January 27, 2008

Academic Leaders Offer Thoughts on Reforming Higher Education at AACU Meeting

Washington — For the closing session of its annual meeting on Saturday, the Association of American Colleges and Universities brought together three prominent academic leaders to discuss how educators might make some of the organization’s lofty ideas for improving undergraduate education a reality.

Derek C. Bok, president emeritus of Harvard University and a professor of law in its Kennedy School of Government, emphasized the value of research on pedagogical methods, particularly studies that might measure how effective colleges are in improving students’ writing and critical-thinking skills and their level of civic engagement. “This kind of research is the most powerful lever of change available to an academic leader,” he said.

George D. Kuh, director of the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University at Bloomington, pointed to findings of his group’s National Survey of Student Engagement as focal points for change. He suggested that colleges incorporate into their curricula “high-impact practices” such as service learning and student-faculty research collaborations, which the survey has found increase students’ self-reported engagement and success in college.

Azar Nafisi, a visiting fellow at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, urged academics to “bring back critical dialog to the center of a liberal education.” Ms. Nafisi — whose memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, became a best-seller — spoke of the destructive effects of political correctness and politicization on higher education and said she would like to see academics take more radical action — such as organizing town-hall meetings or a march on the Capitol — to persuade those “who cannot imagine how reading Aristotle would help prevent war in Iraq” of the importance of a liberal-arts education.

Video of the closing plenary session and other panels from the meeting will be available on the association’s Web site. —Paula Wasley

Comments

1. Let me get this straight – political correctness PREVENTS war protests?!?!?

   The OPPOSITE is true – given true academic freedom, there would be a strong pro-war message from at least a third of the student body on any campus today.

   — Ed    Jan 27, 07:42 PM    #

2. Okay so we make good little conformist war mongers with excellent critical thinking and writing skills, we research best killing methods jointly with them, and we make sure they keep killing distinct from mere political concerns—sounds great! or have we somehow missed a main point or two—like the purpose of college, besides mere en-skilling extant financial elites, involving the incompetent in research, and making sure learning does not degenerate into changing the direction of societies by dirty little things like politics.

   — Richard Tabor Greene    Jan 28, 08:18 AM    #

3. I agree with S. Britchky that these might not be new ideas. But Ed and Mr. Greene… you both seem to be on a different track.

   When did the article say that political-correctness prevents war protests? I believe that political-correctness means adhering to mainstream thinking (lest we not offend) and not asking the tough questions. Yes, many students would love to “stick it to the man” and march in opposition to the war. But how many of them would understand WHY or HOW we got into this war? Many of them don’t think beyond what is said on The Daily Show and MySpace. Town Hall meetings would perhaps engage them more thoroughly.

   And maybe I use the word differently… but for me “politicization” means filtering discussions through political party affiliations (the Democrats think this way, and the Republicans think this way). I agree with the article that THAT kind of discussion is less productive than talking about the exercise of power to government decision-making (politics).

   — K. Tribble    Jan 28, 09:40 AM    #

4. I think I’ve read the article differently. The call for research doesn’t prescribe bean counting but a qualitative look at the process students’ undergo to develop critical thinking and reasoning skills. The recommendations call for more interaction between faculty and students to enhance the learning environment.

   Moreover, I agree that political correctness allows racism and discrimination to take new, more difficult forms to identify because of the focus on ‘nice language’. In doing so, serious discussions about the nature of this country and people’s lived experiences goes un-examined. What part do you disagree with?

   Lastly, politicization entails discussing political issues, unraveling ideology. It doesn’t mean indoctrinating students with a particular political party, but helping them to realize that even non-involvement is political. Every choice we make has political consequences.

   — Kimberly    Jan 28, 10:16 AM    #

5. Sorry—been there, done that. When will we get some new thinking? The same old rhetoric gets repackaged or rediscovered and we start all over again. It’s hard to move forward when you’re standing in place.

   — Etta B    Jan 28, 11:27 AM    #

6. The most radical change in higher education will come when colleges mandate critical thinking courses in the first semester, in essence educating their students to be discriminating thinkers and to not blindly parrot the prejudices of the professors, politicians, and other assorted do-gooders, evil-doers and demagogues they will encounter in the next four years and beyond.

   — marci    Jan 28, 12:12 PM    #

7. In an age of international connections and cross-border travel, communication, business and financial transactions, one would hope that “reform” could also include broadening higher education’s content and experience to include a more global range of knowledge, understanding, experience, and know-how — so that graduates who take jobs in government would know more about Iraq, Iran, and Islam; those in business would know cultural and social differences in doing business; and those in the liberal arts would be informed on a range of readings in literature, history, and geography, etc. beyond provincial perspectives.

   — Naomi F. Collins, Ph.D.    Jan 28, 12:31 PM    #

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