Liberal Workforce Development?

Recommendation 2, from page 8 of “College Learning in the New Global Century"
seems to offer a counterpoint to the brewing idea that offering Stackable Certificates is the way to ensure effective workforce development. LEAP suggests that 2-year colleges, traditionally and currently the institutions that focus primarily on skills development for employability, should integrate liberal education into all coursework. Here is the excerpt from the report, with my emphases:


"Nearly half the nation’s college students, and the majority of
students from low-income families, begin their studies in two-year
institutions. It should be a national priority to ensure that these
students, whatever their career choices and preparation, become richly
prepared for a changing economy, for the option of further study, and
for a lifetime of continuous learning—as employees and as citizens.

This recommendation neither requires nor anticipates that
community college students should study only, or primarily, what
are conventionally known as arts and sciences or “general education”
courses. Rather, it calls on two-year and four-year institutions, in every
state and region, to collaboratively remap the curriculum so that arts
and sciences and professional or “career” courses can work together,
from first to final years, to foster the broad knowledge, sophisticated
skills, personal and social responsibility, and demonstrated achievement
that every student needs and deserves."

The Holy Grail?

I wish that i could remember how I linked to this site....I actually think that it was through the Ohio STEM Learning Network somehow.....



At any rate, College Learning for the New Global Century(2007), a report from the National Leadership Council for Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) beautifully and compellingly describes what revsions need to occur in Liberal Arts education in order to make this field of study relevant in the 21st century. While STEM education is getting the lion's share of publicity, funding and fans, the authors of the LEAP report argue that Liberal Arts education is essential to student success and must not be ignored.



Of particular interest is the fact that authors of the LEAP report urge us to think deeply about what college grads need to know--a question, they argue, that has not been asked.



The authors of this report see liberal education as a "liberating education", one that shapes and melds civic awareness, global awareness, and complex problem solving ability through an interdisciplinary inquiry and knowledge base.



Echoing the tenets of STEM education, LEAP urges learner directed activities in education. Unlike STEM, LEAP encourages institutions of higher learning to avoid falling into the trap of educating within one discipline, one focus, one major. Think engineering majors who do a service project in rural Mali for 2 weeks (Miami University has done this) and then publish a paper on their experiences or science PhD candidates at OSU who, as thier graduate assistantship, serve at Metro High school, leading students though cutting edge experiences and inviting teachers to participate in experimental endeavors with them....

I Have finally found in print the answer- or perhaps partial answer to the STEM focus. The Ohio STEM Learning Network website spells out the impetus for the national STEM focus in terms of the publications that have informed the policy; Thomas Friedman's book is listed first!

Also, the Science and Engineering Indicator report apparently mentioned the need to focus on STEM education in their 2006 report. I suppose that it is good news that Friedman's work, the information published with the Indicators and other seemingly low rumblings have so quickly and fervently been applied in the education sphere. But I fear that this haste can lead to panicky decision making rather than accurate, effective thought and planning.

It is also creepy that the rhetoric in support of STEM seeps with national security talk. It is true, I'm sure, that STEM education is a security issue, but I haven't recovered from the Axis of Evil rhetoric....and I don't like any scare tactics, educational or military.