Yale professor Donald Kagan delivers remarks upon accepting the fourth annual Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education with an introduction by the Honorable Jose A. Cabranes. Professor Kagan implored participants to be freshmen—to approach issues from an independent perspective and to open their minds to a broad range of ideas and philosophies. He warned against being a sophomore, which, as its Greek root makes clear, means self-satisfied, opinionated, and know-it-all. The award was presented on October 17, 2008 in New York City.
Since the advent of television, American presidents have used their farewell addresses to deliver messages that can only come from a chief executive preparing to depart the White House for the final time. These speeches typically seek to recapitulate in the best light the previous four or eight years and use the bully pulpit one last time to […]
Andrew Ollett, an associate professor at the University of Chicago, used to wear a t-shirt that read “Sanskrit or die (pāṇḍityaṁ śaraṇaṁ vā mē mr̥tyur vā).” Referring to an ancient language from South Asia, Dr. Ollett’s shirt captured the spirit of the institution. Students dub it the university “where fun goes to die” because of […]
On October 6, the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal released a report on civics requirements in college and secondary education across all 50 states. Worried about growing civic ignorance and political polarization, more states are requiring high schools and colleges to teach civics: the history, institutions, and traditions that form America’s political system. The Martin Center’s report found that 14 of 50 states require students to take a civics class in order to graduate from public universities.
Six years ago, a faculty committee at Ursinus College near Philadelphia sat down to review its core curriculum. The usual results of such meetings, some critics of higher education say, are minor adjustments in a smorgasbord of courses that don’t really have much to do with each other. At Ursinus, with 1,500 students and a […]
I am upset that my daughter won’t take an economics course, and that her college won’t make her do so. You will be surprised how few of our nation’s finest colleges–I have a list of 50 in front of me–require general economics for graduation. But let’s first consider the broader issue of liberal arts courses […]
College students around the country are returning to school this weekend. What are they going to learn when they get there? Not what they should, according to a recent publication of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, titled “What Will They Learn? A Report on General Education Requirements at 100 of the Nation’s Leading […]
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