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This collection of essays places issues central to literary study, particularly the question of the canon, in the context of institutional practices in American colleges and universities. Lauter addresses such crucial concerns as what students should read and study, how standards of "quality" are defined and changed, the limits of theoretical discourse, and the ways race, gender, and class shape not only teaching, curricula, and research priorities, but collegiate personnel actions as well. The book examines critically the variety of recent proposals for "reforming" higher education, and it calls into question many practices, like employing large numbers of part-timers, now popular with college managers. Offering concrete examples of a "comparative" method for teaching literary texts, and specific instances about "integrating" curricula, Canons and Contexts proposes realistic ideas for creating varied, spirited, and democratic classrooms and colleges.

Each year since 1983 the American Council of Learned Societies has invited one of America's leading scholars to deliver the Haskins Lecture, in honor of Charles Homer Haskins, a distinguished scholar and teacher who was instrumental in the founding of the ACLS. In this volume, which commemorates the 75th anniversary of the ACLS, Douglas Greenberg and Stanley Katz bring together the lectures presented by ten of America's most distinguished scholars. Each lecture is a personal and intellectual glimpse into the "life of learning" of such leading scholars as Maynard Mack, Annemarie Schimmel, and John Hope Franklin. The lectures focus on self-reflection of lives dedicated to learning, rather than on scholarship in the usual sense of the term. Ranging from being forced to learn Latin to painful memories of war and racism, the lecturers all recount stories from their eventful lives. Each offers thoughts on the body of work he or she has produced and the forces, personal and intellectual, that have shaped it. The scholars bring something of their disciplines to the lecture, sharing not only personal anecdotes but their love of learning.

This book focuses on the relationship between private and public education in a comparative context. The contributors emphasize the relationship between private choices and public policy as they affect the division of labor between public and private non-profit schools, colleges, and universities. Their essays examine the kinds of choices offered by each sector, as well as the effects of present and proposed public policies on the intersectoral division of labor. Written from neither a pro-private nor a pro-public point of view, the contributors point to the ways in which they believe one sector or the other may be preferable for certain goals or groups.

Liberal education has always had its share of theorists, believers, and detractors, both inside and outside the academy. The best of these have been responsible for the development of the concept, and of its changing tradition. Drawn from a symposium jointly sponsored by the Educational Leadership program and the American Council of Learned Societies, this work looks at the requirements of liberal education for the next century and the strategies for getting there. With contributions from Leon Botstein, Ernest Boyer, Howard Gardner, Stanley Katz, Bruce Kimball, Peter Lyman, Susan Resneck Pierce, Adam Yarmolinsky and Frank Wong, Rethinking Liberal Education proposes better ways of connecting the curriculum and organization of liberal arts colleges with today's challenging economic and social realities. The authors push for greater flexibility in the organizational structure of academic departments, and argue that faculty should play a greater role in the hard discussions that shape their institutions. Through the implementation of interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to learning, along with better integration of the curriculum with the professional and vocational aspects of the institution, this work proposes to restore vitality to the curriculum. The concept of rethinking liberal education does not mean the same thing to every educator. To one, it may mean a strategic shift in requirements, to another the reformulation of the underlying philosophy to meet changing times. Any significant reform in education needs careful thought and discussion. Rethinking Liberal Education makes a substantial contribution to such debates. It will be of interest to scholars and students, administrators, and anyone concerned with the issues of modern education.

The rare and exceptional teacher--one who could teach absolutely anything to anybody--is what Ken Macrorie set out to find among teachers of many different subjects at many different levels. The result of his search is 20 Teachers, a collection of revealing profiles in which outstanding educators explain what works for them in the classroom and why. Macrorie’s interviews with these professionals show an astonishing similarity in their beliefs, methods, and attitudes and the keys to their success with students from first grade to the graduate level. Ranging from a woodworking instructor in a wealthy suburban school to an inner-city history teacher to a professor of space engineering, the teachers profiled here share a fundamental belief in putting choice and responsibility in the hands of their students, no matter what their age. Macrorie includes, in addition to the interviews, a summary chapter listing 43 items these teachers claim help learners to do “good works.” Finally, in an “Open Letter About Schools,” he explores the notion that schools have developed, often unwittingly, traditions that run counter to the way these educators work; he discusses the obstacles they face, from both within the system and without. Twenty Teachers offers insights that will enable others to inspire learning in their students and voices a new and challenging view of today’s educational system.