The ForumCore Curriculum
New Data: Students Ready to Learn, but Colleges Fail to Require Essential Classes
While general knowledge remains poor, ACTA’s arts and sciences survey shows that students have a strong appetite for learning.
In her column, Maureen Downey misses the point. The issue is not whether students are being pulled left, right or otherwise but whether they are being taught what they need to know. And evidence shows they are not.
At institutions across the country, students can graduate without ever taking such subjects as Shakespeare, American political history or military history as professors abandon the teaching of more “traditional” fields in favor of other subjects.
The problem is not active indoctrination but the far more subtle damage that occurs when course offerings are driven by the varied interests and agendas of the faculty and not the intellectual needs of the students. Students cannot know what they are not taught. And that should have parents, students and taxpayers concerned.
Anne D. Neal
President
American Council of Trustees and Alumni
Washington
While general knowledge remains poor, ACTA’s arts and sciences survey shows that students have a strong appetite for learning.
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has recognized the Center for Public Service at the University of Pikeville, Concourse at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University as Oases of Excellence.
Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives an intellectually rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.
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