The three major fields of human knowledge are the
humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences.
An undergraduate, whose special interests lie in one of
these fields, should be able to understand his own field
in the context of the whole of human knowledge. This
necessitates some knowledge of the other two fields. This
practice is followed in American colleges, and is called
in these pages ' general education '. Formal study is
required of undergraduates in each of these fields? and
the passing of examinations in them is a condition of
graduation .
The purposes of general education are discussed in
the first chapter for the student as undergraduate ,
and for the man as scholar, for the man in his profession,
for the man in the community, and for the man, and the
woman, during leisure hours. This analysis raises the
question as to what should be the aims of university
education? and this is considered briefly in the first
chapter, and more fully in the last.
The first chapter concludes with an outline, which
also is elaborated in the last chapter, of the widest
purposes of general studies. These are, in the words
of the authors of the Harvard report, to enable students
'to think effectively, to communicate thought, to make
relevant judgments, and to discriminate among values ' .
A ' liberal education' is defined in the last
chapter as one which provides both the values of depth,
which arise from specialist studies, and the values of
breadth, which are to be found in general 'studies.
Specialist studies liberate a man from ignorance and
prejudice in his own field. General studies put a man
on the road to freedom from ignorance and prejudice in
all other fields .
In point of fact, in the earlier chapters, the terms
' liberal education ' , 'liberal studies', 'general
education', and 'general studies' are used almost as
synonyms . This is inevitable, as the many writers
quoted on this subject use these terms to mean much
the same thing.
The content of general education. programs is traced
in chapter 2 . The major headings are: 2. 2, Harvard College;
2. 3, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 2.4,
Yale College; and 2.5, Columbia College . In each casethe contributions to curricula of the humanities, the
social sciences, the natural sciences, and 'communication'
are given.
In chapter 3, however, the major headings are:
3.1, the humanities; 3.2, the social sciences; 3.3, the
natural sciences; and 3.4, communication. Here, in each
case, the uses made of these fields of knowledge in
undergraduate curricula are compared with respect to two
very different university colleges -- the College of the
University of Chicago, and University College in
Michigan State University. Communication in general
education is such an important subject that a separate
chapter (5) is devoted to it; this forms the one
component of general studies which is invariably present.
Chapter 6 deals with similarities and differences
in general education programs in the United States of
America. In the General College of the University of
Minnesota, the emphasis is as much on social objectives
as on academic aims. Next, the curricula of four new
colleges are sketched -- and all have strong general
studies programs: Michigan State University, Oakland;
Monteith College in Wayne State University, Detroit;
the University of South Florida; and Harvey Mudd College
in California. This leads on to a consideration of
the State prescriptions in California, with three examples:
the State College of San Francisco, Stanford University,
and the California Institute of Technology. A
description of two well-known, but atypical liberal arts
colleges follows: Amherst and Antioch. Berea College,
like Antioch College, has a work-study plan, but of a
different kind. Finally the programs of St. John's
College, and Sarah Lawrence College are given, and they
illustrate the concluding section of this dissertation
in chapter 9 on the philosophical foundations of general
education. One stands to one side of the Harvard
pattern, and the second to the other side.
The division of the fields of human knowledge into
the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural
sciences is obviously an over-simplification. An
analysis by Cassidy of Yale at the start of chapter 7
shows the relationship of the liberal arts and sciences
to their professional applications on the one hand, and
to their philosophical bases on the other. This leads
on to details of the requirements of the professions in
America in respect of general education in undergraduate studies: engineering, architecture, law, medicine,
dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, business administration,
journalism, music, and teaching.
The opportunity is taken of tracing various methods
of arrangement of general studies in section 7.23 on
engineering education.
Chapter 8 raises the problem of finding time for all
the studies which should be included in undergraduate
curricula. Should an extra year be provided? Indeed,
is one year less a possibility? Opponents of the practice
of general education usually avoid its challenge by
stressing the time problem, or by saying that its values
can be attained at the secondary school level, or after
graduation through adult education. A study of examination
papers from M.I.T. (page 111), Columbia (page 114), and
Keele in England (page 232) will show that work at this
level demands a maturity beyond that of the school- boy or
school-girl, and requires far more time than the adult,
burdened with employment and domestic responsibilities,
could find. Other ways of escaping the challenge of
general education are to look to possible alternatives~
living in residence, student activities, lecture series,
the cultural background of a good home. It is contended
in these pages that although these are valuable supplements,
they are nevertheless inadequate alternatives.
Chapter 4 separates the first three and the last five
chapters through comparisons of Great Britain, Canada,
and the United States of America. There is much incisive
writing in Britain on the value of liberal education,
of which, with certain exceptions, there occurs relatively
little in practice. The Colleges of Advanced Technology
have good programs of liberal studies. The University of
North Staffordshire at Keele has a foundation year of
general education, and what would be called in America
'distribution requirements', in the following three years.
Beyond this, univerSity undergraduate curricula and
British sixth form courses are highly specialized, but
less so in Scotland than in England. Chapter 4 contains
a full portrayal of British practice with respect to
special and general studies. This has been given because
a statement of British reactions to the challenge of
general education, it is hoped, will serve to sharpen
thinking on the subject. For the Same purpose Canadian
views and practice are described; Canadian universities
. in this respect are closer to those of Britain and France than to those of the United States of America.
Reference is made also to Germany, Holland, Australia,
and India, to show the geographic spread of discussion
on these matters.
It is hoped that this dissertation may be of value to
South African university authorities, who are considering
at the moment (1963) the possibility of an extra year at
the beginning of the university Bachelor's course, and
this point is mentioned in section 8.24 . The extent to
which a country can reject the challenge of general
education i s outlined in section 4.81; the South African
prescripti on for subjects outside the field of specialization is usually framed in terms of not more than rather
than not less than . The difficulties of implementing a
general education program can be understood best with
respe ct to universities where general studies are largely
absent; here too South African practice providesin section
8.52 a useful basis for discussion. Finally, South
Africa is referred to again in section 9.22 in an attempt
to define general education, and to show what, at the
very least, a program of general education must include
to be worthy of the name.
This study was made possible by a Leader Program
award of the State Department of the United States of
America in 1955, and by a Carnegie Corporation of New
York travel grant in 1960. Two stimulating and memorable
visits resulted.
This analysis of general education has been undertaken
in the conviction that 'thinking on this subject, and
fundamental thinking, was never more necessary than it
is today ' , to use the words of the University Grants
Committee of Great Britain. It is hoped that these pages
will indicate that the world has a great deal to learn
about this matter from the United States of America. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, 1963.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/7647 |
| Date | January 1963 |
| Creators | Williams, Aston Rowland. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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