). As [a colleague] has aptly pointed out, j-o-b need not be considered a
four-letter word.
(3) disciplinary study that embraces depth of understanding,
that dictates rich exposure to a broadly defined academic area of interest such
that scholarship can be recognized, appreciated and critically evaluated on its
own merits, that provides opportunities for individuals to participate as
primary contributors to the greater body of knowledge, not be constrained to
succumb to the role of spectators.
I hold these as basic tenets of the modern practice of a liberal
arts education on the whole, common themes collectively manifested by the
majority of self-proclaimed “liberal arts colleges” nationally. Enumerating and promoting such
principles is central to our mission, yet there may be numerous insightful
curricular models and approaches that could successfully fulfill such a vision.
The promulgation of these interesting pedagogical approaches does not in itself
make the Furman experience particularly distinctive from any other quality
liberal arts institution that achieves the same end through a diversity of
means. To be sure, basic curricular design is core to the mission of the
institution, but implementation... what the faculty do with the courses they are
responsible for teaching, the life experiences and knowledge they carry into to
the classroom, the depth and breadth of exposure to knowledge they provide, the
success to which the traits of self-reflection, perspective and critical
analysis are conveyed to the student body.... would seem to be the key to the
process.
It is in this sense that I believe Furman currently enjoys an
outstanding academic program. In my view it is not because of the identities of
the courses we offer, the disciplines they represent, the number of GER
requirements they fulfill or even the specific content that is addressed, but
rather because the Furman faculty by their very nature share a common vision of
education that transcends discipline, and have vested themselves as a whole to
using whatever courses they teach as vehicles for accomplishing that vision,
whether in so-called ‘survey’ courses, HES 10, Medieval English Literature,
Business Finance, Differential Equations, or Neurobiology. To be sure, I am fully supportive of
any level of curricular innovation and change that improves the product and
efficiency of the educational process (especially if implementing such change
stimulates enthusiasm and motivation among the greater faculty body), and I
have already seen several very interesting proposals and suggestions that may
in indeed serve that purpose. Yet, in the end I suspect our graduate “products”
are much more strongly influenced by their curricular and cultural experiences
outside the classroom and our passion and presentation within the classroom than the manner in which
material is subdivided and organized into bytes of information or illustration.
In my view it is critically important that in this process,
Furman both recognize and strive to maintain her unique character. I hold this
to be a fundamental quality of any outstanding college or university; Williams
does not want to be Amherst, and Amherst has no need to emulate Colgate, or
Harvard, or Furman. Through the outstanding contributions of generations of
Furman faculty, students and administrators, we have established an identity,
steeped in a tradition and heritage that we must at the least recognize and
acknowledge so that we maintain an appropriate context of our own. The students
we attract are highly intelligent and well trained, yet clearly demographically
distinct from peer institutions located in other educational centers such as
the Northeast; this may not change remarkably in years to come, and in my view
need not be the primary goal. We are nationally recognized for excellence
across the liberal arts and sciences, and refreshingly unique in student body
size, shape, location and function among the vast majority of our liberal arts “peers”. We offer experiences often expressed
as “life-changing” in numerous and diverse study abroad programs subscribed to by students
from all disciplines; we offer unique opportunities for engagement with the
world beyond Furman while maintaining our liberal arts values through venues
such as the Washington Experience, the former Biosphere 2 program or the
Medical Ethics program; we have developed an engaged learning effort that
blends scholarly study, undergraduate research and internships into a program
arguably unrivaled by any peer liberal arts college; we have musical performance
opportunities and traditions unparalleled by most other four-year colleges; we
have regular opportunities to engage nationally-competitive Division I
scholarship athletes in our classrooms and watch them develop and flourish
intellectually as well as physically; we have a 12-8-12 calendar that despite
its advantages and disadvantages is at its core uniquely ours (no laughing out
loud, please).
Have I yielded to the view of the Patriot rather than the
Cosmopolitan? Perhaps. But it seems paramount that in the best sense of the
liberal arts tradition, a sense of who we are and what we do in relation to the
academic world in which we live be acknowledged at the outset of embarking on a
course for where we’re going. Whatever the outcome of our deliberations and the final format
of curricular revision, it is my hope that we consider carefully how we moved
from the ranks of a small, Southern Baptist, somewhat selective, predominantly
local college with two academic buildings and virtually no endowment to one
recently ranked among the top 40 nationally (even with a meager endowment
versus many on that list), noting that all of this change has occurred since
the last curricular/calendar revision. As we redesign and re-engineer those
components of our academic program that we agree can be made to work better and
more efficiently, we should conscientiously anticipate and endeavor to preserve
that which makes us in the end.... fundamentally Furman.
Posted by love at
September 17, 2004 10:00 AM
Discuss
this proposal in the forum, or leave a comment below!