Rethinking the Curriculum: Toward an Integrated, Interdisciplinary College Education

This book is founded on the consensus that most of what passes for liberal studies and general education is so out of touch with today's world that it is simply beside the point. Not only does the curriculum fail to address contemporary reality, but when it does, it does so in such a fragmented form that little useful understanding can be extracted. For example, one of the chief inadequacies brought out by the text is the failure of current disciplines to deal with the inherent messiness and complexity of real world issues such as hunger, conflict, and pollution. As a result of this, today's decision makers are unable to grasp the underlying causes of our global crises, and instead catch at the straws of technological or social fixes. Starting with the general consensus that something is seriously wrong, this book seeks to identify the issues, provide insights on what can be done and issue a few challenges as well. The 18 contributions and editor's introduction included in this important volume are organized around five sub-themes: Assumptions about the Progress of Knowledge, A Critical Look at the Disciplines, The Value Content of Education, Alternative Visions Not Currently Taught, and Developing the New Curriculum. Within these themes the authors tackle provocative issues such as unmasking the dangerous limitations of hyperintelligence and exploring the place of the East-West dialogue in moral curriculum and value orientation. This collection encompasses some of the most dynamic thinking on the subject of curricular change and will be of interest to educators and students as well as all thinking people.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction by Mary E. Clark and Sandra A. Wawrytko Making the Connections: The Search for Our Common Humanity by Ernest L. Boyer Assumptions About the "Progress" of Knowledge Hyperintelligence: Humankind's Next Evolutionary Step by George Bugliarello Why Smartness Is Not Enough by Mary Midgley Paradigms and Progress: Integrating Knowledge and Education for the Twenty-First Century by William J. Reckmeyer A Critical Look at the Disciplines The Limitations of Political Theory for Analyzing Conflict by Richard E. Rubenstein Will the Real Economy Please Stand Up? by Hazel Henderson Escaping the Overspecialization Trap: Creating Incentives for a Transdisciplinary Synthesis by Robert Costanza Constructive Linking: Towards a Matrix Approach in Higher Education by Terrence H. White The Value Content of Education The Central Curricular Issue of Our Age by Huston Smith Toward a Creative East-West Dialogue in Moral Education and Value Orientation by Charles Wei-hsun Fu Asking the Right Questions: Education as Dialogue on Social Values by Frances Moore Lappé Alternative Visions Not Currently Taught The Need for Global Education by Robert W. Malone Forgotten Fundamentals of Steady Growth by Albert A. Bartlett Visioning a Peaceful World by Johan Galtung Why Not a Separate College of Integrated Studies? by Russel W. Peterson Developing the New Curriculum Cutting the Gordian Knot: Secrets of Successful Curricular Integration by David McFarland and Benjamin F. Taggie How Do We Know What We Have Done? Assessment and Faculty Development within a Learning Community by James C. Manley and Nancy Ware What to Do Next: Strategies for Change by William H. Newell Bibliography Index

About the Author :
MARY E. CLARK is Professor of Biology at San Diego State University. She is the author of Contemporary Biology and Ariadne's Thread: The Search for New Modes of Thinking. SANDRA A. WAWRYTKO is on the faculty in the Department of Philosophy, Asian Studies Program, at San Diego State University. She is coeditor and contributor of Victor Frankl: People and Meanings and is the author of The Undercurrent of Feminine Philosophy in Eastern and Western Thought. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of The International Journal of Philosophy and Psychotherapy: Hsin, and coauthor of the first six volumes of the Resources in Asian Philosophy and Religion Series (Greenwood Press).

Review :
"This is the most comprehensive and authoritative collection now available on this urgent topic of national concern in higher education. Because the essays confront the same vexing problems of general education--particularly fragmentation--that our integrative program was designed to overcome, our faculty keeps a copy in constant circulation."-Patrick Story Director, Plan for Alternative General Education (PAGE) and Associate Professor of English George Mason University