Richard A. Detweiler - The Evidence Liberal Arts Needs: Lives of Consequence, Inquiry, and Accomplishment

The Evidence Liberal Arts Needs

Lives of Consequence, Inquiry, and Accomplishment

Richard A. Detweiler

The MIT Press

Cambridge, Massachusetts|London, England

2021 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.

The MIT Press would like to thank the anonymous peer reviewers who provided comments on drafts of this book. The generous work of academic experts is essential for establishing the authority and quality of our publications. We acknowledge with gratitude the contributions of these otherwise uncredited readers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Detweiler, Richard A., author.

Title: The evidence liberal arts needs : lives of consequence, inquiry, and accomplishment / Richard A. Detweiler.

Description: Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021000492 | ISBN 9780262543101 (paperback)

Subjects: LCSH: Education, Humanistic. | Education, HigherAims and objectives

Classification: LCC LC1011 .D38 2021 | DDC 370.11/2dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021000492

d_r0

For Carol,
My partner in life,
In a life well lived, and
In a life of learning

1. 
   Relationship between educational experience and adult outcomes
2. 
   Relationship between educational experience and living a life of consequence
3. 
   The relationship between educational context and leadership
4. 
   Developing larger perspectives and leadership
5. 
   The connection between authentic educational community and leadership
6. 
   Relationship between educational experience and leadership
7. 
   The connection between educational context and altruism
8. 
   Relationship between an authentic learning community experience and altruism
9. 
   Connection between donating a larger percentage of income and being in an authentic learning community
10. 
    Connection between spending more time volunteering and experiencing an authentic learning community
11. 
    Relationship between educational experience and altruism
12. 
    Relationship between educational experience and life of inquiry
13. 
    The connection between educational content and context and continued learning
14. 
    Relationship between nonvocational majors and continued learning
15. 
    Relationship between span of study and continued learning
16. 
    Connection between intellectual skills development and continued learning
17. 
    Relationship between engaging pedagogy and continued learning
18. 
    Relationship between larger perspectives and continued learning
19. 
    Relationship between authentic community and continued learning
20. 
    Connection between earning an advanced degree and educational content and context
21. 
    Relationship between educational experience and continued learning
22. 
    Connection between educational content and context and cultural involvement
23. 
    Connection between nonvocational major and cultural involvement
24. 
    Relationship between span of study and cultural involvement
25. 
    Relationship between intellectual skills development and cultural involvement
26. 
    Connection between engaging pedagogy and cultural involvement
27. 
    Connection between larger perspectives and cultural involvement
28. 
    Connection between authentic learning community experience and cultural involvement
29. 
    Relationship between educational experience and cultural involvement
30. 
    Relationship between educational experience and life of accomplishment
31. 
    Relationship of educational content and context to fulfillment
32. 
    Relationship between nonvocational major and fulfillment
33. 
    Relationship between span of study and fulfillment
34. 
    Relationship between intellectual skills and fulfillment
35. 
    Relationship between engaging pedagogy and fulfillment
36. 
    Relationship between learning community and fulfillment
37. 
    Relationship between educational experience and fulfillment
38. 
    Relationship between various demographic characteristics and taking more than half of courses outside the major
39. 
    Relationship of educational content and context to success
40. 
    Relationship of authentic learning community experience to success
41. 
    Courses unrelated to the major: Effect on success and income
42. 
    Relationship between educational experience and success
43. 
    Frequency of educational experiences related to life outcomes
44. 
    Relationship between educational experience and life outcomes
45. 
    Student background
46. 
    College/university attributes
47. 
    Frequency of liberal arts practices at liberal arts versus nonliberal arts institutions
48. 
    Comparative results: Total study and nonliberal arts institutional respondents
49. 
    Demographics and life outcomes
50. (continued)
51. 
    Leadership
52. 
    Altruism
53. (continued)
54. (continued)
55. 
    Continued learning
56. 
    Cultural engagement
57. 
    Fulfillment
58. 
    Personal success
59. (continued)
60. (continued)
61. (continued)

In my judgment, one of the most vexing issues facing higher education in the United States today is the role of the liberal arts. It is blamed by some for making college expensive, impractical, and worthless, but by others, it is credited with making our society innovative, creative, and civically involved. As a long-ago college-bound student, I inadvertently chose to attend a liberal arts collegeinadvertently because I decided I wanted to attend a smaller college without understanding that I was, at the same time, choosing an education of liberal arts characterand I had no idea what that meant. But of course, at that time, there was little controversy about what should be studied in college; everyone at almost every college and university in the United States, regardless of major, was expected to take courses in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences because breadth of study (which is inherent to the liberal arts approach) was standard everywhere, as it had been for centuries on this continent.

But for many reasonseconomic, political, social, and religiousfor the past several decades, many long-standing assumptions about American higher education have been challenged. Two of the issues that have dominated discussion have been the cost and the value of a college degree (and with those, the associated issue of who has access to higher education). The cost (or more accurately, the price that colleges charge as their tuition) has risen inexorably, driven by a number of factors, including decreases in government support (especially the shift from federal grants to students to attend college to student loans, as well as decreases in state aid), the expenses of high-tech equipment (especially in the science and technology areas), improved compensation for faculty and staff, dramatically increased financial aid funded by the institutions themselves, and the increase in amenities that are now expected (such as fancy facilities ranging from classrooms to gyms). As the price inexorably increased, attention began to focus on the question of value: is a college education worth the money?