People pay big dollars for a
college/university education and deserve more than the latest fad. The buzzwords and phrases of the latest fads
come and go. Remember B.F. Skinner in the 1960's and behaviorism with
partial reinforcement theory? Then there was quality assurance, and management by objectives,
values clarification, and service learning.
Lately, its been student outcomes and student engagement, competence and
character, and most recently transformation.
This latest focus on transformation is a favorite with Christian higher
education, but even the secular universities, public and private, tout it. The pitch is this: spend $100,000 to $200,000
on a four-year undergraduate degree and be transformed. The only problem is no one, not even the
Christian universities and colleges, are defining transformation. What is it?
What can you expect sending your son or daughter to a school to be
transformed? Or if you are an adult
learner going back to school to finish a degree, what is the transformation you can expect?
My hunch is that in the
secular settings, transformation is all cognitive and results in the promise of
a sufficient degree of intellectual, theoretical competence in a chosen field
with some field experience thrown in. This is no small thing. Hopefully, knowledge makes possible wisdom and prudent decision making. Nevertheless, intellectual transformation is the same old theory and practice with the enhancement of a secular worldview. All universities aspire to develop graduates
of competence and that’s what you get along with whatever social credit the
institution’s reputation will occasion.
In many Christian Higher
Education institutions, transformation means much the same with the added
embellishment of affirming one’s Christian faith. In large part, the transformation is a
cognitive one of intellectual competence with a Christian worldview.
After all, isn’t that what universities and colleges are all about? The difference between these Christian
colleges and secular ones includes the serious offering of biblical and
theological studies in the college’s core curriculum and some devotional exposures
that are faith affirming. In both
secular and Christian settings, what is transformed is one’s right of passage
made possible through the award of a degree.
I admit this sounds jaded
and cynical. It comes from sixteen years
as a professor in large secular universities and twenty-four years as a dean,
vice president, provost, and president of a college and university. However, my personal views also include my faith that it is
possible to conceive of transformation as far more than a cognitive exercise in
theory and practice. Higher education
can transform more than the head, more than cognitive competence. It can transform head, heart, and life. Transformation can be for the whole person:
cognitive, affective, and behavioral in way that brings it all together. This would be a higher form for higher education
and not just the latest fad. More on
this later. What do you think?
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