Despite widespread lip service to the importance of a general education, a new survey by ACTA finds that a solid core curriculum in higher education has gone the way of the dodo. At a time when most colleges endorse the importance of a general education—a set of courses required of all students—in fact, colleges have virtually abandoned a solid core curriculum in favor of a loose set of distribution requirements. As a consequence, college students are graduating without the basic knowledge that was once considered the hallmark of a liberal education. ACTA’s report surveys 50 colleges and universities, including all of the Big Eight and Big Ten universities, the Ivy League, and the Seven Sisters Colleges, plus an additional grouping of 13 colleges to provide institutional and geographical breadth. Each school was given a grade from A to F, depending on the number of core subjects it required.
In this 11th edition of its flagship annual survey of college general education curricula, What Will They Learn?, ACTA shines a light on the wide disparity in academic standards at institutions of higher learning across the country. What Will They Learn? reviews the core curricula of over 1,100 four-year public and private institutions to determine the […]
In light of the findings in What Will They Learn? that many of our leading universities have a diffuse and impoverished curriculum, this companion guide provides suggestions for trustees who would like to review and strengthen the core requirements at their institutions. Restoring a Core succinctly explains the importance and continuing relevance of a core […]
“Today’s graduates are grossly underprepared either for democratic citizenship or for the increasingly competitive global marketplace.” Those words were hardly surprising in the program description of a session Friday at the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. After all, the association worries a lot about such underpreparedness, and offers suggestions on […]
General education doesn’t often make headlines. But thanks to the groundbreaking efforts in Colorado to ensure a rigorous statewide core curriculum, Colorado is making national news. At a time of breathtaking changes and ever-growing bodies of information, Colorado’s focus on a strong general education will give its college graduates a competitive edge. Students in other […]
Many college students graduate without taking core classes in subjects like literature, economics and American history, according to a study from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA). ACTA surveyed 50 well-known colleges and universities to find out if they require students to take courses in seven core areas (composition, literature, foreign language, American […]
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