Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 15:42:44 -0400 (EDT)

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From: bowerst@cofc.edu (Terence N. Bowers)

Subject: Inquiry Group 2

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Summary of Second Meeting

Inquiry Group 2

We met last week (Fri. 13 Sept.) and discussed question I. 1b ("What skills, values, and knowledge should a graduate of the College of Charleston possess?"). What follows is a summary of our discussion.

We decided that if we viewed our graduates in jobs related to the fields they had studied, it would be difficult to answer the above question. We therefore did not link our idea of an educated person to any specific field. We asked ourselves what we would expect our graduates to be able to do and know in situations that we all face as citizens.

Skills

All graduates should be able to communicate effectively through the written word (i.e., have good writing skills); they should also be able to articulate their thoughts orally.

Graduates should have fairly well developed critical thinking skills, defined as the ability to analyze evidence or data and assess how they are being used in arguments, to construct and evaluate arguments, to analyze texts (discourse), to determine the validity of truth claims.

Graduates should have basic math skills and know something about statistics and probability. They should also have some basic computer literacy (be able to use computers or have some idea of how to go about using them).

Graduates should have the ability to access and utilize resources. If they need information about something, they should be able to know where and how to find it and how to use it once found. If they need answers to questions, they should be able to know where to look for those answers and how to go about looking for them.

Finally, graduates should have certain emotional and social skills (for lack of a better term). They should be able to work with others, but they should also be able to work on their own and be independent thinkers (and not always look to others to tell them what to do or think).

Values

Graduates should have a love of learning and see the value of learning. They should respect diversity in our culture/country. They should be willing to question--especially ideas (and not just accept them without seeing a good reason for doing so). And they should have some notion of citizenship--its duties and responsibilities.

To be discussed next time: knowledge and question II. 2a.