Whatever the goal of a liberal education, whether it is acquiring a core body of knowledge, a style of thinking, or the development of character, these essays suggest the importance of the academic community, characteristic of the small university, in the shaping and survival of liberal education. Small classes, a sense of community, and personal dialogue between students and faculty are ingredients that can best be provided by the small university and that make a unique contribution to the intellectual development of students. Contents The Purpose and Content of a Liberal Education - Hans vanderLeest Theme and Variations in the Arts and Science Curriculum - Tom Storm and Christine Storm Perception of the Undergraduate Experience: Graduates of a Small University, 1960-1984 - Christine Storm, Tom Storm, and Michelle Strain Access to excellence? The Social Background of Mount Allison Students - Berkely Fleming and Brian Campbell Science within the Liberal Arts: Mount Allison and the Maritime Universities - Paul Bogaard Art at Mount Allison: A History - Virgil Hammock Drama, the Campus, and the Curriculum at Mount Allison: "This Green Plot Shall Be Our Stage ..." - Mark Blagrave Religion at the Small University: A Comparison of Three Maritime Universities - Mark Parent The Financial Problems Facing Canadian Universities: Some Unpleasant Economic Principles - Frank Strain Unbalanced Productivity Growth and the Financial History of Mount Allison University - Frank Strain Helping the Student Learn: Special Assistance to Undergraduates - Jane Drover, Brian MacMillan, and Lex Wilson Technological Innovation and Liberal Education - Paul Cant, Bob Hawkes, and Nancy Vogan.

Small liberal arts institutions that focus on the undergraduate student have received little attention in the literature on higher education in Canada. In this collection of essays contributors set out to redress the situation. Focusing on Mount Allison University in New Brunswick they question, among other things, whether the values and integrity of liberal arts teaching are being preserved and make a case for the important role liberal education at the small university plays in higher education in Canada.

An impassioned defence of the liberal arts.

Drawn from a symposium jointly sponsored by the Educational Leadership Program and the American Council of Learned Societies, this work looks at the requirements of liberal education for the next century and the strategies of getting there. Rethinking Liberal Education proposes better ways of connecting the curriculum and organization of liberal art colleges with today's challenging economic and social realities. The authors push for greater flexibility in the organizational structure of academic departments, and argue that faculty should play a greater role in the hard discussions that shape their institutions.

Liberal Education, once the whole of American Higher Education, has been displaced by technical training and career-oriented majors. But it has also suffered from the decline in genuine liberal learning found in humanities disciplines, owing to specialization, politicization, and the adoption of new literary and psychological theories. The social sciences, too, have arguably abandoned the kind of relentless and sometimes disturbing questioning that used to constitute the core of education. In this compelling volume, thirteen college educators describe in sparkling prose what liberal education is, its place in a liberal democracy, the very serious challenges it faces in the 21st century—even from some of its alleged friends—and why it is important to sustain and expand liberal education’s place in American colleges and universities. Proponents and critics of liberal education alike will benefit from these insightful essays. This book was originally published as a special issue of Perspectives on Political Science.