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The Journal of General Education 50.4 (2001) viii-xi



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Introductory Notes

Elizabeth Larsen and JoAnn Carter-Wells


The first issue of The Journal of General Education appeared in 1946, although there was a long hiatus in publication before 1961 when The Pennsylvania State University Press took over its publication from the University of Chicago Press. The founding intention was to further the "general education movement," whose "salient features" included "a reaction against specialism and vocationalism; an effort to integrate the subject matter of related disciplines;...[and] an attempt to assist the student in seeing the relationship between learning and life and in using his [sic] knowledge and skills in daily living...." It hoped to offer articles concerning the movement in "philosophical and social" thought and provide practical and innovative pedagogical experiences, as well as critical commentary.

In 1961, Volume 13, the editors spoke for continuation of JGE by noting that "the intervening years [since the founding] have widened the gap between our knowledge and our understanding." After mentioning the amount of information increasingly available, the editors go on to state that "general education is not a matter that we are free to choose or neglect. It is there, inescapably, in the condition of being men [sic]." JGE, thus, is "devoted to the interests of the specialist away from home." Its goal is to provide "an extradepartmental platform."

Today, we would question some of these assumptions and argue with the priorities. Most particularly, now that the need for argument about general education itself has almost disappeared, JGE has become a vehicle for "best practices" and research in general education. In the last two decades we have discovered greater need to talk about the curriculum, how it works, how programs differ and why, and what students now need in college-level foundational studies.

Yet despite change, JGE in 2002 can also re-assert the goal of providing students with ways of connecting learning and life. Two [End Page viii] years ago, the editorial board of JGE decided that it would be beneficial to the field if we took a backward look at two decades of the periodical. We wanted to bring to readers' attention articles that we believe have continuing interest in general education. The five full text articles and five articles abstracted in this issue stand out for their writing, their use of sources (indeed, the references almost mark a survey of the field), and their ability to inform JGE readers today.

We have divided the field into five areas of interest: Reviewing General Education, Strengthening Faculty, Improving Student Learning, Perspectives, and Changes Technology Brings to General Education.

Reviewing General Education: The initial essay, "Assessing the Reform of General Education," by Jerry G. Gaff and Anna Wasescha summarizes the state of general education in 1991. It reports on curricular revision in 305 colleges and universities surveyed as part of the Project on General Education and notes that improvements had been made and that general education can be improved by continued conversation across institutions of higher education. This section includes an abstract from an article by Robert R. Newton entitled "Tensions and Models in General Education Planning."

Strengthening Faculty: As research into the undergraduate curriculum proceeded, it soon became obvious that there could be no lasting curricular reform without consideration of faculty development. In "Faculty and Students at the Center: Faculty Development for the General Education Courses" (1997), Jack Meacham and Jeannette Ludwig give readers a case study that reveals problems and successes as a university experimented, assisting faculty members in various ways. The article has particular value because it provides clear advice for all who are working at faculty development.

Improving Student Learning: In the area of Improving Student Learning, we have selected Diane F. Halpern's article, "Assessing the Effectiveness of Critical-Thinking Instruction" (1993). Halpern answers the question, "What is the evidence that we can teach [End Page ix] college students to improve how they think?" and encourages us to study the numerous variables to provide further direction. Also included in this section is an abstract of Mark A. Schlesinger's article "The Road to...

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