Peter E. Pflaum - Golden Globe - The Synergy Network
http://www.wiredbrain.net/  pflaump@cfl.rr.com

THE LIBERAL ARTS IN AN AGE OF INFORMATION: Some preliminary thoughts
	Peter E. Pflaum

	The classical liberal arts were the pool of culture of the educated gentleman.  The social function was the uniform set of knowledge and attitudes that tied together a social class and cultural system.  In some way the classics acted as the folk tales and myths of the tribal society in being the mystic glue to hold their souls in place. There was also a secondary purpose of mind exercise, where the process of learning was practiced and knowledge management skills developed. The center piece of the old school was ancient languages. Latin and Greek were the keys to entry and the basis of skills needed by discipline officers of the social system. (teachers, administrators, responsible civic leaders)

	The new liberal arts should relate to the information and skills needed by the knowledge industries, government, and non-profit organizations of today and tomorrow.  These skills are the ability of small groups to focus on clear objectives, to gather information about the tasks (not reinvent the wheel), assign task around the knowledge of the tasks required, and evaluate performance and make corrective action as necessary.  Theses skills can be learned but only in practice. They are not only abstract and the application of the various types of scientific method but practical skills. The core body of knowledge in small group behavior, motivation, information processing, critical analysis (systems thinking and hypothesis testing), evaluation and recourse allocation. (benefit/cost analysis) The model is the medical team, the research and development group, the management functions in technical organizations, marketing teams, etc.

	The functional uses of the humanities (outside the ascetic and character building - or intrinsic value of art) is awareness. The alert and focused mind of the professional is a more powerful, therefore, socially useful than the listless and vague awareness of lethargic employees.  

	Education needs to be national or international, creating a cultural and social bond with the body of educated persons. It needs to be life long and continuing, adult education should be integrated into the entry level and advanced learning.  Education is no longer defined and limited to school so the private and public employers need to be involved in the process. 

	The educated person is equipped to both live a fuller life and make a better living and there is no real conflict between the practical and the humanities and liberal arts. All that is necessary is to see the process as one of learning to learn rather than specific job skills.  The virtue of educated values and careful thought are useful in life and on the job.  Student will respond with more enthusiasm to the great liberal and cultural traditions of our society if they can see the relevance in their own lives and fortunes.  They can use ethics, history, novels, art to understand their experiences of life and work.  Science and technology, politics and economics become meaningfully with context of real life.  The effective member of a modern organization can present ideas orally and in clear writing, uses graphics and illustration, can work with a diversity of people, and bring a sense of mission, value and meaning to the activities of the day. 

	The new liberal arts are both content and process. The process need to be teams of explorers, the content related to outcomes and performance.  If groups of faculty and students are set out to put together a medieval fair and festival- costume, music, art and architecture - along with an analysis of the social political culture and its impacts on creative works- the politics of Shakespeare, and Elizabeth I as a character in drama- the art of war in the 16th century, the technology of sailing, the facts of the grand armada- etc.  Then the same kind of action and analysis of the American Colonies- a revolutionary festival, the industrial revolution, Lenin  and the 10 days that shook the earth. The humanities can be integrated into tasks and projects that require planning, recourse allocation, analysis and even scientific method, observation, recording, classifying, hypothesis testing, and application of complex rules to real situations.

Organizational skills as a liberal Art.

	C. P. Snow wrote about the two cultures of Science and Humanities. Since knowledge organization in groups involves both the science and technology of specialist but also the values, growth and development of ideas and people, the social structure and community - the insights of literature and the arts, psychology and philosophy, economics and political science, sociology, history, ethics, and the physical sciences - focused on effectiveness and results- teaching and learning, building and designing- selling and organizing as a collective activity.	 In this way the abstract become the concrete, the interesting become useful.

	The economy of knowledge means that human capital, skills and attitudes, are of great practical value and the educational process is important.  An educated person understands the learning process not as a set of obscure disciplines but as a way of using knowledge to achieve results.  Literacy includes the use of language, mathematics, graphic arts, computer analysis, and technology. The knowledge of the world must include the transnational institutions and ideas. (Professional association and information transfers) Learning to learn and act on that knowledge is central to the need for continuing learning in a fast changing world.

	Plutarch in Paidea (Raising Children) says that one should focus on the strengths and talents of learners. As people achieve they are motivated to do more and it becomes self directed. Performance depends on the use of strengths. Each person learns differently and needs to develop their own learning skills in their own way.
 
	The curriculum content would be problems or issues ( I think Green Bay in Wisc. and the United Nations University took this approach ). Problems or issues do not come all wrapped up by discipline - The undergraduate core curriculum could be focused by a set of interlocking issues.  The first level would be understanding history and structure. The land and people of this area- the last few million years and the impacts of migration and importation of European Civilization. 	

	The second year is focused on local ecology and social structure. What is done and why? The economy of farms and oil- the politics of agriculture and oil, the culture of the central plains as reflective of values and personality (Giant).

	The third year would be the world context. The courses could be:
The Land and people, A, B, C Three semester courses - ( 12 hours)

A. The land of the Southern Plains, geology, history, peoples and cultures - economics and uses - abuses and problems. An understanding of where we are physically and geographically- who we are- including Native Americans who have been around here longer.

B. The impacts of European Culture on the Southern Plains - sooners and loiters The History of Western Civilization that effected this area and American History of the South West.

C. The biology of the local ecology Water Quality, soils, sustainable agriculture - The human uses of the resources.

D. General Systems Theory and Systems Analysis

The Southern Plains in National and international context: (12 Hours)

A. The economic and politics of Oil

B. The preforming and visual arts in World context

C. Agricultural Economics in World markets

D. Social and Economic Structures, the Local Firm and the World Market

Seminars on the New World Order and the Ecology of the Global Political Economy

Computer and mathematical models of systems.

While a team develops content, individual instructors have small classes and share large lectures.  The group meets two hours a week with a instructor in a small group (to conduct projects) and one hour in a large lecture to review content.