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Social change versus the classics
Robin Wilson's story in today's Chronicle of Higher Education is worth reading for its insights on the attitudes towards teaching and learning that dominate the contemporary academy. According to UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute, which surveyed 22,562 professors in a range of disciplines at 372 institutions throughout the country, nearly 60 percent of professors today view teaching students to become "agents of social change" as very important or essential, compared to roughly a third who rank the teaching of the classics of Western civilization the same way.
This finding is noteworthy for trustees for a number of reasons. While the goals of professors are important indeed, our institutions of higher education must answer ultimately to the public's need for informed citizens. And it is up to boards to make sure this public purpose is paramount. While meticulously respecting the academic freedom of professors to design and offer courses, trustees must ensure that students are given a strong liberal education that encourages them to think for themselves. The fact is, on too many campuses, students have reported feeling intimidated -- and actually been punished -- for questioning politically correct orthodoxies.
Even as their institutions hold out hope of educating the next Paine or Gandhi, trustees should take care to protect free speech and free thought. Academic freedom is bestowed on professors so that they can pursue truth wherever it may lead. That means, first and foremost, using the classroom for teaching and learning, not as a launching pad for political activism.
Posted by Anne D. Neal on March 05, 2009 at March 5, 2009 05:59 PM
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