Birthday Reflections

by Carol Geary Schneider, in Liberal Education (Winter 2004)

In her president's message for the ninetieth anniversary issue of Liberal Education, AAC&U president Carol Geary Schneider looks back at the association's founding and forward to its future. She reminds us of how much has changed in higher education over the past ninety years: in 1915, only about 10 percent of Americans enrolled in higher education, and the newly-formed Association of American Colleges assumed that those students who did enter the academy "would face an either-or choice" between the liberal arts and vocational training. Over the years, however, this assumption has been replaced by a more nuanced position. Today, AAC&U sees liberal education as a set of practices that should be made available to every student and that should help every student to "integrate knowledge with action, and principle with practical judgment."

Schneider also reflects on the AAC&U community's ongoing commitment to liberal education. This commitment, she suggests, is reflected not just in the championing of liberal education as "a great, enduring, and resilient educational tradition," but also in the willingness of member institutions to adapt liberal education "to better serve a diverse democracy and a knowledge-driven economy." She argues, however, that the AAC&U community has been less successful in explaining ourselves, in making "a public case for liberal education as the best choice for all students." Schneider concludes her piece by announcing that a "core priority" of AAC&U over the coming decade will be to build public understanding of--and public demand for--inclusive excellence in liberal education.

Excerpts from the ninetieth anniversary issue of Liberal Education, including the complete text of Carol Geary Schneider's president's message can be found on the Liberal Education Web site.