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Distinctively American: The Residential Liberal Arts Colleges
Book reviews / The Social Science Journal 39 (2002) 309–323
321
Distinctively American: The Residential Liberal Arts Colleges Edited by Steven Koblik and Stephen R. Graubard; New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2000, 318 pages In Distinctively American: The Residential Liberal Arts College, the editors, Steven Koblik and Stephen R. Graubard, compile 15 articles primarily written by men and women engaged in liberal arts colleges as administrators, trustees, professors, former students, or chaplains. Inspite of their direct connections with and, often, professed allegiances to small, liberal arts colleges (SLACs), the contributors to this volume present a very clear, detailed, and honest portrait of many aspects of the past, present, and anticipated future of these schools. The articles, originally written by the various authors for different occasions, avoid the romanticized, sentimental presentations that they might have been. Instead, they both deconstruct and reconstruct the ideology about and reality of the SLACs. Taken collectively, these articles show how the SLACs have become vulnerable to the forces of change as they compete with other colleges and universities for students, and as they try to identify and maintain the values on which they were originally built, values that have been challenged by an evolving array of internal and external pressures. To a great extent, these pressures, such as market forces, competition for students, the changing role and importance of technology, and calls for diversity, are pressures that all institutions of higher education face. Given the SLACs’ history of commitment to small, residential settings and general liberal arts, not professional, studies, these institutions as a group continually face dwindling enrolments and direct challenges to their inherited goals and missions. The contributors to this volume illuminate and analyze the complex situation that the SLACs find themselves in. Some authors recommend changes in the future; others find ways to reinterpret former goals in ways that show a continuity with the past in a transformed format. In the “Preface,” Stephen R. Graubard laments the vanishing of traditional liberal arts colleges in the U.S. higher education setting, but praises their continued relevance: These colleges, with their individual and collective enrollments relatively minuscule when compared with those of the great private and state universities of the country, continue to believe that their faith in the advantages of modest size, small classes, and systems of instruction that rely on residential settings are still very much relevant today.
He notes that with the post World War II growth of higher education and, especially, research institutions, the SLACs have bestowed an increasingly smaller percentage of baccalaureate degrees, now being about 4%. This leads him to question the direction of American higher education: It is a truism to say that we live in a time of rapid change. The more compelling observation is that we are obliged to consider how traditional institutions, including American colleges and universities, are changing, how they ought to change, and why it is not enough for them simply to crave bigness.
Steven Koblik’s “Forward” praises the accomplishment of liberal arts colleges, especially their dedication to undergraduate education. While the current 212 SLACs are tremendously diverse institutions, they have common characteristics, such as being residential, small (from
322
Book reviews / The Social Science Journal 39 (2002) 309–323
500 to 3000 students), and educationally comprehensive. They promote close interaction among students and teachers, and are “totally dedicated to undergraduate education.” He sees this as being distinctively American, as “no other country has schools committed so clearly to the highest quality of undergraduate education.” “The Making of the Liberal Arts College Identity” by Hugh Hawkins discusses the distinctiveness of liberal arts colleges in the face of emerging research universities in American higher education. “The Threats to Liberal Arts Colleges” by Paul Neely also warns about the American obsession with gargantuan universities, which are impersonal, inefficient, and most of all, overlook the intellectual training of undergraduate students. He fears the isolation of the SLACs will hasten their decline: “The danger is that they will go the way of high-end American passenger trains in the late 1940s: they performed exceptionally well, but people began to use automobiles and planes more often.” “The Future of Economic Challenges for the Liberal Arts Colleges” by Michael S. McPherson and Morton Owen Schapiro discusses the difficult financial challenges facing liberal arts colleges. “How the Liberal Arts College Affects Students” by Alexander W. Astin describes different types of liberal arts colleges, as well as the academic and social accomplishments of their students. “Affirmation and Adaptation: Values and the Elite Residential Colleges” by Peter J. Gomes explores the uniqueness of residential colleges regarding the teaching of values. In “The Currents of Democracy: The Role of Small Liberal Arts Colleges,” Geoffrey Canada recounts fondly his experience at Bowdoin College. “Distinctively American: The Liberal Arts College” by Eugene M. Lang addresses the question of whether or not liberal arts colleges face extinction, at least in terms of their traditional mission. In “The American College as the Place for Liberal Learning” Eva T.H. Brann studies the benefits of residential liberal arts colleges in developing young adults. “Generating Ideals and Transforming lives: A Contemporary Case for the Residential Liberal Arts College” by Richard H. Hersh poses the daunting question of whether we as a society can afford not to have good liberal arts education for today’s youths. “Science at Liberal Arts Colleges: A Better Education?” by Thomas R. Cech claims that liberal arts colleges as a group, contrary to popular opinion, produce about twice as many scientists as general baccalaureate institutions, including the nation’s very best research institutions, by being able to pay attention to individual students. “New approaches to Science and Mathematics Teaching at Liberal Arts Colleges” by Priscilla W. Laws finds that small student–faculty ratios and teaching-oriented philosophies enable liberal arts colleges to foster a fertile environment for the development of new teaching methods and curricula. The labor intensiveness of such pursuits, however, and the decline in financial support, along with community isolation, hinder the full benefits of such development. “Vortex, Clouds, and Tongue: New Problems in the Humanities?” by Christina Elliott Sorum explores the hope for liberal arts colleges; “Reassessing Research: Liberal Arts Colleges and the Social Sciences” by Susan C. Bourque presents the paradox of research universities which place teaching at the periphery of academic activities. “At Home in Our World: The Place of International Studies in Liberal Arts Colleges” by Peter W. Stanley asserts that liberal education is inherently cosmopolitan and supranational, because the liberal arts focus on the foundations of knowledge and inquiry, and aspire to foster intellectual resilience. “Stability and Transformation: Information Technology in Liberal Arts Colleges” by Diane P.
Book reviews / The Social Science Journal 39 (2002) 309–323
323
Balestri discusses the impact of information technology on the SLACs. She finds that while research universities see technology as increased convenience, the SLACs view information technologies as “challenging tools and resources that enable the sort of complex investigation and rich communication in pursuit of knowledge that are the very hallmarks of our distinctively American liberal learning.” This richly textured approach to the past, present, and future of residential SLACs will be of great interest to all those participating in higher education, as well as to those interested in the history and future of American higher education and the intellectual history of the United States. It builds on what are, for most of us, outdated and vague perceptions of this sector of higher education. While we question to some extent whether the SLACs are, in fact, truly “distinctively American,” that does not temper our judgment that this volume is an extremely informative, provocative, and well-organized read for those both in the academy and outside of it. It inadvertently raises questions about the future of all of higher education, questions that are usually raised piecemeal, without reference to the best traditions of the past as they confront the challenging needs and possibilities of the future. Kathleen A. Murphey, Sheena Choi School of Education, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN 46805-1499, USA PII: S0362-3319(02)00178-7
321
Distinctively American: The Residential Liberal Arts Colleges Edited by Steven Koblik and Stephen R. Graubard; New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2000, 318 pages In Distinctively American: The Residential Liberal Arts College, the editors, Steven Koblik and Stephen R. Graubard, compile 15 articles primarily written by men and women engaged in liberal arts colleges as administrators, trustees, professors, former students, or chaplains. Inspite of their direct connections with and, often, professed allegiances to small, liberal arts colleges (SLACs), the contributors to this volume present a very clear, detailed, and honest portrait of many aspects of the past, present, and anticipated future of these schools. The articles, originally written by the various authors for different occasions, avoid the romanticized, sentimental presentations that they might have been. Instead, they both deconstruct and reconstruct the ideology about and reality of the SLACs. Taken collectively, these articles show how the SLACs have become vulnerable to the forces of change as they compete with other colleges and universities for students, and as they try to identify and maintain the values on which they were originally built, values that have been challenged by an evolving array of internal and external pressures. To a great extent, these pressures, such as market forces, competition for students, the changing role and importance of technology, and calls for diversity, are pressures that all institutions of higher education face. Given the SLACs’ history of commitment to small, residential settings and general liberal arts, not professional, studies, these institutions as a group continually face dwindling enrolments and direct challenges to their inherited goals and missions. The contributors to this volume illuminate and analyze the complex situation that the SLACs find themselves in. Some authors recommend changes in the future; others find ways to reinterpret former goals in ways that show a continuity with the past in a transformed format. In the “Preface,” Stephen R. Graubard laments the vanishing of traditional liberal arts colleges in the U.S. higher education setting, but praises their continued relevance: These colleges, with their individual and collective enrollments relatively minuscule when compared with those of the great private and state universities of the country, continue to believe that their faith in the advantages of modest size, small classes, and systems of instruction that rely on residential settings are still very much relevant today.
He notes that with the post World War II growth of higher education and, especially, research institutions, the SLACs have bestowed an increasingly smaller percentage of baccalaureate degrees, now being about 4%. This leads him to question the direction of American higher education: It is a truism to say that we live in a time of rapid change. The more compelling observation is that we are obliged to consider how traditional institutions, including American colleges and universities, are changing, how they ought to change, and why it is not enough for them simply to crave bigness.
Steven Koblik’s “Forward” praises the accomplishment of liberal arts colleges, especially their dedication to undergraduate education. While the current 212 SLACs are tremendously diverse institutions, they have common characteristics, such as being residential, small (from
322
Book reviews / The Social Science Journal 39 (2002) 309–323
500 to 3000 students), and educationally comprehensive. They promote close interaction among students and teachers, and are “totally dedicated to undergraduate education.” He sees this as being distinctively American, as “no other country has schools committed so clearly to the highest quality of undergraduate education.” “The Making of the Liberal Arts College Identity” by Hugh Hawkins discusses the distinctiveness of liberal arts colleges in the face of emerging research universities in American higher education. “The Threats to Liberal Arts Colleges” by Paul Neely also warns about the American obsession with gargantuan universities, which are impersonal, inefficient, and most of all, overlook the intellectual training of undergraduate students. He fears the isolation of the SLACs will hasten their decline: “The danger is that they will go the way of high-end American passenger trains in the late 1940s: they performed exceptionally well, but people began to use automobiles and planes more often.” “The Future of Economic Challenges for the Liberal Arts Colleges” by Michael S. McPherson and Morton Owen Schapiro discusses the difficult financial challenges facing liberal arts colleges. “How the Liberal Arts College Affects Students” by Alexander W. Astin describes different types of liberal arts colleges, as well as the academic and social accomplishments of their students. “Affirmation and Adaptation: Values and the Elite Residential Colleges” by Peter J. Gomes explores the uniqueness of residential colleges regarding the teaching of values. In “The Currents of Democracy: The Role of Small Liberal Arts Colleges,” Geoffrey Canada recounts fondly his experience at Bowdoin College. “Distinctively American: The Liberal Arts College” by Eugene M. Lang addresses the question of whether or not liberal arts colleges face extinction, at least in terms of their traditional mission. In “The American College as the Place for Liberal Learning” Eva T.H. Brann studies the benefits of residential liberal arts colleges in developing young adults. “Generating Ideals and Transforming lives: A Contemporary Case for the Residential Liberal Arts College” by Richard H. Hersh poses the daunting question of whether we as a society can afford not to have good liberal arts education for today’s youths. “Science at Liberal Arts Colleges: A Better Education?” by Thomas R. Cech claims that liberal arts colleges as a group, contrary to popular opinion, produce about twice as many scientists as general baccalaureate institutions, including the nation’s very best research institutions, by being able to pay attention to individual students. “New approaches to Science and Mathematics Teaching at Liberal Arts Colleges” by Priscilla W. Laws finds that small student–faculty ratios and teaching-oriented philosophies enable liberal arts colleges to foster a fertile environment for the development of new teaching methods and curricula. The labor intensiveness of such pursuits, however, and the decline in financial support, along with community isolation, hinder the full benefits of such development. “Vortex, Clouds, and Tongue: New Problems in the Humanities?” by Christina Elliott Sorum explores the hope for liberal arts colleges; “Reassessing Research: Liberal Arts Colleges and the Social Sciences” by Susan C. Bourque presents the paradox of research universities which place teaching at the periphery of academic activities. “At Home in Our World: The Place of International Studies in Liberal Arts Colleges” by Peter W. Stanley asserts that liberal education is inherently cosmopolitan and supranational, because the liberal arts focus on the foundations of knowledge and inquiry, and aspire to foster intellectual resilience. “Stability and Transformation: Information Technology in Liberal Arts Colleges” by Diane P.
Book reviews / The Social Science Journal 39 (2002) 309–323
323
Balestri discusses the impact of information technology on the SLACs. She finds that while research universities see technology as increased convenience, the SLACs view information technologies as “challenging tools and resources that enable the sort of complex investigation and rich communication in pursuit of knowledge that are the very hallmarks of our distinctively American liberal learning.” This richly textured approach to the past, present, and future of residential SLACs will be of great interest to all those participating in higher education, as well as to those interested in the history and future of American higher education and the intellectual history of the United States. It builds on what are, for most of us, outdated and vague perceptions of this sector of higher education. While we question to some extent whether the SLACs are, in fact, truly “distinctively American,” that does not temper our judgment that this volume is an extremely informative, provocative, and well-organized read for those both in the academy and outside of it. It inadvertently raises questions about the future of all of higher education, questions that are usually raised piecemeal, without reference to the best traditions of the past as they confront the challenging needs and possibilities of the future. Kathleen A. Murphey, Sheena Choi School of Education, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN 46805-1499, USA PII: S0362-3319(02)00178-7