Editorial: A New Perspective for Biology: Its Central Role in the Liberal Arts Education of the Future

PERSPECTIVES IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE Volume 29 ¦ Number 4 ¦ Summer 1 986 EDITORIAL: A NEW PERSPECTIVE FOR BIOLOGY: ITS CENTRAL ROLE IN THE LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION OF THE FUTURE The advances in biology in the last 5 decades have been spectacular and have come so rapidly that their full impact has not been assimilated. There is little reason to believe this past is anything but an exciting prologue to an even more astounding future marked by discoveries that will bring forth new dimensions of understanding and appreciation of man and his universe. Furthermore, we believe biology can serve better than any other natural science as the primary subject best able to overcome the dreads and misconceptions that many students have developed toward all the natural sciences. We therefore see the "New Biology" as worthy of attention both in its own right for the powerful role it will come to play in the thinking of all educated citizens and also as an example of natural science that, when made palatable and appreciated by all students, will give them insights and understandings of the power, value, meaning, and limitations of all science. But biologists are, in the main, reductionists, and there has therefore as yet been little effort at evaluating in a comprehensive way the significance of the New Biology, extrapolating its possibilities for the future, appreciating its relevance to other academic disciplines, and utilizing its methods and content as the bases for the construction of a coherent educational philosophy and an integrated liberal arts curriculum. The Liberal Arts Curriculum—Past and Present The appraisal of education in the United States is an ongoing process, but in the last few years, new questions have been asked, and new concerns have been voiced. The concept of what we now call the liberal arts education has historical roots in the earliest colonial colleges in our counPerspectives in Biology and Medicine, 29, 4 ¦ Summer 1986 \ 489 try and was further expanded in the nineteenth century in several large universities (The Johns Hopkins, Chicago, Harvard, Yale) under the leadership of Gilman, Harper, Eliot, and others. It had two principal purposes: (1) to provide the education required for a cultivated man or woman; (2) to serve as a preprofessional education for those students desiring a professional career in medicine, law, theology, or scholarship, teaching, and research in a university. The original course requirements were English, several foreign languages, the classics, mathematics, and a year of the natural sciences, often bolstered by a year or more of religious instruction. As faculty research in the universities flourished, specialization was inevitable, and the specialists offered courses in their chosen subjects for the broadening curriculum. However, it became difficult for administrative leaders and faculties to define the philosophic purpose and the aims of the liberal arts program in a manner which could provide the student with a planned curriculum after the first 2 years. The dilemma of having a plethora of courses was solved by allowing the students to select courses themselves. In defense of the broad elective opportunities provided students, it was stated that welldesigned courses in almost any subject developed in the maturing student the capacity to understand new material, organize his thoughts, think logically, and appreciate research methods. The subject matters offered were not more important than the pedagogical approach and the resulting intellectual maturation. The concept that the liberal education should help the student understand himself and his world is widely held. However, the inability of faculties to agree on any curriculum that achieves this goal has led to the compromise of électives being a very prominent portion for those students not specializing, while restricted programs are provided for those planning an advanced professional career. For college students not majoring in one of the natural sciences, the requirement of one or two courses of natural science spanning 1 year remains a common and often unpopular requirement, especially when teaching is often relegated to junior faculty members lacking perspective and experience. Rapid Remodeling ofLife-Styles Despite the relative deemphasis of biology and the other natural sciences in the liberal arts curriculum, the research production of enlarged science faculties has been tremendous, and this has in a very significant...