DOCUMENT RESUME ED 247 880 AUTHOR TITLE INSTITUTION PUB DATE NOTE HE 017 843 Bennett, W i l l i a m J . To R e c l a i m a L e g a c y : A R e p o r t on t h e H u m a n i t i e s i n Higher Education.

N a t i o n a l Endowment f o r t h e H u m a n i t i e s (NFAH), W a s h i n g t o n , D.C. Nov 84 6 3 p . ; A r e p o r t b a s e d on m e e t i n g s o f t h e S t u d y G r o u p on t h e S t a t e o f L e a r n i n g i n t h e H u m a n i t i e s i n H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n ( W a s h i n g t o n , DC, A p r i l 2 4 , J u n e 8, a n d J u l y 24, 1 9 8 4 ) . R e p o r t s - E v a l u a t i v e / F e a s i b i l i t y (142) MF01/PC03 P l u s P o s t a g e . Academic E d u c a t i o n ; Change S t r a t e g i e s ; " C o l l e g e Curriculum; College Instruction; College Presidents; Departments; " E d u c a t i o n a l Assessment; E d u c a t i o n a l Change; E d u c a t i o n a l O b j e c t i v e s ; " E d u c a t i o n a l Q u a l i t y ; Graduate Study; Graduation Requirements; "Higher Education; "Humanities Instruction; "Instructional Improvement; L e a d e r s h i p ; Secondary E d u c a t i o n ; Undergraduate Study "Excellence i n Education
T e a c h i n g and l e a r n i n g of the h u m a n i t i e s a t the b a c c a l a u r e a t e l e v e l were a s s e s s e d by a b l u e - r i b b o n s t u d y group of 31 n a t i o n a l l y p r o m i n e n t a u t h o r i t i e s on h i g h e r e d u c a t i o n convened by the N a t i o n a l Endowment f o r t h e H u m a n i t i e s . Some a t t e n t i o n was a l s o g i v e n i n t h e c o n t e x t o f t h e h u m a n i t i e s t o how s e c o n d a r y and g r a d u a t e e d u c a t i o n have a f f e c t e d u n d e r - g r a d u a t e e d u c a t i o n and been a f f e c t e d by i t . A n s w e r s w e r e . s o u g h t t o t h r e e b a s i c q u e s t i o n s : (1) What i s t h e c o n d i t i o n o f l e a r n i n g i n t h e h u m a n i t i e s ? (2) Why i s i t as i t i s ? (3) What, i f a n y t h i n g , s h o u l d be done a b o u t i t ? The f i v e s e c t i o n s of t h e r e p o r t c o v e r t h e f o l l o w i n g t o p i c s : (1) Why s t u d y t h e h u m a n i t i e s ? (2) How s h o u l d t h e h u m a n i t i e s be t a u g h t and l e a r n e d ? (3) How w e l l a r e t h e h u m a n i t i e s b e i n g t a u g h t and l e a r n e d ? (4) The r o l e o f academic o f f i c i a l s i n s t r e n g t h e n i n g t h e p l a c e of t h e h u m a n i t i e s ; (S) How c o l l e g e " and u n i v e r s i t i e s m i g h t do a b e t t e r j o b i n t r a n s m i t t i n g t h e a c c u m u l a t e d wisdom o f o u r c i v i l i z a t i o n . F o u r k i n d s of i n f o r m a t i o n a i d e d d i s c u s s i o n : (1) D e s c r i p t i o n s o f g r a d u a t i o n r e q u i r e m e n t s a t 15 r e p r e s e n t a t i v e c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s ; (2) R e p o r t s by s t u d y group members on t h e h u m a n i t i e s i n s e c o n d a r y e d u c a t i o n , two y e a r c o l l e g e s , and g r a d u a t e s c h o o l s ; (3) P a p e r s by s t u d y g r o u p members recommending ways t o i m p r o v e t e a c h i n g and l e a r n i n g i n t h e h u m a n i t i e s ; (4) Data f r o m s e v e r a l n a t i o n a l s t u d i e s and s u r v e y s p e r t a i n i n g t o u n d e r g r a d u a t e e d u c a t i o n and t o t h e h u m a n i t i e s i n g e n e r a l . I t i s n o t e d t h a t over t h e p a s t 20 y e a r s , t h e p l a c e of the h u m a n i t i e s i n the U.S. undergraduate c u r r i c u l u m has e r o d e d and t h e o v e r a l l c o h e r e n c e of the h u m a n i t i e s c u r r i c u l u m has d e c l i n e d . To r e v e r s e t h e d e c l i n e , t h e r e p o r t recommends t h e f o l l o w i n g : (1) The u n d e r g r a d u a t e c u r r i c u l u m s h o u l d be r e s h a p e d b a s e d on a c l e a r v i s i o n of what c o n s t i t u t e s an educated p e r s o n , r e g a r d l e s s o f m a j o r ; (2) Academic o f f i c i a l s must make p l a i n what t h e i r i n s t i t u t i o n s s t a n d t o r and what knowledge i s r e g a r d e d as e s s e n t i a l t ? a good e d u c a t i o n ; (3) F a c u l t i e s must put a s i d e narrow d e p a r t m e n t a l i s m and work t o shape a c h a l l e n g i n g common c u r r i c u l u m w i t h a c o r e of s t u d i e s i n h i s t o r y , p h i l o s o p h y , l a n g u a g e s , and l i t e r a t u r e ; (*) E x c e l l e n t t e a c h i n g s h o u l d be rewarded t h r o u g h d e x i s i o n s i n h i r i n g , p r o m o t i o n , and t e n u r e ; (5) The h u m a n i t i e s and t h e s t u d y of W e s t e r n c i v i l i z a t i o n s h o u l d be p l a c e d a t t h e c o r e of t h e c o l l e g e c u r r i c u l u m , i n t e n d e d f o r a l l s t u d e n t s and not j u s t f o r h u m a n i t i e s m a j o r s . The r e p o r t c l o s e s by i d e n t i f y i n g a s e t of s p e c i f i c q u e s t i o n s t h a t s h o u l d be a d d r e s s e d by c o l l e g e p r e s i d e n t s , h u m a n i t i e s f a c u l t y , h u m a n i t i e s d e p a r t m e n t s , and the a c a c e m i c community i n g e n e r a l . (SW/WTB)

PUB TYPE EDRS P R I C E DESCRIPTORS

IDENTIFIERS ABSTRACT

TO RECLAIM LEGACY A Report on the Humanities i n Higher Education

William J . Bennett

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION J CENTER IERICI :Uis document has been reproduced a s rocdivcd from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points u) viow or opinions statod in this document do not necessarily represent official position or policy.

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

National Endowment f o r the Humanities November 1984

CONTENTS

Foreword Introduction I. II. '

i 1 5 7 7 9 13 17 20 23 27 29 31 34 37

Why study the humanities? How should the humanities be taught and learned? Good teaching A good curriculum What should be read?

III.

How w e l l are the humanities being taught and learned on the nation's campuses? The s t a t e o f teaching i n the humanities E f f e c t s o f graduate education on teaching The s t a t e o f the humanities curriculum E f f e c t s o f the curriculum on secondary education B r i g h t spots i n the curriculum

IV. V.

Tbe challenge t o academic l e a d e r s h i p Concluding thoughts

Appended : Fact Sheet (names, addresses, and telephone numbers of study group members) News Release: "Report on the Humanities i n H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n F i n d s D e f i c i e n c i e s and D e c l i n e Nationwide i n C u r r i c u l u m , Teaching and L e a r n i n g , Suggests G u i d e l i n e s "To Reclaim a Legacy".

Members of the Study Group on the State of Learning i n the Humanities i n HighT Education William Arrowsmith Professor of C l a s s i c s Emory U n i v e r s i t y William M. Banks Professor of Afro-American Studies U n i v e r s i t y of C a l i f o r n i a , Berkeley i Robert M. Berdahl Dean of Arts and Sciences U n i v e r s i t y of Oregon Wayne C. Booth Professor of English u n i v e r s i t y of Chicago Mark H. C u r t i s President A s s o c i a t i o n of American Colleges Roland D i l l e President Moorhead State U n i v e r s i t y Mary Maples Dunn Oean of Undergraduates Bryn Mawr College Frances 0. Fergusson Vice President f o r Academic A f f a i r s Bucknell u n i v e r s i t y Chester E. Finn, J r . Professor of Education and P u b l i c P o l i c y Vanderbilt U n i v e r s i t y Samuel R. Gammon Executive Director American H i s t o r i c a l Association Hanna H. Gray President u n i v e r s i t y of Chicago K a r l Haigler P r i n c i p a l , Upper School Heathwood H a l l Episcopal School Janice H. Harris Associate Dean U n i v e r s i t y of Wyoming

Beverly Hai?ris-Schenz Assistant Dean, College of Arts and Sciences U n i v e r s i t y of P i t t s b u r g h Paul Oskar K r i s t e l l e r Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Columbia u n i v e r s i t y Robert M. Longsworth Oean of Arts and Sciences Q b e r l i n College S i s t e r Candida Lund, O.P. Chancellor Rosary College Jon N. Moline Professor of Philosophy U n i v e r s i t y of Wisconsin, Madison C i r i a c o Moron-Arroyo Professor of Spanish and Comparative L i t e r a t u r e Cornell University P h i l i p M. Phibbs President u n i v e r s i t y of Puget Sound Diane Ravitch Adjunct Professor of History and Education Teacher's College Columbia U n i v e r s i t y Noel B. Reynolds Associate Academic Vice President Brigham Young U n i v e r s i t y David Riesman Professor of Sociology Harvard U n i v e r s i t y Frederick Rudolph Professor of H i s t o r y . Williams College David Savage The Los Angeles Times John E. Sawyer President Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

John R. S i l b e r President Boston u n i v e r s i t y Linda Spoerl Professor of E n g l i s h H i g h l i n e Convnmity College David H. Stewart Professor of E n g l i s h Texas A&M U n i v e r s i t y Donald M. Stewart President Spelman College Ewa Thompson Professor of Russian L i t e r a t u r e Rice U n i v e r s i t y Alternates Diane B a l e s t r i Associate Dean Bryn Mawr College (for Ms. Dunn) Claire List Program D i r e c t o r Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (for Mr. Sawyer)
N

James Morris Program D i r e c t o r Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (for Mr. Sawyer) Jon Westling Provost Boston U n i v e r s i t y (for Mr. S i l b e r ) Observer/Consultant C l i f f o r d Adelman Senior Associate National I n s t i t u t e of Education NEH S t a f f D i r e c t o r Daniel Schecter

Our c i v i l i z a t i o n cannot e f f e c t i v e l y be maintained where i t s t i l l f l o u r i s h e s , or be restored where i t has been crushed, without the r e v i v a l o f the c e n t r a l , continuous and perennial c u l t u r e o f the Western world..
;

Walter Lippmann, 1941

One reason I wanted t o make the g i f t (was) t o remind young people that the l i b e r a l a r t s are s t i l l the t r a d i t i o n a l highway t o great t h i n k i n g and the organization o f a l i f e . James Michener, appearing on the September 26, 1984, CBS Morning News on the occasion of h i s $2 m i l l i o n g i f t to Swarthmore College.

FOREWORD

In March 1984 I i n v i t e d t h i r t y - o n e prominent teachers, s c h o l a r s , a d m i n i s t r a t o r s , and a u t h o r i t i e s on higher education t o j o i n a Study Group on the State o f Learning i n the Humanities i n Higher Education. The

study group h e l d three p u b l i c meetings during the s p r i n g and summer t o seek answers t o three questions: What i s the c o n d i t i o n o f l e a r n i n g i n

the humanities; why i s i t as i t i s ; and what, i f anything, should be done about i t ? Our d i s c u s s i o n centered on the teaching and l e a r n i n g of the humanities a t the baccalaureate l e v e l , but we a l s o considered how secondary and graduate education have a f f e c t e d undergraduate education and been a f f e c t e d by i t .

The study group was charged with assessing only the state of the humanities, not that o f other subjects taught a t 'the c o l l e g e l e v e l o r higher education g e n e r a l l y . That t h i s report does not discuss these other subjects notably mathematics, the sciences, ..and. the the s o c i a l sciences i s i n no way a commentary on t h e i r importance. They too are

e s s e n t i a l to an educated person but l i e outside the mandate o f our group.

The members of the study group came from research u n i v e r s i t i e s , land grant c o l l e g e s , coeducational l i b e r a l a r t s c o l l e g e s , women's c o l l e g e s , h i s t o r i c a l l y black c o l l e g e s , two-year c o l l e g e s , and secondary schools. They included presidents, v i c e presidents, deans, and

professors, as w e l l as o f f i c i a l s of educational and s c h o l a r l y

ii V -

a s s o c i a t i o n s , a j o u r n a l i s t , a foundation o f f i c e r , and a school principal. itself. They were, i n sum, as diverse as the e n t e r p r i s e of education

As one would expect from such a heterogeneous group o f capable, experienced i n d i v i d u a l s , there was o f t e n l i v e l y d i s c u s s i o n , sometimes debate. Despite our d i f f e r e n t backgrounds and p e r s p e c t i v e s , however, we

found common ground on a number of important p o i n t s .

The study group's discussions were aided by four kinds of

*

information:
\

D e t a i l e d d e s c r i p t i o n s o f graduation requirements a t f i f t e e n c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s r e p r e s e n t a t i v e of a d i v e r s i t y of i n s t i t u t i o n s . Reports prepared by study group members on the humanities i n secondary education, two-year c o l l e g e s , and graduate schools.

Papers w r i t t e n by i n d i v i d u a l members of the study group recommending ways t o improve teaching and l e a r n i n g i n the humanities.

Data from s e v e r a l n a t i o n a l studies and surveys p e r t a i n i n g to undergraduate education and t o the humanities i n general.

iii

In t h i s r e p o r t I o f f e r my assessment, based on these meetings, o f the s t a t e of l e a r n i n g i n the humanities i n higher education. Although,

the r e p o r t i s informed t o no s m a l l degree by the work o f the study group, r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r authorship belongs t o me. Members of the group were From t h e i r

shown a d r a f t of the report and asked to comment cn i t .

responses, i t i s c l e a r that they concur with the r e p o r t ' s general t h r u s t and with i t s p a r t i c u l a r p o i n t s .

The study group was convened at t h i s p a r t i c u l a r moment because the time i s r i g h t f o r c o n s t r u c t i v e reform of American education. Over the

past two years, most of i;he n a t i o n a l a t t e n t i o n has been d i r e c t e d to elementary and secondary education. This s c r u t i n y , epitomized by the

National Commission on Excellence i n Education, has contributed to a number of long-overdue changes, with s t a t e and l o c a l governments l e a d i n g the way. Higher education has l a r g e l y escaped the p u b l i c ' s eye except

f o r the National Commission oh Student F i n a n c i a l Assistance and occasional s t u d i e s , commissions, and appeals by higher education specialists. This s i t u a t i o n should and w i l l change. Indeed, i t has

already begun to change with the recent p u b l i c a t i o n of a report from the National I n s t i t u t e o f Education's Study Group on the Conditions of Excellence i n American Higher Education and the forthcoming report of the A s s o c i a t i o n of American Colleges on the q u a l i t y of the baccalaureate degree. With more than h a l f of a l l high school graduates now going on to parents, employers,

some form of post-secondary education, the p u b l i c

alumni, and the students themselves i s beginning to ask, and has the

10

iv

r i g h t t o ask, whether today's c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s are o f f e r i n g t o America's youth an education worthy o f our h e r i t a g e . This r e p o r t has f i v e s e c t i o n s . The f i r s t , "Why study the humanities?," explores b r i e f l y ' t h e question o f what the humanities are and why they a r e important, t o an educated person. The second s e c t i o n ,

"How should the humanities be taught and learned?," o f f e r s the study group's and my thoughts on what c o n s t i t u t e s an appropriate education i n the humanities. The t h i r d s e c t i o n , "How well, are the humanities being

taught and learned on the nation's campuses?," compares the achievable t o the a c t u a l , again drawing h e a v i l y from the study group's d i s c u s s i o n s . The f o u r t h sectiON, "The challenge t o academic l e a d e r s h i p , " discusses the r o l e o f c o l l e g e presidents and other academic o f f i c i a l s i n strengthening the place o f the humanities. The f i f t h and f i n a l s e c t i o n o f f e r s some

thoughts on how c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s migr*- do a b e t t e r job i n t r a n s m i t t i n g t h e accumulated wisdom of our c i v i l i z a t i o n .

I want to thank the members o f the study group f o r t h e i r hard work, t h e i r i n s p i r e d d i s c u s s i o n s a t our meetings, the thoughtful papers they submitted f o r c o n s i d e r a t i o n and d i s c u s s i o n , and t h e i r h e l p f u l suggestions i n reviewing a d r a f t o f t h i s r e p o r t . I e s p e c i a l l y want t o thank Daniel Schecter^of the Endowment f o r heading up the s t a f f e f f o r t on t h i s p r o j e c t .

INTRODUCTION: TO RECLAIM A LEGACY

Although more than 50 percent of America"'s high school graduates '

continue t h e i r education at American c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s , few o f them can be s a i d to r e c e i v e there an adequate education i n the c u l t u r e and c i v i l i z a t i o n of which they are members. Most of our c o l l e g e graduates remain shortchanged i n the humanities h i s t o r y j l i t e r a t u r e , philosophy, and the i d e a l s and p r a c t i c e s bf the, past that have ..shaped the s o c i e t y they^enter. The f a u l t l i e s p r i n c i p a l l y with those of us whose business i t i s t o educate these students. r e s p o n s i b i l i t y i s ours. We have blamed others, but the

Not by our words but by our a c t i o n s , by our

i n d i f f e r e n c e , and by our i n t e l l e c t u a l d i f f i d e n c e we have brought about t h i s c o n d i t i o n . I t i s we the educators people, or the general p u b l i c not s c i e n t i s t s , business

who too o f t e n have-given up the great, Thus, what we have

task of t r a n s m i t t i n g a c u l t u r e to i t s r i g h t f u l .heirs.

on many of our campuses i s an unclaimed legacy, a course of s t u d i e s i n which the humanities have been siphoned o f f , d i l u t e d , or so adulterated that students graduate knowing l i t t l e , of t h e i r h e r i t a g e . In p a r t i c u l a r , the study group was disturbed by a number of trends and developments i n higher education: * '

Many of our c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s have l o s t a c l e a r sense of

;

the importance of the humanities and the purpose of education, 'allowing the thickness of t h e i r catalogues to s u b s t i t u t e f o r v i s i o n and a philosophy of education.

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-2

o The humanities, and p a r t i c u l a r l y the study of Western c i v i l i z a t i o n , have l o s t t h e i r c e n t r a l place i n the undergraduate curriculum. At best, they a r e but one subject among many that students

might be exposed t o before graduating. At worst, and too o f t e n , the humanities are v i r t u a l l y absent.

A student can obtain a bachelor's degree from 75 percent o f a l l American c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s without having s t u d i e d European
c

h i s t o r y ; from 72 percent without having s t u d i e d American l i t e r a t u r e or h i s t o r y ; and from 86 percent without having studied the c i v i l i z a t i o n s o f c l a s s i c a l Greece and Rome. Fewer than h a l f o f a l l c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s now require f o r e i g n language study f o r the bachelor's degree, down from nearly 90 percent i n 1966.

The s o l e acquaintance with the humanities f o r many undergraduates comes during t h e i r f i r s t two years o f c o l l e g e , often i n ways that discourage f u r t h e r study.

The number o f students choosing majors i n the humanities has

plummeted. Since 1970 the number of majors i n E n g l i s h has declined by 57 percent, i n philosophy by 41 percent, i n h i s t o r y by 62 percent, and i n modern languages by 50 percent.

13

Too many students are graduating from American c o l l e g e s and

u n i v e r s i t i e s l a c k i n g even the most rudimentary knowledge about the h i s t o r y , l i t e r a t u r e , a r t , and p h i l o s o p h i c a l foundations of t h e i r nation and t h e i r c i v i l i z a t i o n .

The d e c l i n e i n l e a r n i n g i n the humanities was caused i n part by

a f a i l u r e o f nerve and f a i t h on the part of many c o l l e g e f a c u l t i e s and a d m i n i s t r a t o r s , and p e r s i s t s because of a vacuum i n educational leadership. A recent study o f c o l l e g e presidents found that only 2

percent are a c t i v e i n t h e i r i n s t i t u t i o n s ' academic a f f a i r s .

In order t o reverse the d e c l i n e , the study group recommended:

The nation's c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s must reshape t h e i r

undergraduate c u r r i c u l a based on a c l e a r v i s i o n o f what c o n s t i t u t e s an educated person, regardless o f major, and on the study of h i s t o r y , philosophy, languages, and l i t e r a t u r e .

College and u n i v e r s i t y presidents must take r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r the educational needs o f a l l students i n t h e i r i n s t i t u t i o n s by making p l a i n what the i n s t i t u t i o n stands f o r and what knowledge i t regards as e s s e n t i a l t o a good education.

Colleges and u n i v e r s i t i e s must reward e x c e l l e n t teaching i n h i r i n g , promotion, and tenure d e c i s i o n s .

14

 F a c u l t i e s must put aside narrow departmentalism

and instead work

w i t h administrators t o shape a challenging curriculum with a core of common s t u d i e s .

Study of the humanities and Western c i v i l i z a t i o n must take i t s place a t the heart of the c o l l e g e curriculum.

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I.

Why study the humanities?

The f e d e r a l l e g i s l a t i o n that e s t a b l i s h e d the N a t i o n a l Endowment f o r the Humanities i n 1965 defined the humanities as s p e c i f i c d i s c i p l i n e s : "language, both modern and c l a s s i c a l ; l i n g u i s t i c s ; l i t e r a t u r e ; h i s t o r y ; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative r e l i g i o n ; e t h i c s ; the h i s t o r y , c r i t i c i s m , and theory o f the a r t s " ; and "those aspects of the s o c i a l sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods." But t o define the humanities by i t e m i z i n g the academic f i e l d s they embrace i s t o overlook the q u a l i t i e s that make them uniquely important and worth studying. Expanding on a phrase from Matthew Arnold, I would describe the humanities as the best that has been s a i d , thought, w r i t t e n , and otherwise expressed about the human experience. The humanities t e l l us how men and women of our own and other c i v i l i z a t i o n s have grappled with l i f e ' s enduring, fundamental questions: What i s justice? courage? What should be loved? What i s noble? What deserves t o be defended? What i s

What i s base? Why do c i v i l i z a t i o n s f l o u r i s h ?

Why do they d e c l i n e ?

A.
Kant defined the essence o f the humanities i n four questions: What can I know? What should I do? What may I hope for? Wlpat i s man? These

questions are not simply d i v e r s i o n s f o r i n t e l l e c t u a l s or playthings f o r the i d l e . As a r e s u l t o f the ways i n which these questions have been

answered, c i v i l i z a t i o n s have emerged, nations have developed, wars have been fought, and people have l i v e d contentedly or miserably.

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I f ideas are important', i t s u r e l y f o l l o w s that l e a r n i n g and l i f e are poorer without the humanities. Montaigne wrote:

A p u p i l should be taught what i t means to know something, and what i t means not t o know i t ; what should be the design and end of study; what v a l o r , temperance, and j u s t i c e are; the d i f f e r e n c e between ambition and greed, l o y a l t y and s e r v i t u d e , l i b e r t y and l i c e n s e ; and the marks of true and s o l i d contentment.

Further, the humanities can c o n t r i b u t e to an informed sense of community by enabling us t o l e a r n about and become p a r t i c i p a n t s i n a common c u l t u r e , shareholders i n our c i v i l i z a t i o n . .But our goal should be more than j u s t a common c u l t u r e even t e l e v i s i o n and the comics can give us t h a t . We should, i n s t e a d , want a l l students to know a common c u l t u r e rooted i n c i v i l i z a t i o n ' s l a s t i n g v i s i o n , i t s highest shared i d e a l s and a s p i r a t i o n s , and i t s h e r i t a g e . Professor E.O. Hirsch of the U n i v e r s i t y of V i r g i n i a c a l l s the beginning o f t h i s achievement "cultural

l i t e r a c y " and reminds us that "no c u l t u r e e x i s t s that i s ignorant of i t s own t r a d i t i o n s . " As the l a t e philosopher Charles Frankel once s a i d , i t

i s through the humanities that a c i v i l i z e d s o c i e t y t a l k s t o i t s e l f about things that matter most.

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II.

' How should the humanities be taught and learned?

Mankind's answers t o compelling questions are a v a i l a b l e t o us through the w r i t t e n and spoken word books, manuscripts, l e t t e r s , p l a y s , and o r a l t r a d i t i o n s and a l s o i n n o n l i t e r a r y forms, which John Ruskin c a l l e d the book o f a r t . Within them are expressions o f human greatness and o f pathos and tragedy. In order t o tap the consciousness and memory o f c i v i l i z a t i o n , one must confront these t e x t s and works of art.

The members o f the study group discussed at length the most e f f e c t i v e ways t o teach the humanities t o undergraduates. Our d i s c u s s i o n

returned c o n t i n u a l l y t o two b a s i c p r e r e q u i s i t e s f o r l e a r n i n g i n the humanities: good teaching and a good curriculum.

(a) Good teaching

Good teaching i s a t l e a s t as e s s e n t i a l i n the humanities as i n other f i e l d s o f l e a r n i n g . I n t h i s connection, i t i s c r i t i c a l to point

out that o f a l l undergraduate c r e d i t hours taken i n the humanities, 87 percent are taken i n the freshman and sophomore years. Because nonhumanities majors account f o r the l a r g e s t part of these c r e d i t hours, courses taken a t the i n t r o d u c t o r y l e v e l are the f i r s t and only c o l l e g i a t e exposure to the humanities f o r many students. Therefore, we should want to extend t o these students the most a t t r a c t i v e i n v i t a t i o n t o the humanities p o s s i b l e . This r e q u i r e s teachers who can make the humanities l i v e and who can guide students through the landscape of human thought.

Just as students can be drawn to the humanities by good teachers, they can be chased o f f by poor ones. "Students come to l e a r n i n g through t h e i r teachers," wrote O b e r l i n College Dean Robert Longsworth, "and no l i s t of great works nor any set of c u r r i c u l a r requirements can do the work of a good teacher." what poor teaching i s . ideological. Although i t can take many forms, we a l l know I t can be l i f e l e s s or tendentious, mechanical or

I t can be l a c k i n g i n c o n v i c t i o n . Perhaps most commonly, i t

can f a i l to have a sense of the s i g n i f i c a n c e of the m a t e r i a l i t purports to study and teach. I t can bore and deaden where i t means to quicken and

e l e v a t e . G i v i n g one example, Harvard Professor David Riesman pointed out that poor teaching can masquerade as good teaching when i t " i n v i t e s students to j o i n a club of s o p h i s t i c a t e d cynics who are w i t t y , abrasive, and sometimes engrossing; many teachers i n the humanities parade and g l o r i f y t h e i r e c c e n t r i c i t i e s , and only on r e f l e c t i o n and at some distance does one r e a l i z e that they are r e a l l y l i f e l e s s . "

What characterizes good teaching i n the humanities?

F i r s t , and

foremost, a teacher must have achieved mastery o f the m a t e r i a l . But t h i s i s not enough; there must a l s o be engagement. Professor William Arrowsmith of Emory u n i v e r s i t y described good teachers as "committed to teaching what they have learned to l o v e . " In one c r u c i a l way, good teachers cannot be dispassionate. They cannot be dispassionate about the works they teach assuming that they are teaching important works.

This does not mean they advocate each idea of every author, but rather that they are moved and are seen to be moved by the power of the works and are able to convey that power tc t h e i r students. scholarship i s i n s p i r e d , so must good teaching be. Just as good

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(b) A goo 1 curriculum

I f the teacher i s the guide, the curriculum i s the path.

A good

curriculum marks the p o i n t s of s i g n i f i c a n c e so that the student dees not wander a i m l e s s l y over the t e r r a i n , dependent; s o l e l y on chance to discover the landmarks of human achievement.

Colleges and u n i v e r s i t i e s have a r e s p o n s i b i l i t y to design general education c u r r i c u l a that i d e n t i f y these landmarks. David Savage of the

Los Angeles Times expressed the consensus of the study group when he said: "Most students enter c o l l e g e expecting that the u n i v e r s i t y and i t s

leaders have a c l e a r v i s i o n of what i s worth knowing and what i s important i n our heritage that a l l educated persons should know. They a l s o have a r i g h t t o expect that the u n i v e r s i t y sees i t s e l f as more than a catalogue of courses."

Although the study group embraced the p r i n c i p l e that a l l i n s t i t u t i o n s should accept r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r d e c i d i n g what t h e i r graduates should know, most members b e l i e v e d that no s i n g l e curi^culum could be appropriate i n a l l places. The study group recognized the diverse nature of higher education under whose umbrella are i n s t i t u t i o n s w i t h d i f f e r e n t h i s t o r i e s , p h i l o s o p h i e s , educational purposes, student body c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , and r e l i g i o u s and c u l t u r a l t r a d i t i o n s . Each

i n s t i t u t i o n must decide f o r i t s e l f what i t considers an educated person to be and what knowledge that person should possess. While doing so, no

i n s t i t u t i o n need act as i f i t were operating i n a vacuum. There are

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standards o f judqment: Some things are more important t o know than others. i

The choices a c o l l e g e o r u n i v e r s i t y makes f o r i t s cornnscr. curriculum should be rooted f i r m l y i n i t s i n s t i t u t i o n a l i d e n t i t y and educational purpose. In s u c c e s s f u l i n s t i t u t i o n s , an awareness o f what the c o l l e g e or u n i v e r s i t y i s t r y i n g t o do a c t s as a u n i f y i n g p r i n c i p l e , a thread that runs through and t i e s together the f a c u l t y , the curriculum, the students, and the a d m i n i s t r a t i o n . I f an i n s t i t u t i o n has no c l e a r l y conceived and a r t i c u l a t e d sense o f i t s e l f , i t s e f f o r t s t o design a curriculum w i l l r e s u l t i n l i t t l e more than an educational garage s a l e , p o s s i b l y s a t i s f y i n g most campus f a c t i o n s but serving no r e a l purpose and adding up to nothing o f s i g n i f i c a n c e . Developing a common curriculum with the In some i n s t i t u t i o n s i t w i l l ' be

humanities a t the core i s no easy task. d i f f i c u l t to attain.

But merely being exposed t o a v a r i e t y of subjects

and p o i n t s o f view i s not enough. Learning t o think c r i t i c a l l y and s k e p t i c a l l y i s not enough. Being w e l l rounded i s not enough i f , a f t e r a l l the sharp edges have been f i l e d down, discernment i s blunted and the graduate i s l e f t t o b e l i e v e without judgment, to decide Without wisdom, or t o act without standards.

The study group i d e n t i f i e d several features common to any good curriculum, regardless o f i n s t i t u t i o n a l p a r t i c u l a r s :

(1) Balance between breadth and depth. A good curriculum should embody both wide reading and close reading. Students should study a They

number o f important t e x t s and subjects with thoroughness and care.

'v.

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should a l s o become acquainted with other t e x t s and subjects capable o f g i v i n g them a broader view, a context f o r understanding what they know well. Excessive concentration i n one area, however, often abetted by

narrow departmentalism, can promote p r o v i n c i a l i s m and pedantry'; Conversely, as W i l l i a m Arrowsmith warned, going too f a r toward breadth could make the curriculum a mere "bus t r i p of the West" c h a r a c t e r i z e d by "shallow g e n e r a l i z a t i o n and stereotypes."

(2) O r i g i n a l t e x t s .

Most members of the study group believed that

the curriculum should be based on o r i g i n a l l i t e r a r y , h i s t o r i c a l , and p h i l o s o p h i c a l t e x t s rather than on secondary works or textbooks. By

reading such works, r e f l e c t i n g on them, d i s c u s s i n g them, and w r i t i n g about them, students w i l l come to understand the power of ideas.

(3) Continuity. The undergraduate's study of the humanities should not be l i m i t e d to the freshman and sophomore years. Rather, i t should extend throughout the undergraduate career so that continuing engagement with the humanities w i l l complement and add perspective to courses i n the major f i e l d as w e l l as c o n t r i b u t e to students' i n c r e a s i n g i n t e l l e c t u a l maturity as j u n i o r s and s e n i o r s . Professor Linda Spoerl of H i g h l i n e Community College s a i d : "The idea that general education requirements

should be s a t i s f i e d as q u i c k l y as p o s s i b l e before the student goes on to the ' r e a l ' part of education does everyone a d i s s e r v i c e .
11

(4) Faculty strength. Because a good curriculum must r e s t on a f i r m foundation of good teaching, i t f o l l o w s that the nature of that curriculum should respect areas of f a c u l t y competence and e x p e r t i s e . As

22

David Riesman pointed out, i t does l i t t l e good to r e q u i r e study o f Shakespeare i f there are no s c h o l a r s on the f a c u l t y who can teach Shakespeare w i t h i n s i g h t and contagious a p p r e c i a t i o n . On the other hand, any i n s t i t u t i o n that l a c k s f a c u l t y e x p e r t i s e i n the basic f i e l d s and work of the humanities should take immediate steps to f i l l those gaps or t o develop such competence i n e x i s t i n g f a c u l t y .

(5)

Conviction about the c e n t r a l i t y of the humanities.

Finally,

the humanities must not be argued f o r as something that w i l l make our students r e f i n e d , nor should the humanities be presented as a nonrigorous i n t e r l u d e where the young can chew over t h e i r f e e l i n g s , emote or rehash
f

t h e i r o p i n i o n s . The humanities are not an educational l u x u r y , and they are not j u s t f o r majors. They are a body of knowledge and a means of

i n q u i r y t h a t convey s e r i o u s t r u t h s , d e f e n s i b l e judgments, and s i g n i f i c a n t ideas. P r o p e r l y taught, the humanities b r i n g together the perennial questions of human l i f e w i t h the greatest works of h i s t o r y , l i t e r a t u r e , philosophy, and a r t . Unless the humanities are taught and studied i n t h i s way, there i s l i t t l e reason to o f f e r them.

Based on our d i s c u s s i o n s , we recommend the following knowledge i n the humanities as e s s e n t i a l to a c o l l e g e education:

Because our s o c i e t y i s the product and we the i n h e r i t o r s of

Western c i v i l i z a t i o n , American students need an understanding of i t s o r i g i n s and development, from i t s roots i n a n t i q u i t y to the present. This understanding should i n c l u d e a grasp of the major trends i n s o c i e t y ,

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r e l i g i o n , a r t , l i t e r a t u r e , and p o l i t i c s , as w e l l as a knowledge of b a s i c chronology.

A c a r e f u l reading of s e v e r a l masterworks of E n g l i s h , American,

and European l i t e r a t u r e .

An understanding of the most s i g n i f i c a n t ideas and debates i n

the h i s t o r y of philosophy.

Demonstrable p r o f i c i e n c y i n a f o r e i g n language (either modern or

c l a s s i c a l ) and the a b i l i t y to view that language as an avenue i n t o another c u l t u r e .

In a d d i t i o n to these areas of fundamental knowledge, study group members recommended that undergraduates have some f a m i l i a r i t y with the h i s t o r y , l i t e r a t u r e , r e l i g i o n , and philosophy of at l e a s t one non-Western c u l t u r e or c i v i l i z a t i o n . We think i t b e t t e r to have a deeper understanding of a s i n g l e non-Western c u l t u r e than a s u p e r f i c i a l taste of many. F i n a l l y , the study group thought that a l l students should study the h i s t o r y of science and technology.

What should be read?

A curriculum i s r a r e l y much stronger than the s y l l a b i of i t s courses, the arrays of t e x t s s i n g l e d out f o r c a r e f u l reading and discussion. The s y l l a b i should r e f l e c t the c o l l e g e ' s best judgment

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concerning s p e c i f i c t e x t s with which an educated person should be f a m i l i a r and should i n c l u d e t e x t s w i t h i n the competence and i n t e r e s t of i t s faculty.

Study group members agreed that an i n s t i t u t i o n ' s s y l l a b i should not be s e t i n stone; indeed, these s y l l a b i should change from time t o time t o take i n t o account the e x p e r t i s e o f a v a i l a b l e f a c u l t y and the r e s u l t o f continuing s c r u t i n y and refinement. The task, however, i s not t o take

f a c u l t y beyond t h e i r competence and t r a i n i n g , nor-to d i s p l a c e students' i n d i v i d u a l i n t e r e s t s and career planning, but t o reach and i n h a b i t common ground f o r a w h i l e .
1

We frequently hear that i t i s no longer p o s s i b l e to reach a consensus on the most s i g n i f i c a n t t h i n k e r s , the most c o u p e l l i n g i d e a s , and the books a l l students should read. Contemporary American c u l t u r e , the argument goes, has become too fragmented and too p l u r a l i s t i c t o j u s t i f y a b e l i e f i n common l e a r n i n g . Although i t i s e a s i e r (and more fashionable) t o doubt than t o b e l i e v e , i t i s a grave e r r o r t o base a c o l l e g e curriculum on such doubt. A l s o , I have long suspected that there

i s more consensus on what the important books are than many people have been w i l l i n g t o '<dmit.

In order t o t e s t t h i s p r o p o s i t i o n and t o l e a r n what the American p u b l i c t h i n k s are the most s i g n i f i c a n t works, I r e c e n t l y i n v i t e d s e v e r a l hundred educational and c u l t u r a l leaders t o recommend ten books that any high school graduate should have read. The general p u b l i c was a l s o

i n v i t e d i n a newspaper column by George F. W i l l t o send me t h e i r l i s t s .

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I received recommendations from more than f i v e hundred i n d i v i d u a l s . l i s t e d hundreds of d i f f e r e n t t e x t s and authors, yet four ~

They

Shakespeare's

p l a y s , American h i s t o r i c a l documents (the C o n s t i t u t i o n , Declaration of Independence, and F e d e r a l i s t Papers), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and the B i b l e ~ were c i t e d at l e a s t 50 percent of the time.

I have not done a comparable survey on what college graduates should read, but the point to be made i s c l e a r : Many people do b e l i e v e that some books are more important than others, and there i s broader agreement on what those books are than many have supposed. Each c o l l e g e ' s l i s t w i l l vary somewhat, r e f l e c t i n g the character of the i n s t i t u t i o n and other f a c t o r s . But there would be, and should be, s i g n i f i c a n t overlap.

I am often asked what I b e l i e v e to be the most s i g n i f i c a n t works i n the humanities. This i s an important question, too important to avoid.

Some works and t h e i r authors have profoundly influenced my l i f e , and i t i s p l a i n that the same works have influenced the l i v e s of many others as well. In providing a l i s t of these works and authors i t i s not my My

i n t e n t i o n (nor i s i t my r i g h t ) to d i c t a t e anyone's curriculum.

purpose i s not to prescribe a course of studies but t o answer, as candidly as I can, an oft-asked question.

The works and authors* I mention v i r t u a l l y define the development c f the Western mind. There are, at a number of i n s t i t u t i o n s , strong

introductory courses already i n place whose s y l l a b i include such works. These i n s t i t u t i o n s do not expect undergraduates to read most of the

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major works o f these authors. They have learned, however, that i t i s not unreasonable t o expect students t o read works by some o f them and to know who t h e others were and why they are important.

The works and authors I have i n mind i n c l u d e , but are not l i m i t e d to, the following: from c l a s s i c a l a n t i q u i t y Homer, Sophocles,

Thucydides, P l a t o , A r i s t o t l e , and V e r g i l ; from medieval, Renaissance, and seventeenth-century Europe Dante, Chaucer, M a c h i a v e l l i , Montaigne, Shakespeare, Hobbes, M i l t o n , and Locke; from eighteenth- through twentieth-century Europe S w i f t , Rousseau, Austen, Wordsworth, T o c q u e v i l l e , Dickens, George E l i o t , Dostoyevsky, Marx, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Mann and T. S. E l i o t ; from American l i t e r a t u r e and h i s t o r i c a l documents the D e c l a r a t i o n o f Independence, the F e d e r a l i s t Papers, the C o n s t i t u t i o n , the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, L i n c o l n ' s Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address, Martin Luther King, J r ' s . " L e t t e r from the Birmingham J a i l " and I have a dream . . , speech, and such authors as Hawthorne, M e l v i l l e , Twain, and Faulkner. F i n a l l y , I must mention the B i b l e , which i s the b a s i s f o r so much subsequent h i s t o r y , l i t e r a t u r e and philosophy. At a c o l l e g e or u n i v e r s i t y , what weight i s given to which authcrs must o f course depend on f a c u l t y competence and i n t e r e s t . But
i

should not every humanities f a c u l t y possess some members q u a l i f i e d to teach a t l e a s t something o f these authors?
V

, Why these p a r t i c u l a r books and these p a r t i c u l a r authors?

Because

an important p a r t o f education i s l e a r n i n g t o read, and the highest purpose of reading i s to be i n the company o f great s o u l s . There are, to be sure, many f i n e books and important authors not included i n the l i s t ,

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and they too deserve the student's time and a t t e n t i o n .

But to pass up

the opportunity t o spend time with t h i s company i s t o miss a fundamental experience o f higher education.

Great souls do not express themselves by the w r i t t e n word only; they a l s o p a i n t , s c u l p t , b u i l d , and compose. An educated person should be a b l e not only t o recognize some of t h e i r works, but a l s o to understand why they embody the best i n our c u l t u r e . Should we be s a t i s f i e d i f the

-graduates o f our c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s know nothing of the' Parthenon's t i m e l e s s c l a s s i c a l proportions, o f the textbook i n medieval f a i t h and philosophy t h a t i s Chartres c a t h e d r a l , of Michelangelo's S i s t i n e c e i l i n g , or o f the music o f Bach and Mozart?

III.

How w e l l are the humanities being taught and learned on the nation's campuses?

Our experience i n higher education and study o f e m p i r i c a l data convince us t h a t the humanities a r e being taught and learned with uneven success. Some i n s t i t u t i o n s do an outstanding job, some a poor one. At most c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s the humanities are taught both w e l l and poorly, w i t h i n s p i r a t i o n i n one classroom, e x c r u c i a t i n g dullness or pedantry i n another. O v e r a l l , however, both teaching and l e a r n i n g i n the

humanities are not what they should be or can be, and they are neither taught as w e l l nor s t u d i e d as c a r e f u l l y as they deserve t o be.

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Evidence f o r t h i s d e c l i n e i s compelling. P r e l i m i n a r y f i n d i n g s from a 1934-85 survey by the American C o u n c i l on Education i n d i c a t e that a student can o b t a i n a bachelor's degree from 75 percent o f a l l American c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s without having studied European h i s t o r y ; from 72 percent without having s t u d i e d American l i t e r a t u r e o r h i s t o r y ; and from 86 percent without having s t u d i e d the c i v i l i z a t i o n s of c l a s s i c a l Greece and Rome. The Modern Language A s s o c i a t i o n r e p o r t s that both entrance and graduation requirements i n f o r e i g n languages have been weakened s i g n i f i c a n t l y s i n c e 1966. I n that year, 33 percent o f a l l

c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s r e q u i r e d some f o r e i g n language study f o r admission. By 1975, only 18 percent r e q u i r e d a f o r e i g n language, and by

1983 only 14 percent. The p i c t u r e i s s i m i l a r f o r graduation requirements. In 1966, 89 percent o f a l l i n s t i t u t i o n s required f o r e i g n

language study f o r the bachelor's degree, dropping t o 53 percent i n 1975 and 47 percent i n 1983.

Conventional wisdom a t t r i b u t e s the steep drop i n the number o f students who major i n the humanities t o t h e i r concern f o r f i n d i n g good-paying jobs a f t e r c o l l e g e . Although there i s some t r u t h i n t h i s , we b e l i e v e t h a t there i s another, e q u a l l y important reason namely, that we i n the academy have f a i l e d t o b r i n g the humanities t o l i f e and t o i n s i s t on t h e i r value. From 1970 t o 1982 the number of bachelor's degrees awarded i n a l l f i e l d s increased by 11 percent from 846,110 to 952,998. But during the same p e r i o d , A g r e e s i n E n g l i s h dropped not by a few percentage p o i n t s , but by 57 percent, i n philosophy by 41 percent, i n h i s t o r y by 62 percent, and i n modern languages by 50 percent.

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Indications are t h a t the d e c l i n e i s continuing.

From 1975 to 1983 the

number of high school s e n i o r s who took the SAT exam and s p e c i f i e d an intended c o l l e g e major rose by 14 percent. Over the-same^eight-year p e r i o d , the number who planned to major i n the humanities f e l l by 42 percent. P r o s p e c t i v e h i s t o r y majors decreased by 60 percent.
{

I f further evidence of students' estrangement from the humanities i s r e q u i r e d , one need o n l y r e f e r t o the American C o u n c i l on Education's 1983 survey o f academic deans a t colleges and u n i v e r s i t i e s . Two-thirds

of those surveyed i n d i c a t e d t h a t the most able e n t e r i n g undergraduates were turning away from the humanities to other f i e l d s , mainly p r o f e s s i o n a l and t e c h n i c a l . This i s not merely a r e j e c t i o n of a career The

\ i n the humanities, but a r e j e c t i o n of the-humanities-themselves. former i s not a cause f o r alarm; the l a t t e r i s .

I m p r e s s i o n i s t i c or anecdotal evidence f o r the d e c l i n e of the humanities surfaces every time I t a l k with c o l l e g e professors, academic o f f i c e r s , and students. Such evidence i s f a m i l i a r : students who

graduate from c o l l e g e unable to w r i t e l u c i d l y or reason c l e a r l y and r i g o r o u s l y ; students who are preoccupied (even obsessed) with vocational goals a t the expense o f broadening the i n t e l l e c t ; students who are ignorant of philosophy and l i t e r a t u r e and know and care l i t t l e about the h i s t o r y o f t h e i r n a t i o n and t h e i r c u l t u r e . For example, I know of one

u n i v e r s i t y philosophy professor who administers a simple t e s t to h i s students a t the beginning of c l a s s e s each year to determine how much p r i o r knowledge he can presume. The t e s t c o n s i s t s o f ^ i d e n t i f y i n g twenty important names and events from h i s t o r y (such as Shakespeare, St.

-20-

Augustine, Beethoven, the P r o t e s t a n t Reformation, and Rembrandt). On the most recent t e s t , h i s students mainly sophomores and j u n i o r s -cor::ectly i d e n t i f i e d an average o f only s i x o f the twenty.

I must emphasize here that our aim i s not t o argue f o r more majors i n the humanities, but t o s t a t e as emphatically as we can that the humanities should have a p l a c e i n the education o f a l l . Our n a t i o n i s

s i g n i f i c a n t l y enriched by the breadth and d i v e r s i t y o f i t s p r o f e s s i o n s and occupations and the i n t e r e s t s o f i t s c i t i z e n s . Our u n i v e r s i t i e s

should continue t o encourage i n s t r u c t i o n i n a f u l l v a r i e t y o f f i e l d s and careers. But we du argue t h a t , whatever endeavors our students - u l t i m a t e l y choose, some s u b s t a n t i a l q u a l i t y i n s t r u c t i o n i n the humanities should be an i n t e g r a l p a r t o f everyone's collegiaf^ucation.To~studythe humanities i n no way d e t r a c t s from the career i n t e r e s t s o f students. Properly taught, they w i l l e n r i c h a l l .

The s t a t e of teaching i n the humanities

I f l e a r n i n g i n the humanities i s i n d e c l i n e , a t l e a s t some o f the blame must be assigned t o those who teach the humanities and t o academic administrators who determine the a l l o c a t i o n o f i n s t i t u t i o n a l resources. The study group c r i t i c i z e d some u n i v e r s i t i e s f o r surrendering the teaching o f i n t r o d u c t o r y and lower d i v i s i o n courses t o graduate a s s i s t a n t s o r adjunct, part-time f a c u l t y . In making these c r i t i c i s m s the

study group recognized that c l a s s e s taught by adjunct f a c u l t y and graduate students a l l o w the i n s t i t u t i o n t o serve more students per f a c u l t y s a l a r y d o l l a r , and that i t i s necessary t o give f u t u r e professors

31

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experience I n the classroom.

Nevertheless, the study group was concerned

**

tjhat such persons are not, as a group, the best teachers the most experienced, most accomplished, and most i n t e l l e c t u a l l y mature. They a r e

not capable o f extending the most a t t r a c t i v e i n v i t a t i o n t o the humanities to those lower d i v i s i o n students who account f o r n e a r l y 90 percent o f e l l humanities c r e d i t hours taken. I f students do not experience the best the humanities have t o o f f e r e a r l y i n t h e i r undergraduate careers, they are u n l i k e l y t o come back f o r more. U n i v e r s i t y o f Chicago Professor Wayne Booth s a i d i n h i s 1982 p r e s i d e n t i a l address t o the Modern Language Association:

We have chosen no one required i t o f us t o say t o the world, almost i n so many words, that we do not care who teaches the onmajors o r under what c o n d i t i o n s , so long as the troublesome hordes move on and out: forced i n by requirements, forced out by The great

discouragement, or by d i s g u s t , or by l i t e r a l f a i l u r e .

p u b l i c f e a r s o r despises us because we h i r e a vast army o f underpaid f l u n k i e s t o teach the s o - c a l l e d s e r v i c e courses, so that we can g l a d l y teach, i n our advanced courses, those precious souls who s u r v i v e the g a u n t l e t . Give us l o v e r s and we w i l l love them, but do not expect us t o study c o u r t s h i p . I f we had decided to run up a f l a g on the quad saying that we care not a whit whether our s o c i e t y c o n s i s t s o f people who p r a c t i c e c r i t i c a l understanding, so long as we are I f f t f r e e t o teach advanced courses, we could not have given a c l e a r e r message.

And Frank Vandiver, President of Texas A&M U n i v e r s i t y , r e c e n t l y

32

analyzed the problem t h i s way: to happen to themselves.

"The l i b e r a l a r t s . . . have allowed t h i s

They have allowed themselves to s i t behind

ivy-covered w a l l s and say, 'We are the l i b e r a l a r t s and to h e l l with you.'"

The problem i s more than j u s t who does the teaching; i t i s a l s o how the humanities are taught. Too o f t e n i n t r o d u c t o r y humanities courses are taught as i f they were i n i t i a l preparation f o r majors r a t h e r than as general education f o r a l l students. This o f t e n -contributes t o a fragmented, compartmentalized c u r r i c u l u m i n s t e a d o f an i n t e g r a t e d , coherent one. When the humanities are presented as a s e r i e s of i s o l a t e d

d i s c i p l i n a r y packages, students cannot p o s s i b l y see the i n t e r r e l a t e d n e s s of great works, i d e a s , and minds.

The study group was alarmed by the tendency of some humanities professors to present t h e i r subjects i n a tendentious, i d e o l o g i c a l manner. Sometimes the humanities are used as i f they were the handmaiden of ideology, subordinated t o p a r t i c u l a r p r e j u d i c e s and valued or r e j e c t e d on the b a s i s of t h e i r r e l a t i o n to a c e r t a i n s o c i a l stance.

At the other extreme, the humanities are declared to have no inherent meaning because a l l meaning i s s u b j e c t i v e and r e l a t i v e t o one's own perspective. There i s no longer agreement on the value of h i s t o r i c a l

f a c t s , e m p i r i c a l evidence, or even r a t i o n a l i t y i t s e l f .

Both these tendencies developed i n the hope that we w i l l again show students the relevance o f our s u b j e c t s . Instead of demonstrating

33

23

relevance, however, they condemn the humanities t o i r r e l e v a n c e

the

f i r s t , by subordinating our s t u d i e s to contemporary prejudices; the second, by implying t h a t the great works no longer have anything to teach us about ourselves or about l i f e . As David Riesman s a i d , some students

are c a p t i v a t e d by these approaches and think them modem or s o p h i s t i c a t e d . But the vast majority of students have c o r r e c t l y thought otherwise and have chosen t o vote with t h e i r f e e t , stampeding out o f the humanities departments. We cannot blame t h i s on an i n s u f f i c i e n t number of students, or on the q u a l i t y of students, or even on the career a s p i r a t i o n s of students. We must blame ourselves, f o r our f a i l u r e to p r o t e c t and transmit legacy our students deserve Jfo know..

E f f e c t s . o f graduate education on teaching

Instead of aiming at turning out men and women of broad/knowledge and l i v e l y i n t e l l e c t , our graduate schools produce too many narrow s p e c i a l i s t s whose teaching i s o f t e n l i f e l e s s , s t i l t e d , and pedestrian. In h i s recent l e c t u r e t o the American Council of Learned S o c i e t i e s , Yale Professor Maynard Mack took graduate schools to task for f a i l i n g to educate broadly:

When one reads t h o u g h t f u l l y i n the works by Darwin, Marx, and Freud, what one f i n d s most impressive i s not the competence they show i n the s t u d i e s we associate them with, though that i s of course impressive, but the range of what they knew, the staggering breadth of the reading which they had made t h e i r own and without which, one comes to understand, they could never have achieved the

34

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i n s i g h t s i n t h e i r own areas that we honor them f o r . Today, i t seems to me, we are s t i l l moving mostly i n the opposite d i r e c t i o n , d e s p i t e here and there a reassuring r e v o l t . We are

narrowing, not e n l a r g i n g our horizons. We are shucking, not assuming our r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . And we communicate with fewer and

fewer because i t i s e a s i e r t o jabber i n a jargon than to e x p l a i n a complicated matter i n the r e a l language of men. .How long can a

democratic n a t i o n a f f o r d t o support a n a r c i s s i s t i c minority so t r a n s f i x e d by i t s own image?

U n i v e r s i t y of Oregon Oean Robert Berdahi described the problem as one of a c c u l t u r a t i o n and u n r e a l i s t i c . e x p e c t a t i o n s . Dean Berdahi observed

that most of today's c o l l e g e f a c u l t y were t r a i n e d during the 1960s and e a r l y 1970s, a p e r i o d o f r a p i d growth i n the academic sector and i n c r e a s i n g p r i v a t e and government support f o r research. As a r e s u l t ,

they are o r i e n t e d more toward research, p u b l i c a t i o n , and teaching graduate students than toward educating nonmajors and g e n e r a l i s t s . "The

s u c c e s s f u l career t o which one i s taught t o a s p i r e , " wrote Dean Berdahi, " i s to end up a t an i n s t i t u t i o n l i k e that at which one received one's doctorate, where the ' r e a l work' o f the p r o f e s s i o n takes place and where, i f one must teach undergraduates, b r i g h t students." one need only deal with majors or very

When these former graduate students secure jobs i n our c o l l e g e classrooms, they f i n d themselves poorly equipped to teach undergraduates. Again, Robert Berdahi:

35

English professors i n s i s t that t h t y are not able t o teach composition, so that must be l e f t to graduate students or a growing group o f underpaid i t i n e r a n t i n s t r u c t o r s . H i s t o r i a n s who used t o

be responsible f o r teaching the e n t i r e sweep o f Western c i v i l i z a t i o n or the Survey of American H i s t o r y now i n s i s t on teaching only that p o r t i o n o f i t that corresponds to t h e i r I specialties. Foreign l i t e r a t u r e s p e c i a l i s t s consider i t a waste o f

t h e i r t a l e n t to teach f o r e i g n language c l a s s e s . Lower d i v i s i o n , general education courses are thus o f t e n conceptually no d i f f e r e n t from ttre upper d i v i s i o n courses o f f e r e d f o r majors and graduate students; they are only broader. Instead of asking: "What should a

student l e a r n from t h i s 'Civ' c l a s s or 'Intro to L i t ' c l a s s i f t h i s is. the only h i s t o r y or l i t e r a t u r e c l a s s he or she w i l l take i n four years?", we ask: "What w i l l best prepare the student to takeadvanced l i t e r a t u r e or h i s t o r y c l a s s e s ? "

Graduate education's tendencies toward what Mellon

Foundation

President John Sawyer c a l l e d ^ h y p e r - s p e c i a l i z a t i o n and s e l f - i s o l a t i n g vocabularies" often r e s u l t i n a f a c u l t y t h a t , even a f t e r several years of advanced study, are no b e t t e r educated than the undergraduates. S i l b e r , president of Boston U n i v e r s i t y , wrote i n a l e t t e r to me: John

The Ph.D. i s no longer a guarantee that i t s holder i s t r u l y educated. Everyone has seen the consequences of t h i s : How

frequently we now meet Ph.D.'s who are incapable o f w r i t i n g c o r r e c t l y or speaking e f f e c t i v e l y ; who are so narrow i n t h e i r i n t e r e s t s that the c i v i l i z i n g e f f e c t o f the humanities appears t o

36

have been e n t i r e l y l o s t upon them; who are so jejune i n t h e i r research i n t e r e s t s as t o c a l l i n t o question the e n t i r e s c h o l a r l y enterprise.
a

In a recent a r t i c l e , Harvard Professor Walter Jackson Bate warned that "the humanities are not merely e n t e r i n g , they are plunging i n t o t h e i r worst s t a t e o f c r i s i s s i n c e the moclern u n i v e r s i t y was formed a century ago i n the 1880s.'J Professor Bate went on t o exhort graduate

humanities departments to examine t h e i r p r i o r i t i e s :

The subject matter the world's great l i t e r a t u r e i s unrivaled. A l l we need i s the chance and the imagination t o help

i t work upon the minds and characters o f the m i l l i o n s o f students t o whom we are r e s p o n s i b l e . Ask t h a t the people you are now breeding up i n departments, and to whom you now -give tenure appointments, be capable o f t h i s .

Training good researchers i s v i t a l t o the humanities and to the mission o f every graduate s c h o o l . But many graduate schools have become so preoccupied with t r a i n i n g narrow research s p e c i a l i s t s that they no longer address adequately the more p r e s s i n g need of higher education f o r good teachers, broadly versed i n t h e i r f i e l d s , i n s p i r e d by the power o f t h e i r s u b j e c t s , and committed to making those subjects speak t o the undergraduate. Unless our graduate schools roaxamine t h e i r p r i o r i t i e s ,

much o f our teaching w i l l remain mediocre and our students i n d i f f e r e n t .

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The s t a t e of the humanities curriculum

The past twenty years have seen a steady erosion i n the place of the humanities i n the undergraduate curriculum and i n the coherence of the curriculum g e n e r a l l y . So s e r i o u s has t h i s erosion become that Mark C u r t i s , president of the A s s o c i a t i o n of American Colleges, wrote: "The

c h a o t i c s t a t e o f the baccalaureate curriculum may be the most urgent and t r o u b l i n g problem of higher education i n the f i n a l years of the twentieth century." Clark Kerr has c a l l e d the undergraduate curriculum "a d i s a s t e r

area," and Professor Frederick Rudolph of Williams College has w r i t t e n : . . . when the professors abandoned a curriculum that they thought students needed they s u b s t i t u t e d f o r i t one t h a t , instead, catered e i t h e r to what the professors needed or what the students wanted. The r e s u l t s confirmed the a u t h o r i t y of professors and students but they robbed the curriculum of any a u t h o r i t y at a l l . The r e a c t i o n

of students to a l l t h i s a c t i v i t y i n the curriculum, was b r i l l i a n t . They concluded that the curriculum r e a l l y didn't matter.

A c o l l e c t i v e l o s s of nerve and f a i t h on the part of both f a c u l t y and.academic administrators during the l a t e 1960s and e a r l y 1970s was undeniably d e s t r u c t i v e of the curriculum. When students demanded a

greater r o l e i n s e t t i n g t h e i r own educational agendas, we eagerly responded by abandoning course requirements of any k i n d and with them the i n t e l l e c t u a l a u t h o r i t y t o say t o students what the outcome of a c o l l e g e education ought to be. With i n t e l l e c t u a l a u t h o r i t y r e l i n q u i s h e d , we

found that we d i d not need t o worry about what was worth knowing, worth

38

defending, worth b e l i e v i n g . The curriculum was no longer a statement about what knowledge mattered; i n s t e a d , i t became the product of a p o l i t i c a l compromise among competing schools and departments, o v e r l a i d by marketing considerations, i n a recent a r t i c l e Frederick Rudolph l i k e n e d

the curriculum t o "a bazaar and the students [ t o ] t o u r i s t s looking f o r cheap bargains."

Once the curriculum was d i s s o l v e d , colleges and u n i v e r s i t i e s found i t d i f f i c u l t to reconstruct because of the pressures of the marketplace. A l l but.the most s e l e c t i v e i n s t i t u t i o n s must now compete f o r scarce f i n a n c i a l resources students
1

t u i t i o n and enrollment-driven s t a t e

s u b s i d i e s . As a consequence, many are r e l u c t a n t to r e i n s t a t e meaningful course requirements f o r fear of f r i g h t e n i n g away prospective a p p l i c a n t s . ( I b e l i e v e such a fear i s misplaced, but more on t h i s l a t e r . )

I n t e l l e c t u a l a u t h o r i t y came to be replaced by i n t e l l e c t u a l r e l a t i v i s m as a guiding p r i n c i p l e of the curriculum. Because colleges

and u n i v e r s i t i e s believed they no longer could or should a s s e r t the primacy of one f a c t or one book over another, a l l knowledge came to be seen as r e l a t i v e i n importance, r e l a t i v e to consumer or f a c u l t y interest. This l o s s was accompanied by a s h i f t i n language. The desired

ends of education changed front knowledge to " i n q u i r y , " from content to "skills." We began to see c o l l e g e s l i s t i n g t h e i r objectives, as teaching

such s k i l l s as reading, c r i t i c a l t h i n k i n g , and awareness of other points of view. These are undeniably e s s e n t i a l ends to a c o l l e g e education, but they are not s u f f i c i e n t . One study group member s a i d , "What good i s

knowing how to w r i t e i f you are ignorant of the f i n e s t examples of the

3d

language?"

F a i l u r e t o address content allows c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s

t o beg t h e question o f what an educated man o r woman i n the 1980s needs t o know. The w i l l i n g n e s s o f too many c o l l e g e s t o act as i f a l l l e a r n i n g were r e l a t i v e i s a s e l f - i n f l i c t e d wound that has impaired our a b i l i t y t o defend our subjects as necessary f o r l e a r n i n g o r important f o r l i f e .

E f f e c t s o f the curriculum on secondary

education

I t i s not s u r p r i s i n g that once c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s decided the curriculum d i d not have t o represent a v i s i o n o f an educated person,

the secondary schools (and t h e i r students) took the cue and reached the same c o n c l u s i o n . Vanderbilt U n i v e r s i t y Professor Chester Finn pointed out t h a t c o l l e g e entrance requirements c o n s t i t u t e de f a c t o high school e x i t requirements f o r high school graduates now nearly s i x o f every ten who seek postsecondary education. With e x i t requirements r e l a x e d ,

college-bound students no longer perceive a need t o take lectives i n E n g l i s h and h i s t o r y , l e t alorre f o r e i g n languages. Instead, they choose C l i f f o r d Adelman

courses thought t o o f f e r immediate v o c a t i o n a l payoff.

described research f o r the N a t i o n a l Commission on Excellence i n Education that d r a m a t i c a l l y i l l u s t r a t e s t h i s trend. From 1969 t o 1981 the humanities have declined as a percentage o f t o t a l high school c r e d i t s taken, a d e c l i n e p a r a l l e l t o that i n the c o l l e g e s . C r e d i t s i n Western c i v i l i z a t i o n a r e down 50 percent, i n U.S. h i s t o r y down 20 percent, and i n U.S. government down 70 percent. My own experience a t t e s t s t o the woeful

s t a t e o f the. high school curriculum. Recently I met with seventy high school student leaders a l l e x c e l l e n t students ~ from a l l over the country. When I asked them how many had heard o f the F e d e r a l i s t Papers,

40

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. -30-

o n l y seven r a i s e d t h e i r hands.

As enrollments i n b a s i c high school humanities courses f e l l o f f , i t became more d i f f i c u l t f o r the schools to j u s t i f y keeping them. Therefore, many schools dropped humanities courses from the curriculum. When h i g h school graduates enter c o l l e g e , they are poorly prepared i n b a s i c knowledge of the, humanities as w e l l as i n such e s s e n t i a l s k i l l s as , reading and w r i t i n g . The remedial courses needed by these students cut

i n t o the c o l l e g e curriculum, e f f e c t i v e l y reducing the amount of a c t u a l .

c o l l e g e l e v e l course work they can take.

*

Twenty years ago, W i l l i a m Arrowsmith wrote:

"Our e n t i r e

educational e n t e r p r i s e i s . . . founded upon the wholly f a l s e premise that a t some p r i o r stage the e s s e n t i a l educational work has been done." Sadly, t h i s i s s t i l l t r u e today. The humanities must be put back i n t o

the high school curriculum, but t h i s i s u n l i k e l y to happen unless they are f i r s t r e s t o r e d i n the c o l l e g e s . I f c o l l e g e s take the lead i n r e i n s t a t i n g humanities course requirements, the high schools w i l l s u r e l y respond. Evidence of t h i s was r e l a t e d by Professor Noel Reynolds of

Brigham Young U n i v e r s i t y , who described how c o l l e g e preparatory course enrollments i n Utah's high schools rose a f t e r an announcement by the s t a t e ' s two l a r g e s t u n i v e r s i t i e s that preference for admission would be given to students who had completed c o l l e g e preparatory, i n c l u d i n g '

humanities, courss. Some Utah secondary schools reported an increase i n f o r e i g n language enrollments of as much as 200 percent, and only s l i g h t l y l e s s dramatic increases i n E n g l i s h and h i s t o r y .

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B r i g h t spots i n the c u r r i c u l u m
3. '

The study group examined i n depth the graduation requirements o f numerous c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s . The group found enormous v a r i e t y ,

ranging from no course requirements o f any k i n d t o sequences o f h i g h l y p r e s c r i p t i v e core courses. Types o f c u r r i c u l a d i d not seem to be a s s o c i a t e d w i t h types o f i n s t i t u t i o n s . Some o f the l e a s t coherent

c u r r i c u l a were those o f n a t i o n a l l y p r e s t i g i o u s , h i g h l y s e l e c t i v e i n s t i t u t i o n s , w h i l e some o f the most c a r e f u l l y d e f i n e d were found a t l e s s selective l o c a l or regional institutions. The most common type of

c u r r i c u l u m was t h e . " d i s t r i b u t i o n requirements" model, i n which students s e l e c t e d courses from a l i m i t e d l i s t of r e g u l a r departmental o f f e r i n g s w i t h i n a few broad interdepartmental c l u s t e r s . humanities" i s one o f the c l u s t e r s , T y p i c a l l y , "the

o f t e n the humanities requirement can

be s a t i s f i e d by taking such courses as speech, remedial w r i t i n g , or performing a r t s . Even i n i n s t i t u t i o n s where the humanities are defined

more ~<aorously, d i s t r i b u t i o n requirements r a r e l y guarantee that a student w i l l master an e x p l i c i t body o f knowledge or confront a s e r i e s o f important o r i g i n a l t e x t s .

A few c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s have rejected t h i s model i n favor of a course o f s t u d i e s i n which a l l students share a c a r e f u l l y designed l e a r n i n g experience. Some c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s have been doing t h i s f o r a l o n g time and have remained s t e a d f a s t i n t h e i r commitment. Others

have moved i n recent years t o r e s t o r e a sound common curriculum. Two o f the l a t t e r captured the a t t e n t i o n of the study group: Brooklyn College and S t . Joseph's C o l l e g e .

42

Brooklyn College, p a r t o f the C i t y u n i v e r s i t y o f New York system, has about 14,000 undergraduates, many o f whom are recent immigrants. Most major i n p r o f e s s i o n a l f i e l d s such as pre-law, accounting, and communications. Yet s i n c e 1981 a l l bachelor's degree candidates,

regardless o f major, have taken a sequence o f ten core courses, seven o f which a r e i n the humanities. Many o f the courses emphasize o r i g i n a l texts. For example, Core Studies 1, " C l a s s i c a l O r i g i n s o f Western

C u l t u r e , " r e q u i r e s readings i n Homer, Sophocles, Herodotus, Aristophanes, A r i s t o t l e , V e r g i l , and other w r i t e r s o f c l a s s i c a l a n t i q u i t y . Brooklyn's

success w i t h the core c u r r i c u l u m has surpassed a l l expectations. The c o l l e g e r e p o r t s t h a t i t s f a c u l t y (50 percent o f whom teach i n the core) are enlivened i n t e l l e c t u a l l y by teaching the core courses and that s t u d e n t s w r i t i n g has improved considerably as a r e s u l t o f a " W r i t i n g Across the Core" program. Students, too, are e x c i t e d by the new curriculum. They say they a r e able t o see r e l a t i o n s h i p s among f i e l d s ,
1

and they t a l k about a renewed sense o f a community o f l e a r n i n g , a community t h a t i n c l u d e s f a c u l t y , students, and administrators. The administration's commitment t o the curriculum can be seen i n the f a c t that both the president and provost teach core courses.

Although i t i s a very d i f f e r e n t k i n d o f i n s t i t u t i o n , S t . Joseph's College i n Indiana has developed a s i m i l a r curriculum with e q u a l l y good results. S t . Joseph's i s a C a t h o l i c school o f about 1,000 students. Like

Business, f i n a n c e , and computer science are popular majors.

Brooklyn C o l l e g e , S t . Joseph's r e q u i r e s a sequence o f ten core courses. St. Joseph's d i f f e r s from Brooklyn i n d i s t r i b u t i n g these courses over a l l four years, whereas Brooklyn's core courses are concentrated i n the f i r s t

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The Brooklyn and St. Joseph's cores a l s o share c u r r i c u l a r coherence

i n the way courses are arranged i n l o g i c a l progression, each course b u i l d i n g upon the previous one. the humanities. A l l core courses a t S t . Joseph's i n v o l v e

There i s tremendous enthusiasm f o r the core approach Even more t e l l i n g

among f a c u l t y , two-thirds o f whom teach core courses.

i s the enthusiasm o f S t . Joseph's alumni, who frequently w r i t e ' f a c u l t y t o p r a i s e the core as an outstanding feature o f t h e i r c o l l e g e career.

Among two-year c o l l e g e s , where v o c a t i o n a l t r a i n i n g i s so important t o the i n s t i t u t i o n a l m i s s i o n , some schools have recognized the need f o r a strong common c u r r i c u l u m i n the humanities. Kirkwood Community College

i n Iowa i s a noteworthy example. Kirkwood serves about 6,000 students, h a l f o f whom are e n r o l l e d i n l i b e r a l a r t s degree programs. I n 1979, s e v e r a l f a c u l t y and a d m i n i s t r a t o r s formed a Humanities Committee t o review the humanities c u r r i c u l u m and recommend improvements. The committee developed and obtained approval f o r a new twenty-hour humanities core requirement. Candidates f o r the Associate of Arts degree

now s e l e c t from a very l i m i t e d l i s t o f challenging academic c o u r s e s i n l i t e r a t u r e , h i s t o r y , philosophy, and languageswhich concentrate on reading primary t e x t s and r e q u i r e extensive student w r i t i n g .

The experience o f Brooklyn C o l l e g e , St. Joseph's College, and Kirkwood Community College prove* that the d r i f t toward c u r r i c u l a r d i s i n t e g r a t i o n can be reversed, that c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s and not j u s t the e l i t e ones can become true communities o f l e a r n i n g , and that i t i s p o s s i b l e even i n t h i s age o f skepticism t o educate students on the p r i n c i p l e that c e r t a i n areas o f knowledge are e s s e n t i a l f o r every c o l l e g e

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graduate.

Their experience a l s o b e l i e s the oft-heard fear that students Intellectually

w i l l r e j e c t or avoid such a s t r u c t u r e d curriculum.

c h a l l e n g i n g , well-taught courses, whether required or not, w i l l a t t r a c t good students, and any c o l l e g e t h a t o f f e r s a curriculum of such courses w i l l not l a c k a p p l i c a n t s .

IV.

The challenge t o academic leadership

R e v i t a l i z i n g an educational i n s t i t u t i o n i s not easy.

Usually i t

r e q u i r e s uncommon courage and discernment on the p a r t of a few and a shared v i s i o n o f what can and ought to be on the part of many. Higher

education may now be more r e c e p t i v e to d e c i s i v e leadership than i t has been f o r some time. As U n i v e r s i t y of Rjget Sound President P h i l i p Phibbs

observed, most c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s sense a c r i s i s on the way and are concerned about the f u t u r e . Administrators and f a c u l t y a l i k e are beginning t o perceive t h a t what has t r a d i t i o n a l l y been good for t h i s or that department, one school or another, may be harmful to the i n s t i t u t i o n as a whole and t o i t s o v e r a l l educational mission.

Recently, educational researchers sought to determine those f a c t o r s that make some elementary and secondary schools more s u c c e s s f u l than others. Among the most important was strong leadership from the school principal. Although c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s are more complex fragmenting

i n s t i t u t i o n s , than secondary schools, with f a r stronger tendencies, leadership plays the same c r u c i a l r o l e .

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C u r r i c u l a r reform must begin with the president.

In t h e i r research

on p r e s i d e n t i a l l e a d e r s h i p , Clark Kerr and Oavid Riesman found that only 2 percent o f the more than seven hundred c o l l e g e and u n i v e r s i t y presidents interviewed described themselves as p l a y i n g a major r o l e i n academic a f f a i r s . This i s an alarming f i n d i n g . A president should be

the c h i e f academic o f f i c e r of the i n s t i t u t i o n , not j u s t the c h i e f a d m i n i s t r a t i v e recruitment, or fund r a i s i n g o f f i c e r . The president, and

other p r i n c i p a l academic o f f i c e r s (provosts, cleans, v i c e presidents f o r academic a f f a i r s ) are s o l e l y accountable f o r a l l i t s p a r t s and the needs of a l l i t s students. They are u l t i m a t e l y responsible f o r the q u a l i t y of

the education these students r e c e i v e .

Members of the study group which included several deans and presidents -- b e l i e v e d s t r o n g l y that presidents can be an e f f e c t i v e force f o r c u r r i c u l a r change only i f they define t h e i r r o l e accordingly. B u c k n e l l u n i v e r s i t y ' s Frances Fergusson s a i d that a president's r o l e i s t o "define, a r t i c u l a t e , and defend i n s t i t u t i o n a l goals and to r e d i r e c t the energies of the f a c u l t y towards these broader concerns." Riesman c h a r a c t e r i z e d a goad president as having "a combination persuasiveness, patience, i n g e n u i t y , even stubbornness." Oavid of

P h i l i p Phibbs

s a i d that a president must "have the courage to s t a t e and i n s i s t upon important, and often uncomfortable, i f not i n i t i a l l y unacceptable, ideas."

There are a number of concrete steps presidents can take to strengthen the humanities w i t h i n t h e i r i n s t i t u t i o n s . Roland D i l l e ,

president of Moorhead State College, s a i d that " i n the dozens of speeches t h a t a president makes there ought to be some s i g n of h i s having been

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touched by the humanities,*

Beyond t h i s , he can s e t standards f o r

excellence i n undergraduate teaching and see that they are met by h i r i n g deans, provosts, and f a c u l t y who are committed t o those standards. President Hanna Gray o f the u n i v e r s i t y o f Chicago urged her f e l l o w presidents t o " i n s i s t on c e r t a i n p r i o r i t i e s " and t o " r a i s e c e r t a i n questions and i n s i s t that they, be answered," Donald Stewart, president of Spelman College, showed that a president who views himself as an academic leader can make a r e a l d i f f e r e n c e . From the beginning o f h i s presidency a t Spelman, Stewart sought t o cut through the prevalent v o c a t i o n a l o r i e n t a t i o n by s t a t i n g openly and repeatedly that the humanities are b a s i c t o Spelman s mission, and i n so doing set a new i n t e l l e c t u a l tone f o r the i n s t i t u t i o n . Such statements by i n s t i t u t i o n a l
1

leaders must, o f course, be accompanied by a c t i o n s . Among these, and not the l e a s t important, i s rewarding good teaching i n h i r i n g , promotion, and tenure d e c i s i o n s .

But as Frederick Rudolph has frequently pointed out, the curriculum cannot be reformed without the e n t h u s i a s t i c support o f the f a c u l t y . I n s t i t u t i o n s such as Brooklyn C o l l e g e , St. Joseph's College, and Kirkwood Community College were able t o implement strong c u r r i c u l a because t h e i r administrators and f a c u l t y worked together toward a common goal; not i n opposition t o one another o r t o protect departmental t u r f . P h i l i p Phibbs

c a l l e d upon humanities f a c u l t y t o recognize t h e i r common i n t e r e s t s :

Leadership . . . must a l s o come from the humanities f a c u l t y itself. This group must a s s e r t i t s e l f aggressively w i t h i n the

l a r g e r f a c u l t y and make i t s case with confidence and c l a r i t y . I n

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too many cases, I t h i n k , f a c u l t y members i n the humanities assume,. ' that any i n t e l l i g e n t human being, and c e r t a i n l y any i n t e l l i g e n t f a c u l t y colleague, understands the value of the humanities. should not, t h e r e f o r e , be necessary t o a r t i c u l a t e the case. i s a dangerous and misguided assumption. It This

V.

Concluding thoughts

The humanities are important, not t o j u s t a few s c h o l a r s , g i f t e d students, of armchair d i l e t t a n t e s , but t o any person who would be educated. They are important p r e c i s e l y because they embody mankind's

age-old e f f o r t to.ask the questions that are c e n t r a l to human e x i s t e n c e . As Robertson Davies t o l d a c o l l e g e graduating c l a s s , "a u n i v e r s i t y education i s meant t o enlarge and i l l u m i n a t e your l i f e . " A college

education worthy of the name must be constructed upon a foundation of the humanities, unfortunately, our c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s do not always A l l too o f t e n teaching i s l i f e l e s s , a r i d ,

g i v e the humanities t h e i r due.

and without commitment. On too many campuses the curriculum has become a s e l f - s e r v i c e c a f e t e r i a through which students pass without being

nourished. Many academic leaders l a c k the confidence to a s s e r t that the curriculum should stand f o r something more than salesmanship, compromise, or s p e c i a l i n t e r e s t p o l i t i c s . Too many c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s have no

c l e a r sense of t h e i r educational mission and no conception of what a graduate of t h e i r i n s t i t u t i o n ought t o know or be.

The s o l u t i o n i s not a r e t u r n to an e a r l i e r time when the c l a s s i c a l

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curriculum was the only c u r r i c u l u m and c o l l e g e was a v a i l a b l e to only a p r i v i l e g e d few. American higher education today serves f a r more people I t s increased

and many more purposes than i t d i d a century ago.

a c c e s s i b i l i t y t o women, r a c i a l and ethnic m i n o r i t i e s , recent immigrants, and students of l i m i t e d means i s a p o s i t i v e accomplishment of which our n a t i o n i s r i g h t l y proud. As higher education broadened, the curriculum

became more s e n s i t i v e t o the long-overlooked c u l t u r a l achievements o f many groups, what J a n i c e H a r r i s of the U n i v e r s i t y of Wyoming r e f e r r e d to as "a respect f o r d i v e r s i t y .
H

This too i s a good t h i n g . But our

eagerness t o a s s e r t the v i r t u e s of p l u r a l i s m should not allow us to s a c r i f i c e the p r i n c i p l e t h a t formerly l e n t substance and c o n t i n u i t y t o the curriculum, namely t h a t each c o l l e g e and u n i v e r s i t y should recognize and accept i t s v i t a l r o l e as conveyor of the accumulated wisdom of our civilization.

We are a p a r t and a product of Western c i v i l i z a t i o n .

That our

s o c i e t y was founded upon such p r i n c i p l e s as j u s t i c e , l i b e r t y , government w i t h the consent of the governed, and e q u a l i t y under the law i s the r e s u l t of ideas descended d i r e c t l y from great epochs of Western c i v i l i z a t i o n Enlightenment England and France, Renaissance Florence, and P e r i c l e a n Athens. These ideas, so r e v o l u t i o n a r y i n t h e i r times yet

so taken f o r granted now, are the glue that binds together our p l u r a l i s t i c n a t i o n . The f a c t that we as Americans whether black or white, Asian or Hispanic, r i c h or poor share these b e l i e f s a l i g n s us I t i s not ethnocentric or

w i t h other c u l t u r e s of the Western t r a d i t i o n . c h a u v i n i s t i c to acknowledge t h i s .

No student c i t i z e n of our c i v i l i z a t i o n

should be denied access to the best that t r a d i t i o n has to o f f e r .

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Ours i s not, of cours, the only great c u l t u r a l t r a d i t i o n the world has seen. There are o t h e r s , and we should expect an educated person to

be f a m i l i a r w i t h them because they have produced a r t , l i t e r a t u r e , and thought t h a t are compelling monuments t o the human s p i r i t and because they have made s i g n i f i c a n t c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o our h i s t o r y . Those who know

nothing o f these other t r a d i t i o n s can n e i t h e r appreciate the uniqueness of t h e i r own nor understand how t h e i r own f i t s with the l a r g e r world. They are l e s s able to understand the world i n which they l i v e . The

c o l l e g e curriculum must take the non-Western world i n t o account, not out of p o l i t i c a l expediency or t o appease i n t e r e s t groups, but out of respect for i t s importance i n human h i s t o r y . c o l l e g e curriculum But the core o f the American should be the c i v i l i z a t i o n of

i t s heart and s o u l ~

the West, source of the most powerful and pervasive i n f l u e n c e s on America and a l l o f i t s people. I t i s simply not p o s s i b l e f o r students to If

understand t h e i r s o c i e t y without studying i t s i n t e l l e c t u a l legacy. t h e i r past i s hidden from them, they w i l l become a l i e n s i n t h e i r own c u l t u r e , strangers i n t h e i r own l a n d .

Restoring the humanities to t h e i r c e n t r a l place i n the. curriculum i s a task each c o l l e g e and u n i v e r s i t y w i l l have t o accomplish f o r i t s e l f , i t s f a c u l t y and administrators working together toward a common goal with a l l the V i s i o n , judgment, and wisdom they can muster. Every i n s t i t u t i o n has i t s own unique character, problems, sense of purpose, and circumstances; a s u c c e s s f u l approach at one school may be i m p r a c t i c a l at another.

Instead of l i s t i n g formal recommendations, t h i s report concludes

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w i t h some questions. We b e l i e v e that i f c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s

ask

these questions o f themselves and honestly answer them, the process of reform w i l l have begun.

Questions f o r the academic community of each i n s t i t u t i o n :

*jo Does the c u r r i c u l u m on your campus ensure that a graduate with a bachelor's degree w i l l be conversant with the best that has been thought and~written about the human condition?

Does your c u r r i c u l u m r e f l e c t the best judgment of the president,deans, and f a c u l t y about what an educated person ought to know, or i s i t a mere smorgasbord or an expression of appeasement p o l i t i c s ?

I s your i n s t i t u t i o n genuinely committed t o teaching the humanities to undergraduates? Do your best professors teach introductory and

lower d i v i s i o n courses? Are these classes designed f o r the nonmajor and are they p a r t o f a coherent curriculum?

Questions f o r c o l l e g e and u n i v e r s i t y

presidents:

Do you s e t an i n t e l l e c t u a l tone f o r the i n s t i t u t i o n , a r t i c u l a t i n g goals and i d e a l s ?

Do you take a f i r m stand on what your i n s t i t u t i o n regards as essential knowledge?

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Do you reward e x c e l l e n t teaching as w e l l as good research i n h i r i n g , promotion, and tenure d e c i s i o n s ?

Questions f o r humanities f a c u l t y :
s' s'

Does your teaching make the humanities come a l i v e by helping students confront great t e x t s , great minds, and great ideas?

Are you a s concerned with teaching the humanities t o nonmajors as you are with s i g n i n g up departmental
S
/
/

majors?

Questions for'graduate humanities

/

departments:

Are your graduates prepared t o teach c e n t r a l humanities t e x t s t o undergraduates i n a d d i t i o n t o being t r a i n e d as researchers and scholars?

Are your graduates broadly educated i n f i e l d s of knowledge other than t h e i r primary one? As s c h o l a r s , are they concerned only with pursuing research o f narrow scope o r are they able as w e l l to ask questions o f wide s i g n i f i c a n c e ?
1

We conclude w i t h these questions because the s p i r i t o f higher education i n a f r e e s o c i e t y i s the s p i r i t of knowledge and i n q u i r y , the

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/
/ /

./

-42-

franting o f important questions i n the vigorous search f o r good and t r u t h f u l answers. F i r s t , however, we must ask the important questions of ourselves,,of our i n s t i t u t i o n s , o f our f a c u l t i e s , and of our c u r r i c u l a . We must assure ourselves t h a t the answers- we l i v e by are true and valuable. Are we teaching what we should? Are we teaching i t as w e l l as

we can? No c o l l e g e or u n i v e r s i t y , i f i t i s honest with i t s e l f , concerned f o r i t s students, and mindful of i t s l a r g e s t r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s , w i l l r e j e c t such questions out o f hand or dismiss them with easy a f f i r m a t i v e s or conventional excuses.

More than four decades ago, Walter Lippmann observed that "what enables men to know more than t h e i r ancestors i s that they s t a r t with a knowledge of what t h e i r ancestors have already learned." "A s o c i e t y , " he The

added, "can be progressive only i f i t conserves i t s t r a d i t i o n . "

challenge to our.colleges and u n i v e r s i t i e s , I b e l i e v e , i s to conserve and transmit that t r a d i t i o n , understanding that they do t h i s not merely to pay homage to the wisdom of the past but t o prepare wisely f o r the f u t u r e .

53

FACTS

National Endowment for the Humanities 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20506

Public Affairs Office Media Relations (202) 7664449

STUDY GROUP ON THE STATE OF LEARNING I N THE HUMANITIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION The S t u d y Group o n t h e S t a t e o f L e a r n i n g i n t h e H u m a n i t i e s i n H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n was c o n v e n e d by H u m a n i t i e s Endowment c h a i r m a n W i l l i a m J . B e n n e t t

i n M a r c h 1 9 8 4 . The g r o u p met f o r t h r e e , d a y - l o n g p u b l i c m e e t i n g s i n Washington, D.C., o n A p r i l 2 4 , J u n e 8, and J u l y 2 4 . This report,."To

R e c l a i m a L e g a c y , " w r i t t e n by B e n n e t t , i s t h e r e s u l t o f t h e i r w o r k . D r . B e n n e t t d e s c r i b e s t h e c o m p o s i t i o n o f t h e g r o u p and t h e c o m p l e x i t y of t h e i r t a s k on pages i t h r o u g h o f t h e Foreword to the report. T h e r e he

t h a n k s them f o r t h e i r " h a r d w o r k , i n s p i r e d d i s c u s s i o n s , t h o u g h t f u l p a p e r s , and h e l p f u l s u g g e s t i o n s . " The s t u d y g r o u p members c o n t r i b u t e d t h e i r t i m e and e x p e r t i s e t o t h e Endowment w i t h o u t c o m p e n s a t i o n . They were, h o w e v e r , r e i m b u r s e d f o r t h e and f o r t h e c o s t s o f

c o s t o f t h e i r t r a v e l t o a n d f r o m W a s h i n g t o n , D.C t h e i r m e a l s and l o d g i n g w h i l e i n W a s h i n g t o n .

An a l p h a b e t i c a l l i s t i n g o f members o f t h e g r o u p , i n c l u d i n g b u s i n e s s a d d r e s s e s and t e l e p h o n e n u m b e r s , i s a t t a c h e d .

11/21/84

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Members o f t h e S t u d y Group on t h e S t a t e o f L e a r n i n g i n the Humanities i n Higher Education

William Arrowsmith Professor of C l a s s i c s Department of Modern Language and C l a s s i c s * Emory U n i v e r s i t y A t l a n t a , GA 30322 (404) 3 2 9 - 6 4 2 9 \ W i l l i a m M. B a n k s * Professor of Afro American Studies U n i v e r s i t y of C a l i f o r n i a , Berkeley 358-B D w i n e l l e H a l l B e r k e l e y , CA 97420 (415) 6 4 2 - 7 0 8 9 / 3 2 5 9 R o b e r t M. B e r d a h i Dean o f A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s U n i v e r s i t y of Oregon E u g e n e , OR 97403 (503) 6 8 6 - 3 9 0 2 Wayne C . B o o t h Professor of English U n i v e r s i t y of Chicago C h i c a g o , I L 60637 (312) 962-7468 Mark H. C u r t i s President A s s o c i a t i o n of American 1818 R S t r e e t , N.W. W a s h i n g t o n , D.C. 20009 (202) 387-3760 Roland D i l l e President Moorhead S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y 11th S t r e e t South Moorhead,*MN 56560998U (218) 236-2011 Mary M a p l e s Dunn Dean o f U n d e r g r a d u a t e s B r y n Mawr C o l l e g e B r y n Mawr, PA 19010 . 1215) 645-5377

Colleges

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F r a n c e s 0. F e r g u s s o n Vice P r e s i d e n t f o r Academic A f f a i r s Bucknell University L e w i s b u r g , PA 17837 (717) 5 2 4 - 1 5 6 1 C h e s t e r E. F i n n , J r . P r o f e s s o r o f E d u c a t i o n and P u b l i c Policy, Vanderbilt I n s t i t u t e f o r Public Policy Studies Peabody C o l l e g e P.O. Box 508 N a s h v i l l e , TN 37212 (615) 322-8540 S a m u e l R. Gammon Executive Director American H i s t o r i c a l A s s o c i a t i o n 400 A S t r e e t , N.E. W a s h i n g t o n , D.C. 20003 (202) 5 4 4 - 2 4 2 2 Hanna H. G r a y President U n i v a r s i t y of Chicago C h i c a g o , I L 60637 (312) 753-1234 Karl Haigler P r i n c i p a l , Upper S c h o o l Heathwood H a l l E p i s c o p a l 3000 S o u t h B e l t l i n e C o l u m b i a , 'SC 29201 (803) 765-2309 J a n i c e H. H a r r i s A s s o c i a t e Dean U n i v e r s i t y o f Wyoming L a r a m i e , WY 82071 (307) 766-4121 (On s a b b a t i c a l : 60 S c o t l a n d Rd. C a m b r i d g e CB4, 1QC E n g l a n d ) Beverly Harris-Schenz A s s i s t a n t Dean C o l l e g e o f a r t s and S c i e n c e s U n i v e r s i t y of P i t t s b u r g h P i t t s b u r g h , PA 15260 (412) 6 2 4 - 0 5 1 8 / 0 5 1 7

School

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P a u l Oskar K r i s t e l l e r P r o f e s s o r Emeritus of P h i l o s o p h y Columbia U n i v e r s i t y 423 W. 1 2 0 t h S t . , A p t . 6 3 New Y o r k , NY 10027 (212) 864-7720/7671 R o b e r t M. L o n g s w o r t h Uean o f A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s Oberlin College O b e r l i n , OH ,44074 ( 2 1 6 ) 775-81^1 S i s t e r C a n d i d a L u n d , O.P. Chancellor Rosary C o l l e g e 7900 West D i v i s i o n R i v e r F o r e s t , I L 60305 ( 3 1 2 ) 366-2490 e x t . 470 J o n N. M o l i n e Professor of Philosophy U n i v e r s i t y of W i s c o n s i n - Madison M a d i s o n , WI 53706 (608) ^ 3 - 6 2 1 5 / 1 7 9 6 C i r i a c o Moron-Arroyo P r o f e s s o r o f S p a n i s h and Comparative L i t e r a t u r e Department of S p a n i s h Cornell University I t h a c a , NY 14853 (607) 257-3585 256-4264 P h i l l i p M. P h i b b s President U n i v e r s i t y o f P u g e t Sound 1500 N. Warner Tacoma, WA 98416 (206) 756-3201 Diane R a v i t c h Adjunct P r o f e s s o r of H i s t o r y and E d u c a t i o n Teacher's C o l l e g e Columbia U n i v e r s i t y Department of P h i l o s o p h y 525 W. 1 2 U t h S t r e e t New Y o r k , NY 10027 (212) 678-3000 427-0044 - More

N o e l 6. R e y n o l d s A s s o c i a t e Academic Vice President B r i g h a m Young U n i v e r s i t y P r o v o , UT 84602 (801) 3 7 8 - 1 2 1 1 David Riesman P r o f e s s o r of Sociology Harvard U n i v e r s i t y C a m b r i d g e , MA 02138 (617) 495-3822 F r e d e r i c k Rudolph Professor of History Williams College P.O. Box 487 W i l l i a m s t o w n , MA 02167 (413) 5 9 7 - 2 4 1 6 458-4416 David Savage The, L o s A n g e l e s T i m e s Times M i r r o r Square Los A n g e l e s , CA 90053 (213) 972-5000 J o h n E. S a w y e r President Andrew W. M e l l o n F o u n d a t i o n 140 E. 62nd S t r e e t New Y o r k , NY 1 0 0 2 1 (212) 838-8400 John.R. S i l b e r President Boston U n i v e r s i t y 147 Bay S t a t e Road B o s t o n , Mrt 02215 (617) 353-2000 Linda Spoerl P r o f e s s o r o? E n g l i s h H i g h l i n e Commjnity C o l l e g e 3368 L a u r e l h u r s t D r . , N.E. S e a t t l e , WA 98105 ( 2 0 6 ) 8 7 8 - 3 7 1 0 , e x t . 445 D a v i d H. S t e w a r t Professor of E n g l i s h Texas A&M U n i v e r s i t y C o l l e g e S t a t i o n , TX 77843 (409) 845-8680

D o n a l d M. S t e w a r t President Spelman C o l l e g e 350 S p e l m a n Lane SW A t l a n t a , GA 30314 (404) 681-3643 Ewa Thompson Professor of Russian Literature Rice U n i v e r s i t y P.O. Box 1892 H o u s t o n , TX 77251 (713) 527-8101 T x t . 3215

National Endowment for the Humanities 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20506 ,

Public Affairs Office Media Relations (202) 7664449

Contact:

Susan Metts D a r r e l deChaby

786-0446 (0) (301) 652-4149 (H) 786-0449 (0) (703) 356-4605 (H)
\

EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M.,

Monday November 26,

1984

\
REPORT ON THE HUMANITIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION FINDS DEFICIENCIES AND DECLINE NATIONWIDE IN CURRICULUM, TEACHING AND LEARNING, SUGGESTS GUIDELINES "TO RECLAIM A LEGACY"

" WASHINGTON, November 26 W i l l i a m J . Bennett, chairman of the N a t i o n a l Endowment f o r the Humanities (NEH), today issued a report that f i n d s most college students "shortchanged i n the humanities, l a c k i n g even the most rudimentary knowledge about the h i s t o r y , l i t e r a t u r e , a r t , and p h i l o s o p h i c a l foundations of t h e i r nation and t h e i r c i v i l i z a t i o n . " The report says that

"the f a u l t l i e s p r i n c i p a l l y with those of us whose business i t i s to educate these studentr," The r e p o i t , "To Reclaim a Legacy," w r i t t e n by Bennett, i s the r e s u l t of the work of 31 n a t i o n a l l y prominent teachers, s c h o l a r s , administrators and a u t h o r i t i e s on higher education whom Bennett convened as a study group i n March 1984. summer. "We have blamed others but the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y i s ours," the report states.. "Not by our words but by our a c t i o n s , by our i n d i f f e r e n c e , we have brought about t h i s c o n d i t i o n . I t i s we the educators who too often have given up the great task of t r a n s m i t t i n g a c u l t u r e to i t s r i g h t f u l h e i r s . The group held three p u b l i c meetings during, the spring and

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"To Reclaim a Legacy"

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"Thus, what we have on many o f our campuses i s an unclaimed legacy, a course o f s t u d i e s i n which t h e humanities have been siphoned o f f , d i l u t e d , o r so adulterated t h a t students graduate knowing l i t t l e o f t h e i r h e r i t a g e . " The report focuses sharply on what i t describes as t h e two basic p r e r e q u i s i t e s f o r l e a r n i n g i n t h e humanities good teaching and good curricul - and makes recommendations f o r improvement i n both.

"Properly taught," t h e report says, "the humanities b r i n g together the p e r e n n i a l questions o f human l i f e w i t h the greatest works o f h i s t o r y , l i t e r a t u r e , philosophy, and a r t . " "At most c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s t h e humanities are taught both w e l l and p o o r l y , with i n s p i r a t i o n i n one classroom, e x c r u c i a t i n g d u l l n e s s o r pedantry i n another." Noting that 87 percent of a l l undergraduate c r e d i t hours i n the humanities are taken i n the freshman and sophomore years, l a r g e l y by non-humanities majors, the r e p o r t urges the need f o r "teachers who can make the humanities l i v e and who can guide students through the landscape of human thought." A l l too o f t e n , the report a s s e r t s , teaching can be " l i f e l e s s o r tendentious, mechanical or i d e o l o g i c a l . On too many campuses the curriculum

has become a s e l f - s e r v i c e c a f e t e r i a through which students pass without being nourished." The report observes, " I f t h e teacher i s the guide, the curriculum i s the path. A good curriculum marks the p o i n t s of s i g n i f i c a n c e so that the student does not wander a i m l e s s l y over the t e r r a i n , dependent s o l e l y on chance t o discover the landmarks of human achievement."

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To Reclaim a Legacy"

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The report c i t e s the recent e f f o r t s of sucn i n s t i t u t i o n s as Brooklyn College, S t . Joseph's College i n Indiana and Kirkwood Community College i n Iowa as " o r i g h t spots." There, i n recent years, "the d r i f t toward c u r r i c u l a r d i s i n t e g r a t i o n has been reversed." Central t o the report's c o n s i d e r a t i o n s are such basic questions as "Why study the humanities?" and "How should the humanities be taught and learned?" The report argues that "the past twenty years have seen a steady erosion i n the place of the humanities i n the undergraduate curriculum." I t describes a c o n d i t i o n i n which students "have chosen to vote with t h e i r f e e t , stampeding out of humanities departments." I t warns that " i f students do not undergraduate

experience the best the humanities have t o o f f e r early i n t h e i r careers, they are u n l i k e l y t o come back f o r more." In order t o reverse the d e c l i n e , the report recommends: *

The nation's c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s must reshape t h e i r undergraduate c u r r i c u l a based on a c l e a r v i s i o n o f what c o n s t i t u t e s an educated person, regardless of major, and on the study of h i s t o r y , philosophy, languages and l i t e r a t u r e .

College and u n i v e r s i t y presidents must take r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r the educational needs of a l l students i n t h e i r i n s t i t u t i o n s by making p l a i n what the i n s t i t u t i o n stands f o r and what knowledge i t regards as e s s e n t i a l t o a good education.

F a c u l t i e s must put aside narrow departmentalism and instead work with administrators t o shape a c h a l l e n g i n g common curriculum with a core of common s t u d i e s .

colleges and u n i v e r s i t i e s must reward e x c e l l e n t teacniny i n h i r i n g , promotion, and tenure d e c i s i o n s .

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"To Reclaim a Legacy" *

Page A

Study of the humanities and Western c i v i l i z a t i o n must, take i t s place at the heart of the c o l l e g e curriculum. The report s t r e s s e s that i t s aim i s not t o argue f o r more majors i n the

humanities,, but to " s t a t e emphatically t h a t the humanities should have a place i n the.education of a l l , " t h a t they are "not an educational luxury and they are not j u s t f o r majors." "Our nation i s s i g n i f i c a n t l y enriched by the breadth and d i v e r s i t y of i t s professions and occupations, and the i n t e r e s t s of i t s c i t i z e n s , " the report observes. "Our u n i v e r s i t i e s should continue to encourage i n s t r u c t i o n

i n a f u l l v a r i e t y of f i e l d s and careers. "But we do argue t h a t , whatever endeavors our students u l t i m a t e l y choose, some s u b s t a n t i a l i n s t r u c t i o n i n the humanities should be an i n t e g r a l part of everyone's c o l l e g i a t e education. To study the humanities i n no way Properly taught, they w i l l

detracts from the career i n t e r e s t s of students. enrich a l l . "

Members of the study group include Mark H. C u r t i s , president, A s s o c i a t i o n of American Colleges; Hanna H. Gray, president, U n i v e r s i t y of Chicago; Diane R a v i t c h , adjunct professor of h i s t o r y and education, Teacher's College, Columbia U n i v e r s i t y ; David Riesman, professor of s o c i o l o g y , Harvard U n i v e r s i t y ; John E. Sawyer, p r e s i d e n t , Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; John R. S i l b e r , president, Boston U n i v e r s i t y ; Linda Spoerl, professor of E n g l i s h , Highline Community College; and Donald M. Stewart, president, Spelman College. The National Endowment f o r the Humanities i s an independent f e d e r a l agency that supports research, s c h o l a r s h i p , education and general programs i n the humanities.

m
NOTE TO EDITORS: A f a c t sheet i n c l u d i n g the names, addresses and numbers of members of the study group i s attached. telephone

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