Students Must Learn How to Learn

by Michael Bassis, in the Deseret Morning News (March 23, 2004)

In an editorial for the Deseret Morning News, Michael Bassis, president of Westminster College, argues that colleges and universities will best prepare their graduates for the twenty-first century workplace by teaching them how to learn. While acknowledging that the global economy demands new skills, Bassis disputes the claims of those who view college education simply as a means of acquiring the technical knowledge needed for a specific profession. If postsecondary institutions solely focus on "the math, science and engineering skills in demand today," he notes, they will soon be "just another example of planned obsolescence."

Instead, Bassis argues that a college education should prepare students "to learn without classrooms, without teachers, without textbooks." Students who learn how to learn will be capable of adapting to--and of actively shaping--the economy of the future. In concluding that colleges and universities should foster the skills needed for such lifelong learning, Bassis also makes a case for the continuing relevance of liberal education: "While, of course, we want students to learn specific content," he writes, "we want them to learn how to think critically and creatively, express themselves coherently, work collaboratively and develop a global consciousness."

The text of Michael Bassis's editorial is available on the Deseret Morning News Web site.