Is It Too Late for Higher Education Reform? | Marcus Ford

This presentation will explore the possibility of restructuring general education requirements around the threat of uncontrolled global warming and other existential threats. The modern American university is structured around particular academic disciplines, with the faint awareness that, in addition to one’s major, students need a richer educational experience. The primary mechanism for addressing this other part of a student’s educational experience is the “general education” program.

General education programs were once focused on Western Civilization. Today, they tend to be distributive in nature, meaning that students choose from a long list of approved classes in various academic disciplines. Neither approach makes sense today. What is needed now is a new kind of general studies program created in full view of the existential threats to civilization itself and student’s deep concerns about their future.

Restructuring general studies to address these needs will encounter resistance from within the university itself, but given the urgency of the situation, the concerns of students, and the fact that this approach does not directly challenge the disciplinary structure of the university, it has a chance of being enacted. One strategy worth pursuing is a public campaign led by leading scientists, intellectuals, and activists. To paraphrase John Cobb, educational reform is too important to be left to academics.

About the speaker:

Marcus Ford was one of the first professors in the country to teach courses in sustainability and develop an environmental humanities program. Since early in his teaching career, Marcus has held that the most important thing we can learn is how to live sustainably and justly within the bounds of the natural world. He has taught sustainability studies at the undergraduate and graduate level and is an advocate for education that prepares people to actively participate in shaping their communities. He is the author of the groundbreaking book, Beyond the Modern University and many articles on higher education. Marcus is the Founder of Flagstaff College.

---

The Center for Process Studies (CPS) is a nonprofit think-tank that conducts research and provides educational resources on holistic thinking for the advancement of social and environmental wellbeing (a.k.a. process studies).

Learn more at ctr4process.org

Follow us:

Facebook:   / centerforprocessstudies  

Instagram:   / ctr4process  

BlueSky: @ctr4process.bsky.social

LinkedIn:   / ctr4process  

#education #philosophy #environment #educationreform