This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
We read the Aug. 20 guest column by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus, "Time to take back liberal arts from subversive professors," with skepticism. They don't seem to be talking about Utah professors.
Yes, there are faculty who do not capture the imagination of new students. However, they do not represent the majority of dedicated liberal arts faculty who find new ways to make learning more meaningful. Our experience in Utah is with faculty who help students become intentional learners who think outside the box. They "subvert" old teaching stereotypes and the notion that students in the liberal arts are not prepared for employment. The opposite is true.
We proudly acknowledge the hundreds of "subversive professors" in the Utah System of Higher Education, Utah's public higher education institutions. Some are world-class researchers who are in the classroom teaching freshmen; some are nationally recognized for their skills as teachers and most are dedicated to the idea that the liberal arts must address today's "great questions."
Professors in Utah have adopted the Essential Learning Outcomes, developed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, to guide their teaching. The ELOs include high levels of critical thinking, solid mathematical literacy, proficient oral and written communication, teamwork, and the application of knowledge across fields — all skills that employers desire, as demonstrated in national and local employer surveys.
To assure that Utah students can demonstrate they've accomplished the ELOs, faculty work with students on issues such as hunger and unemployment. Students learn to apply the paradigms and tools of their disciplines as they tackle real world problems. Also, faculty use high-impact practices, such as undergraduate research, to assist students to understand new concepts.
Add to these new ways of teaching and learning the "Tuning Process," a national movement pioneered in Utah that challenges faculty to work together to identify competencies that students must have at every degree level. The entire process is transparent so that each parent, student, administrator and policy maker knows exactly what knowledge and skills are expected, thus defining what each degree means, rather than making the determination based on credit and seat time.
With support from the Lumina Foundation for Education, Utah faculty have been "tuning" history and physics and will add elementary education and general education math to prepare faculty for aligning college courses and programs with the Common Core State Standards recently adopted by the State Board of Education.
From where we sit, "subversion" occurring in the liberal arts is not, as Hacker and Dreifus suggest, a problem with faculty. The real "subversion" comes in economic models which put inexperienced professors into classrooms because they are the least expensive. We have dedicated teachers, but the importance of their work with students is ignored by measuring effectiveness in numbers of bodies processed instead of learning quality.
Utah's college teachers are indeed "subversive" as they bury old stereotypes and create new methods to make both students and themselves more intentional in the education process. Our goal is to make students equally "subversive" as they raise important questions, discover solutions, and take their places as contributing members of society. This is Utah's concept of "subversion."
Phyllis Safman is an assistant commissioner for academic affairs, Utah System of Higher Education, and an adjunct professor in the College of Education, University of Utah. Norm Jones is the chair of the Regents' Task Force on General Education, professor and Chair of History and director of General Education at Utah State University.