Blue Ribbon Report

OPPORTUNITIES FOR LIBERAL LEARNING IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY by The Blue Ribbon Commission on Liberal Learning in the Twenty-first Century W. David Baird, Chair Thomas G. Bost D’Esta Love Jennifer Farley Brase John Nicks Isaac Bright Cynthia Novak Mandy Broaddus Don Thompson Ron Highfield Norman Fischer Douglas Kmiec exofficio PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY 1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword . 3 Chapters 1. Development of Curriculum at Seaver College . 6 2. Definitions and Assumptions .. 14 3. The Environment of the Twenty-first Century . 21 4. Qualities, Skills, and Knowledges Required for Productive Lives in the Twenty-first Century . 26 5. Learning Experiences Necessary to Provide the Qualities, Skills and Knowledges Required to Live Lives of Usefulness in the Twenty-first Century . 29 A. General Education (with Recommendations 1-11). 30 B. Specialized Education (with Recommendations 12-18) . 34 C. Co-Curriculum (with Recommendations 19-26) . 37 6. Delivering Learning Experiences in the Twenty-first Century (with Recommendations 27-36). 40 7. Conclusion. 44 3 FOREWORD In December 1995, President David Davenport gy, cultural diversity, and globalization have established the Blue Ribbon Commission on become the order of the day. New delivery sys- tems like three-year programs and on-line de- Liberal Learning in the Twenty-first Century. grees are appearing. It is likely that higher edu- He named as members Seaver College profes- cation will experience more change in the next sors Ron Highfield (Religion), Cynthia Novak decade or two than at any time in this century. (Humanities), and Don Thompson (Mathemat- How should Seaver College prepare to face ics); D’Esta Love, Seaver College Dean of Stu- the challenges of the Twenty-first Century dents; Professor John Nicks of the Graziadio while remaining true to its mission of providing high quality liberal arts education? Happily, School of Business and Management; Professor George Pepperdine pointed to a polar star for Douglas Kmiec of the School of Law; Thomas navigating the seas of change when he said that G. Bost, Chair of the Pepperdine University he was founding his college to help prepare Board of Trustees; Mandy Broaddus and Isaac students for lives of usefulness. The education- Bright, Seaver College students; Jennifer Farley al needs of students have always been the focal point of educational planning at Pepperdine. Brase, Seaver College alumnus. Norm Fischer, Our challenge is to anticipate what these needs Director of Institutional Research, agreed to will be in the Twenty-first Century. What will serve as an exofficio member and staff person, students need to know, do, and become in order while W. David Baird, Howard A. White Pro- to live lives of usefulness in this new era? How fessor of History and Chair of the Division of may we best provide an undergraduate experience which will appropriately prepare them Humanities and Teacher Education at Seaver for what is ahead? College, accepted the responsibilities of chair- The pace of change seems to be out-stripping ing the commission. the capacity of regular planning process. It is On January 26, 1996, President Davenport important to take a global look at undergraduate charged the Blue Ribbon Commission with the education for the new century to supplement this process and provide it a comprehensive following: reference point. This will be the task of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Liberal Learning in We live an in era of unprecedented change. the Twenty-first Century. This Commission, Knowledge doubles almost yearly. Soon, the comprised of faculty, students, staff, alumni and years may become months. Today’s graduates board members, will be asked to study and re- must expect to change careers several times port on the educational needs of today’s and during their working lives. Technological ad- tomorrow’s college students. The Commis- vances are transforming virtually every existing sion’s report should help the University assess profession. Meanwhile, the world is shrinking the curricular and co-curricular experiences a and its peoples and institutions are becoming Pepperdine graduate will need to be prepared increasingly interdependent. Most issues have for a life of usefulness as we enter the new cen- important global and cultural dimensions. tury. What will it mean to provide a high quali- The students who come to college to prepare ty education in a Christian environment for for this world come with increasingly different these students? What information, ideas, values backgrounds and levels of preparation. Dra- and skills will Pepperdine wish to send with matic changes in the family and in K-12 educa- them as they graduate? tion, for example, have resulted in a wider va- The report of the Commission is not expected riety of values-based experiences and academic to be a final implementation plan for change at readiness than ever before. Pepperdine. That must emerge through the Colleges and universities are already expe- normal processes of campus decision-making. riencing the stress which accompanies these The report will, however, provide a springboard changes. Major campus initiatives in technolo- from which discussions about educational pro- 4 grams and policies might be launched over the for the report at a fourth retreat held in January next several years. 1997. Professor Linda C. Mitchell edited the report for publication. In response to President Davenport’s The report of the Blue Ribbon Commission charge, members of the commission undertook a on Liberal Learning in the Twenty-first Century year-long study of the environment in which is presented in the pages that follow. Entitled students are likely to live and work in the Twen- “Opportunities for Liberal Learning in the ty-first Century. The commission also studied Twenty-first Century,” the report is organized the ways that Pepperdine University in general, into seven different chapters. The first provides and Seaver College in particular can better pre- a history of the development of the liberal arts pare students for lives of usefulness in that curriculum at Seaver College in the context of unique environment. They accentuated an am- both national and local developments. In the bitious reading program by four weekend re- second we articulate the definitions and assump- treats and one dinner meeting. At its first retreat tions implicit to the report. Included in this held in early March 1996, commission members chapter is our effort to describe and characterize struggled to understand what the Twenty-first the student that will likely enroll in Seaver Col- Century might look like economically, political- lege at the dawning of the Twenty-first Century. ly, socially, technologically, and religiously. In Chapter three seeks to sketch the environment this task we were guided by Roger Benjamin, a (economic, political, social, technological, and RAND corporation consultant, and Wade Clark religious, among others) Twenty-first Century Roof, a sociologist of religion at the University graduates will encounter, while chapter four of California, Santa Barbara. In June, the identifies the qualities, knowledges, and skills second retreat of the commission focused on graduates will need if they are to live lives of discerning ways in which a liberal arts institu- usefulness in that environment. tion with a unique mission like Seaver College Chapter five is the heart of the commis- could and should respond to the challenges of sion’s final report. There we grapple with iden- the Twenty-first Century. Michael Dolence, an tifying the learning experiences that Seaver Col- organizational and information technology lege must make available if its students are to planner, and Thomas E. Dillon, president of have the qualities, skills, and knowledges (iden- Thomas Aquinas College, acted as consultants tified in chapter four) which will help assure on this occasion. The commission also devoted productive lives in the next century. In three some time to understanding the qualities of and large sections we examine general, specialized, debate over so-called “Generation 13.” and co-curricular education, offering in each In August, members of the commission had section recommendations that envision both ad- an opportunity to spend a stimulating evening justments and changes. How Seaver College with George Keller, renowned educational con- might best realize or deliver these opportunities sultant, who was in town to address the Seaver is addressed in chapter six. Chapter seven pro- faculty on the importance of strategic planning. vides a brief conclusion to the report. Keller caused the members both to refine the It is important to know that members of the objectives and to rethink the structure of the Commission embarked upon their study of lib- document we expected to produce. In Septem- eral learning in the Twenty-first Century with ber when the commission met in its third retreat, considerable enthusiasm and dedication. Over members responded by dividing into small the course of twelve months, there was no wan- groups to begin the difficult task of drafting ing of that interest and commitment, although segments of the final report. In subsequent the enormity and importance of the task grew weeks, Professor Baird folded the results of that upon us; indeed, it sobered and humbled us. We cooperative endeavor into a single draft. Mem- are not futurists, experts in curriculum design, bers of the commission adopted final language 5 technological wizards, or organizational special- truth and light. President Davenport has said ists. What we lacked in expertise, however, we that when you put good people together in a counterbalanced with a rich diversity of expe- room, good things happen. In this case there rience, extensive reading in the relevant litera- were good people in a room, and good things ture, affection for each other, support for the did happen. We pray that this report was one of unique experiment that is Pepperdine Universi- those things. ty, and recognition that God is the source of all 6 CHAPTER 1 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CURRICULUM AT SEAVER COLLEGE When George Pepperdine established his col- lemma.

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