From the editor.What would happen if utility trumped liberal arts liberal arts, term originally used to designate the arts or studies suited to freemen. It was applied in the Middle Ages to seven branches of learning, the trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. values in undergraduate education undergraduate education Medtalk In the US, a 4+ yr college or university education leading to a baccalaureate degree, the minimum education level required for medical school admission; undergraduate medical education refers to the 4 yrs of medical school. Cf CME. ? As I read the articles in the Featured Topic section of this issue, that question Continually pulled me like an undertow. It reminded me of a recent conversation about the insights of two books that were de rigeur reading in my own education: Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World Brave New World Aldous Huxley’s grim picture of the future, where scientific and social developments have turned life into a tragic travesty. [Br. Lit.: Magill I, 79] See : Dystopia Brave New World . Neither paints a desirable picture of an imagined future society. Yet, time has shown that Huxley's dystopian dys·to·pi·an adj. 1. Of or relating to a dystopia. 2. Dire; grim: "AIDS is one of the dystopian harbingers of the global village" Susan Sontag. Adj. vision comes closer to the realities of the late twentieth/early twenty-first century than does the story of Winston and Big Brother. Such was the conclusion of that conversation, as we ticked off the ways in which Huxley's predictions won, hands down. But, whatever "the realities," a counterpoint pulls toward a different world of possibilities. Here, looking at the future, our writers assert the value of a humane and holistic tradition of higher education higher education Study beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. in the arts and sciences. Theirs is a vision of the liberating aims of education for responsible citizenship, capacious ca·pa·cious adj. Capable of containing a large quantity; spacious or roomy. See Synonyms at spacious. [From Latin cap imagination, a democratic social contract, joy in life's multifacetedness, and a passion for justice in care for the others who share our planet--and our neighborhood, to name a few qualities that represent a human ideal. Of course, the Huxley alternative is one extreme. While 1984 predicted a totalitarian control over human life, I don't propose that as an opposite view to Huxley. Rather, the opposite to both seems to me to be represented in the present articles in which those working on the front lines articulate their vision of undergraduate education. And they indicate that it is shared with colleagues, who, like the Enterprise commander, work hard in a daily round--so daily, so round--to "make it so." The amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. thing is how persistent is their advocacy. A recent short history of three stages in AAC&U's development from 1915 reveals that the Association has been preoccupied with alternative values questions from the beginning. Consequently, this issue, in that brave tradition, revisits the theme of liberal arts education, a vision restated in contemporary terms as the goal toward which we together strive. BRIDGET PUZON |
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