I teach THE 1041C (Intro to Theatre) at Baruch, which fosters oral as well as written communication, and I love doing it. I think theatre, as a discipline, is particularly well suited to meeting CAC objectives. But I’d like to play the devil’s advocate for a moment and discuss the tension between skills-development and content in CIC courses.

I recently read Carol Geary Schneider and Debra Humphreys’s article “Putting Liberal Education on the Radar Screen”in the Chronicle of Higher Ed (23 Sept 05). The authors describe a ten-year project by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) called “Liberal Education and America’s Promise: Excellence for Everyone as a Nation Goes to College.” The initiative aims to increase awareness of the importance of liberal arts education to a generation of students (and their parents) who tend to believe a college degree is “just a ticket to be punched on the way to their first job.”

I imagine most college teachers will not be surprised by the findings of the AACU study, which suggest that students today consider “values and ethics, an appreciation of cultural diversity, global awareness, and civic responsibility” to be the least important outcomes of a college education. Indeed, most view college as “a private rather than a public good,” a way to develop professional skills. The data also suggest that “colleges are not conveying the importance of liberal education to their students,” and Schneider and Humphreys argue that this is part of the problem.

As someone who is personally, politically, and professionally invested in the objectives associated with liberal arts education, I found this article disturbing. It also makes me wonder whether or not CAC feeds the fires of the consumerist mentality described in the AACU study. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I sometimes find myself “selling” CIC objectives to my students, since most of them are non-majors with little interest in the subject: “Two courses in one! More bang for your buck! Learn not only how to talk intelligently about ‘Hamlet’ at cocktail parties, but be scintillating while you do it!” I genuinely believe that communication is intimately connected to critical thinking, cultural awareness, and ethical conduct. But typically, CAC is about skills development, not these other things. Schneider and Humphreys insist that educators and administrators not only need to talk about the value of liberal arts among themselves, but also find ways to articulate their value to students. But will CAC programs, as they expand and proliferate, legitimize students’ tendency to view college as little more than a springboard to a high-paying job? How can CAC teachers and administrators strike a balance between the often-competing objectives of higher education: to shape the next generation of leaders and thinkers professionally, ethically, culturally, intellectually?