1. Liberal Education for a World Lived in Common Carol Geary Schneider President, Association of American Colleges and Universities Globalizing the Liberal Arts Symposium Yale-NUS College June 7, 2016

2. Overview Liberal Education: Enduring Goals, Evolving Practices Liberal Education for a Diverse and Divided Democracy Connecting Liberal Learning With the Needs of the Wider Society Towards Students’ Signature Work on Questions That Matter

3. Liberal Education: Enduring Goals, Evolving Practices

4. AAC&U’s Signature LEAP Initiative Liberal Education and America’s Promise: Excellence for Everyone as a Nation Goes to College Making Liberal Learning Expected and Empowering for ALL College Students, Especially for Those Whose Future Almost Certainly Depends on the Quality of Their Learning in College

5. But First, Clarifying Our Terms…

6. Commonly Confused Terms Liberal Arts (and Sciences) Disciplines Liberal Arts Colleges and Universities General Education Liberal Education—A Framework for the Entire Educational Experience—All Students, All Majors, All Colleges, Universities, and Community Colleges See handout

7. So, What Is a Liberal Education?

8. The Enduring Goals—from the Ancient World to the Present Day Broad knowledge of science, histories, society, and culture(s)—leadership and “big picture” knowledge Powers of the mind: reasoning, discernment, and judgment Responsibility: ethical integrity and commitments beyond self

9. Liberal Education Became Our Premier Educational Tradition Because These Goals Remain Constant— and Essential—Even as the Needed Knowledge and Practices Adapt—Again and Again—to a Changing World

10. The LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes Provide a Contemporary Articulation of These Enduring Goals— Informed by Faculty Dialogue Across All Parts of Higher Education, Elite and Non- Elite Focused on Preparing Students to Navigate and Contribute in a World of Daunting Complexity and Constant, Disruptive Change

11. The LEAP Initiative: Contemporary Goals for Liberal Education Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World Intellectual and Practical Skills Personal and Social Responsibility Integrative and Applied Learning See page 3 of the handout

12. Liberal Education Aims and Outcomes Fostering Broad Knowledge—Keyed to a Diverse, Global, and STEM-Fueled World, Focused by Engagement with Big Questions, Both Contemporary AND Enduring Developing Intellectual and Practical Skills—Keyed to the Development of BOTH Individual AND Collaborative Inquiry Skills and Capabilities

13. Liberal Education Aims and Outcomes Cultivating Personal and Social Responsibility—Headlining Our Responsibility to Prepare Students for Ethical Civic Engagement Insisting That Engagement with Diversity is Necessary, Not Elective, for Constructive Participation in a Diverse and Globally Interdependent World

14. Liberal Education Aims and Outcomes Integrative and Applied Learning— Highlighting the Point of a Multi- Disciplinary Education and Multi- Perspectival Education, Which is Preparing Graduates to Draw Wisdom from Many Sources—and from Diverse Communities—as They Tackle Complex Problems and Questions

15. Liberal Education and Societal Diversity: A Crucial Adaptation to a Changing World

16. Before LEAP… AAC&U members worked for over a decade on “American Commitments: Diversity, Democracy, and Liberal Learning” Exploring Diversity and Democracy and the Tensions Between Them Exploring Higher Education’s Role in Educating Students for a Diverse and Deeply Inequitable World Shared in Common

17. American Commitments Explored Two Conceptions of Diversity 1)Our neighbors and fellow citizens—in all their variety. With equal dignity and opportunity as a key test of democratic justice and success “When justice, liberty, equality, and opportunity apply to all, democracy is fulfilling America’s promise.” The Drama of Diversity and Democracy, 2 nd edition, AAC&U, 2011

18. American Commitments Offered Two Conceptions of Diversity 2)Disparity: systemic inequities, exclusions, and stratifications Diversity as code for unequal access and limited participation “When diversity is characterized by patterned inequity and persistent marginalization of specific groups, it is a symptom of democracy’s failure.” The Drama of Diversity and Democracy, 2 nd edition, AAC&U, 2011

19. AAC&U’s LEAP Vision for a 21 st Century Liberal Education… …is Deeply Informed by BOTH Conceptions of Democracy: A Recognition of the Multiple Ongoing Struggles for Justice, Voice, and Social Power that Frame U.S. and Global Societies, Historically and Today A Determination to Help All Students Build the Knowledge, Skill, and Sense of Principled Responsibility for Progress and Success as a Diverse and Equitable Democracy

20. The LEAP Vision for a Public-Spirited Liberal Education—Richly Engaged with Both Diversity and Disparity—Has Become Widely Embraced…

21. But It Lives Side-by-Side— and In Active Tension With—a Liberal Learning-Free Conception of College as Workforce Development and Job Preparation Only

22. College as “Workforce Development” “Completion” and Now “Employment” and Salary Level Become the Only Metrics for Success—While the Arts and Sciences Are Cut for Broad-Access Institutions Leaders are Indifferent to the Reality That First- Generation Students Take Fewer Arts and Sciences Courses Than Other Students, While Budget-Forced Arts and Sciences Reductions Make Inequity Even Worse First-Generation Students Also Are Less Likely Than Others to Benefit From “High Impact” Practices, Such as Undergraduate Research, Capstone Projects, Internships, and Study Abroad

23. Against These Forces, Higher Education’s Leaders Need to Band Together to Make the Case for a Liberal and Liberating Education for All Students, Not Just Some

24. But HOW Do We Educate Students for a World Lived in Common With Others?

25. Connecting Liberal Learning with the Needs of the Wider Society

26. Three Key Priorities A Broad, Compelling Vision Students’ Direct, Faculty-Guided Engagement with the World’s Urgent Questions— Contemporary and Enduring A Remapping of Curricular Pathways— General Education and Majors, Both—to Build Students’ Capacities to Engage Urgent Questions; Develop Capacities for Evidence- Based Reasoning; Work with Others to Devise Solutions; and Take Responsibility for Pursuing a Signature Question of Significance to Society—AND to the Student

27. An Earlier Example of a Broad and Compelling Educational Vision The Report of the Truman Commission on Higher Education, 1947, Vol. 1

28. The Truman Commission, 1947, Vol. 1 The “principal goals” of higher education are “to bring to all the people of the Nation: Education for a fuller realization of democracy in every phase of living; Education directly and explicitly for international understanding and cooperation Education for the application of creative imagination and trained intelligence to the solution of social problems…”

29. Imagine This Vision Updated for Our Time and Century…

30. Higher Education Needs Such a Vision to Make the Case for the Essential and Indispensable Role of Liberal Education in Achieving Fundamental Societal Goals… The Fuller Realization of Democracy and Justice Global Cooperation and Understanding Solutions to the World’s Most Urgent Problems, At Home and Abroad Brainpower for an Economy Absolutely Dependent on Innovation…

31. A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future, AAC&U, 2012 (Developed with Diversity and Democracy Scholars and Released at the White House in January 2012)

32. A Crucible Moment’s Key Recommendation— Higher Education Should Tackle Public Problems in Partnership with the Wider Community and Students Should Participate in “Civic Problem-Solving”

33. Connecting Curricular Pathways to the World’s Big Questions—Contemporary and Enduring

34. The Challenges at Home and Abroad Are Immense—

35. Within U.S. Democracy… The Communications and Technology Revolutions…And Their Efforts in All Sectors Education and Equity: Generations of Children Still Left Behind Stalled Social Mobility, the Environment, and an Aging Population Violence Against People in Minority Racial, Ethnic, Religious, and LGBTQ Communities Reversals in Access to Voting in Many States

36. Across the Globe Energy and the Environment Poverty, Suffering, Oppression, and Wars Illiteracy and Its Effects Terrorism and Dread Pervasive Fear of “The Other”

37. A Broad Education—Rich in Arts and Sciences Studies—is Absolutely Indispensable in Building Both Our Commitment and Our Capacity to Tackle These Problems Successfully

38. To Ensure a Just, Equitable, and Sustainable Future, Graduates Need… The Capacity to Envision Analytical Skills to Test Alternatives The Desire and Ability to Collaborate Across Difference in the Search for Solutions The Wisdom to Consider Larger Contexts and Consequences The Commitment to Devote Time and Talent to the Making of a Better World

39. Above All, College Graduates Need Direct Experience— Across the Curriculum—in Probing and Tackling Urgent Questions of Their Own Choosing

40. In The Words of the Truman Commission… The goal is to bring “creative imagination and trained intelligence to the solution of social problems”—and problems in the workplace as well. To achieve this goal, we need to foster integrative, problem-centered learning across the disciplines.

41. Remapping Educational Pathways—To Foreground Cross-Disciplinary Study of Significant Questions, Both Contemporary and Enduring

42. The LEAP Challenge— Preparing Students to Do “Signature Work” on Important Questions and Problems

43. The LEAP Challenge in Detail Make Students’ Signature Work—lasting a semester or more—on a “big question” or unscripted problem an expected component of college and the best demonstration of what students can successfully do with their learning

44. Moving Inquiry to the Center of the Curriculum Suppose We Envisioned College Study as Guided Preparation for Students to Identify and Work on a Signature Topic and Related Work—Courses and Projects, Curricular and Co-Curricular

45. Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry and Signature Studies The First-Year or Gateway Experience Should Introduce Illustrative Questions and Problems The Entire Educational Experience Should Build Capacity to Grapple with Significant Questions The Students’ Portfolio Should Demonstrate Deep Engagement with One or More Significant Problems—Problems That Matter to the Student and Problems that Matter to the Wider Society

46. Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry and Signature Studies (continued) Disciplinary Inquiry is Still Foundational But Students Also Need Experience in Connecting Their Disciplines with Other Perspectives and Voices And, Both for Civic Participation and for Work, Students Need Active Engagement In Their Own Inquiry-Centered Studies and Projects

47. Liberal Education Resurgent— Leading with Vision, Values, and Collaborative Intelligence, Through and for the Demonstrated Value of a Horizon-Expanding Education

48. Four Recommendations Articulate That Compelling Vision—For Liberal Education in the Service of Society Connect College Study with the World’s Big Questions—Contemporary and Enduring Focus the Curriculum on Developing Powers of the Mind—and Heart Expect Each Student—Yes, Every One of Them!—To Devote Time and Talent to Signature Questions of Their Own Choosing, Support Their Efforts, and Celebrate the Results