Getting Away

I would like to move away from Jake and his bus for a few moments. That Arts and Sciences is faced with problems with the dean, the provost and the president cannot be questioned. But, it is only a part of the problem. We have, in some ways, been our own worst enemy. Whenever challenged about curriculum we puff out our chests and yell, "we are the liberal arts." This is hardly a convincing answer. We need to do more than whine. We need to have convincing arguments about why a student should take a variety of courses and not merely mouth that they need to be liberally educated. Ask yourself exactly what you remember from the "liberal arts" part of your undergraduate education? What value did the in-class professor add to that education? How have you used that portion of your education? Do you even remember what classes constituted that part of your education? How many of us have looked back at our undergraduate transcripts and said, "I took that class?" The point is not to embarrass those of us who only vaguely remember the 60s but to point out that merely reciting a mantra that includes "we are the liberal arts" is not good enough.