Reconstructing General Education: Lessons from Project GEM

During the three years I directed the Project on General Education Models (GEM) it became clear how extensive that contest has become (see box). We were in touch with nearly 300 different colleges and universities that had taken concrete steps to review or revise their programs. This number represents all types of institutionspublic and private, large and small, liberal arts colleges, major universities, community colleges, technical institutes, and professional schoolslocated in all parts of the country. Much of the discussion thus far has been rhetorical. Calls have also been made to develop a core curriculum; reimpose distribution requireme ts; establish requirem nts in Western istory and culture; build in global studies to counter the limited views of the Western tradition; emphasize basic skills; make t e curriculum coherent; preserve the curricular freedom students have gained. Many people carry these recommendations around like chips on their shoulders like answers in search of questions. Since the general curriculum involves so many vested interests, however, any rhetorical attack leads almost automatically to defensive turf protection on the part of others. Now is the time to take stock of what