Taking Teachers Seriously

As policy makers and scholars assess the challenges to teacher education programs, they almost always address those at large research universities. But a new book co-edited by Vassar College education department chair Christopher Bjork argues that educators should glean valuable insights from the liberal arts model, which - unlike large institutions - is not driven by a desire to help teachers meet student-testing mandates.

Towards a New Liberal Arts

"The challenges of citizenship are not akin to those of choosing a major, nor are they compatible with a view of life in which the highest activity is pursuing research in one’s area of specialization," says Bennington College president Elizabeth Coleman. She is calling for a "new liberal arts" that plays down such specialization, because "citizenship is not a world where one doesn’t do windows."