Liberal arts college

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A liberal arts college is a primarily undergraduate college with an emphasis upon the liberal arts. The term is mainly used in the United States.

File:Colgate2.jpg
Colgate at the end of Summer.

Definition and goals

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Concise, a liberal arts college is a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum." [1]

As detailed in the book, Colleges That Change Lives, a goal often associated with the liberal arts and liberal arts colleges is the development of character and commitment to social justice. This is further demonstrated through organizations such as Project Pericles.

A number of liberal arts colleges are alternative schools.

General background (United States)

Liberal arts colleges are institutions of higher education which have traditionally emphasized interactive instruction (although research is still a component of these institutions). Generally, a full-time, four-year course of study at a liberal arts college leads students to a bachelor's degree. The colleges are either coeducational, women's colleges, or men's colleges. Some liberal arts colleges are secular (or not affiliated with a particular religion) while others are involved in religious education such as Christian schools and Catholic schools.

Liberal arts colleges are known for being residential and for having smaller enrollment, class size, and teacher-student ratios than universities. These colleges encourage a high level of teacher-student interaction at the center of which are classes taught by full-time faculty rather than graduate student TAs (who teach the classes at Research I and other universities).

Chambers Building, Davidson College, NC

Consortiums and groups

Liberal arts colleges are also often associated with larger groups or consortiums. In the United States, many liberal arts colleges belong to the Annapolis Group, Oberlin Group, and the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges. The Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges is a consortium of public liberal arts colleges.

Regional

Well-known consortiums in the Eastern United States include the Little Ivies, Little Three, and the Seven Sisters Colleges. Four Eastern colleges, along with the University of Massachusetts Amherst, are also part of the Five Colleges Consortium in Western Massachusetts and three Eastern colleges comprise the Tri-College Consortium.

A similar consortium in Southern California is the Claremont College Consortium. The Claremont College Consortium differs from other consortia, however, in that its members are far more proximal to each other.

Other well known groups, particularly in the Southern United States, include the Associated Colleges of the South, historically black colleges (which also includes colleges in other regions of the United States) and the Seven Sisters of the South.

A number of schools in the Midwestern United States belong to the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities, and the Great Lakes Colleges Association.

Reputation and rankings

The book, Hidden Ivies: Thirty Colleges of Excellence, offers an indepth discussion of the reputation associated with thirty well-known liberal arts colleges. In addition, two well known college ranking guides offer annual issues which rank liberal arts colleges. They are the U.S. News and World Report [1] and The Washington Monthly's "College Rankings" issue.[2]

Boycott & alternative database

Main article: Criticism of college and university rankings

In early 2007, TIME magazine, [2] The Christian Science Monitor, [3] and USA Today, [4], [5] all reported that a letter would be sent to colleges and universities in the United States concerning U.S. News and World Report rankings surveys. In May 2007, 27 college and university presidents sponsored a letter asking "their colleagues to stop filling out the survey of institutional reputations" for the U.S. News & World Report rankings surveys. [6], [7], [8]

The Annapolis Group, which represents over 100 liberal arts colleges, issued a statement on 19 June, 2007 that its members "have agreed to participate in the development of an alternative common format that presents information about their colleges for students and their families to use in the college search process." This database will be web based and developed in conjunction with higher education organizations including the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Council of Independent Colleges. The statement also noted that "the majority of the Annapolis Group presidents attending the annual meeting in Annapolis, Md., expressed their intent not to participate in the annual U.S. News & World Report ranking exercise. The Annapolis Group is not a legislative body and any decision about participating in the US News rankings rests with the individual institutions." [9] Chris Nelson, president of St. John's College (Annapolis) and outgoing president of The Annapolis Group, noted for Inside Higher Ed "that presidents are energized about the issue because they realize 'the lack of any evidence that the information collected has anything' to do with educational quality."[10] Alan Finder of The New York Times further noted that "the commitment, which some college presidents said was made by a large majority of participants, represents the most significant challenge yet to the rankings, adding colleges like Barnard, Sarah Lawrence and Kenyon to a growing rebellion against the magazine, participants said." [11] A 20 June 2007 article for the Chronicle of Higher Education also noted of Frances Lucas, president of Millsaps College, that "she previously had paid little attention to the rankings debate because her own institution was rated highly in U.S. News. But after learning more about the magazine's methodology and discussing the issue with colleagues at this week's meeting, she concluded that the rankings were based too heavily on measurements determined by institutional wealth." [12]

SAT optional movement in the United States

Hathorn Hall at Bates College, a proponent of the SAT optional movement

In 1984, Bates College in Lewiston, Maine instituted an SAT optional program, which was one of the first in the United States. This was followed up in 1990, when the Bates faculty voted to make all tests optional in the college's admissions process. In October 2004, Bates published a study regarding the testing optional policy to the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Following two decades without required testing, the college found that The difference in graduation rates between submitters and non-submitters was 0.1%, that Bates' applicant pool had doubled since the policy was instated with approximently 1/3 of applicants not submitting scores, non-submitting students averaged only 0.05 points lower on their collegiate Grade Point Average, and applications from minority students raised dramatically.[13]

The Bates study promped a movement among small liberal arts colleges to make the SAT optional for admission to college in the early 2000s.[14][15] Indeed, according to an 31 August, 2006 article in the New York Times, "It is still far too early to sound the death knell, but for many small liberal arts colleges, the SAT may have outlived its usefulness."[16]

On 07 October, 2006 abcnews.go.com published a list of schools that have made the SAT optional.[17] The full list of colleges for which the SAT is optional can be found at Fairtest, [18] an organization that campaigns "against the SAT. They allege that it consistently under-predicts the performance of women, African-Americans, people whose first language isn't English and generally anyone who's not a good test-taker."[19]

Sarah Lawrence College dropped its SAT test score submission requirement for its undergraduate applicants in 2003,[20] thus joining the SAT optional movement for undergraduate admission. The president of Sarah Lawrence, Dr. Michele Tolela Myers, described the rationale for this decision in an article for The Washington Post on 11 March, 2007, saying, "We are a writing-intensive school, and the information produced by SAT scores added little to our ability to predict how a student would do at our college; it did, however, do much to bias admission in favor of those who could afford expensive coaching sessions. At present, Sarah Lawrence is the only American college that completely disregards SAT scores in its admission process.[21] As a result of this policy, in the same Washington Post article, Dr. Myers stated that she was informed by the U.S. News and World Report that if no SAT scores were submitted, U.S. News would "make up a number" to use in its magazines. She further argues that if SLC were to decide to stop sending all data to U.S. News and World Report, that their ranking would be artificially decreased.[22][23] U.S. News and World Report issued a response to this article on 12 March 2007 that stated that the evaluation of Sarah Lawrence is under review.[24]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ "Liberal Arts: Encyclopedia Britannica Concise". Encyclopedia Britannica.
  2. ^ "The College Rankings Revolt". TIME. 21 March 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Arnoldy, Ben (12 April 2007). "College presidents plan 'U.S. News' rankings boycott". Christian Science Monitor. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Marklein, Mary Beth (6 April 2007). "Rankings face backlash from college presidents". USA Today. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Marklein, Mary Beth (9 April 2007). "Sentiment building against rankings". USA Today. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Battle Lines on 'U.S. News'". Inside Higher Ed. 07 May 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Growing Challenge to 'U.S. News'". Inside Higher Ed. 18 May 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Colleges Should Boycott Bogus Ratings Game". Hartford Courant. 16 May 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "ANNAPOLIS GROUP STATEMENT ON RANKINGS AND RATINGS". Annapolis Group. 19 June 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Jaschik, Scott (20 June 2007). "More Momentum Against 'U.S. News'". Inside Higher Ed. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ Finder, Alan (20 June 2007). "Some Colleges to Drop Out of U.S. News Rankings". New York Times. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Hoover, Eric (20 June 2007). "Liberal-Arts College Group Plans to Help Develop Alternative to Commercial Rankings". Chronicle of Higher Education. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "SAT Study: 20 Years of Optional Testing". Bates College Office of Communications and Media Relations. October 1 2004. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "Not Missing the SAT". Inside Higher Ed. October 6 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ "More universities are going SAT-optional". USA Today. April 4 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "Students' Paths to Small Colleges Can Bypass SAT". The New York Times. August 31 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ "27 Top Colleges Don't Require the SAT or ACT = [[American Broadcasting Company]]". October 7 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  18. ^ "SAT Optional 4-Year Universities = [[Fairtest]]". {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  19. ^ "SATs Not for Everyone, But Reality for Most = [[National Public Radio]]". 21 February 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  20. ^ "Sarah Lawrence College Drops SAT Requirement, Saying a New Writing Test Misses the Point". The New York Times. 13 November 2003. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ "U.S. News Statement on College Rankings". U.S. News and World Report. 12 March 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ Tolela Myers, Michele (11 March 2007). "The Cost of Bucking College Rankings". The Washington Post. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ "Would U.S. News Make Up Fake Data?". Inside Higher Ed. 12 March 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ "U.S. News Statement on College Rankings". U.S. News and World Report. 12 March 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)


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