Hatcher
to apply information within the context of a problem. When inquiry-based learning is focused on
current social problems, undergraduates can contribute their knowledge and skills to create more
humane social conditions. Inquiry-based education
challenges students to seek answers through experimentation and active engagement.
Good undergraduate education facilitates faceto-face communication. In The Public and Its
Problems, Dewey (1927) articulates a fundamental
problem of twentieth century American life: a byproduct of the technological machine-age is that
local communities have been displaced by complex
social organizations that no longer thrive on faceto-face interaction. As a result, individuals become
ambivalent and pessimistic toward their role in
community life. In a participatory democracy,
Dewey argues, this is a tragic outcome of scientific and industrial progress. Sixty years later
Dewey's concern is echoed in Habits of the Heart:
Individualism and Commitment in American Life
(Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler & Tipton,
1985). Dewey argues that the reconstruction of
community comes through face-to-face interaction
and he calls for a reciprocal relationship between
the individual and the community that is mutually
beneficial to both. Dewey values face-to-face interaction for it is in communication that one has an
enlarged and changed experience (1927). Dewey
considers communication with others to be the
basis for moral development and a condition for
growth and the development of new values and
behaviors (Gouinlock, 1994).
In order for undergraduate education to address
the moral purposes of education in a democracy,
renewed attention must be given to structuring
opportunities for face-to-face communication.
Educators and practitioners realize that building a
community of learners on campus (Kuh, Schuh,
Whitt & associates, 1991) and within the classroom
(Tinto, Russo & Kadel, 1994) is essential for persistence and academic success. Additionally, educators and student affairs professionals recognize
co-curricular and out-of-class experiences to be an
important dimension of student learning (American
College Personnel Association, 1994). An academic community is achieved to the degree that students have opportunities for educationally meaningful interaction with peers, instructors, and others.
Good undergraduate education is connected to
the community. A final characteristic of undergraduate education derived from Dewey's educational
philosophy is that opportunities must be designed
for undergraduates to interact, in educationally
meaningful ways, with the local community. This
type of community-based experience can develop
individual capacities, engage students in association with one another and fellow citizens, and promote humane conditions. When students interact
with the community, knowledge is valued by both
the student and the community and undergraduates
can recognize their role and contribution as active
citizens.
There is an increasingly articulate call for undergraduates to develop the habits of heart and mind
to be engaged citizens (Barber & Battistoni, 1994;
Bok, 1986; Boyer, 1987). As the late Ernest Boyer
advised, "It is appropriate for educational institutions that are preparing students to be citizens in a
participatory democracy to understand the dilemmas and paradoxes of an individualistic culture and
cultivate students who are personally empowered
and committed to the common good" (1987, p. 68).
Derek Bok (1986) challenged higher education to
adopt curricular reforms that involve students in
the community to develop habits of citizenship,
habits that are not formed in a classical liberal arts
tradition. "The liberal arts curriculum is likely to
grow dated rapidly and thus fail to impart a lasting
foundation of useful knowledge. What is more
important is to discover ways to combine undergraduates with a sense of commitment and civic
concern that will cause them to devote their talents
in later life to addressing important social problems" (1986, p. 167). Just as the call for life-long
learning permeates campus literature, a new call
for active citizenship is part of the discourse of
higher education. Undergraduates need experiences that extend the classroom walls into the community so that habits of citizenship are formed.
Relationship to Recent Reports on
Undergraduate Education
These five characteristic of good undergraduate
education derived from Dewey's philosophy - integration of personal experience with academic
learning, structured opportunities for reflection,
inquiry-based learning, face-to-face communication, connection to the community - are consistent
with recent initiatives to identify quality undergraduate education. In 1987, a study supported by
the American Association of Higher Education,
The Education Commission of the States, and The
Johnson Foundation identified "Seven Principles
for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education"
(Chickering & Gamson, 1987): these principles
state that (a) good practice encourages active learning, (b) good practice encourages student-faculty
interaction, and (c) good practice encourages cooperation among students. In 1990, a survey of col
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