All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College

65
Found Things:
Empire State College Objectives
In 1973, Empire State College published its
third “bulletin.” (Even now, it’s been less
than a decade since the college created its
first “catalog.”) Like the first bulletin (1971-
1972), the overall spirit of this 104-page,
5 ½ x 7 ½ inch document is captured in
the description of the “objectives, processes
and academic offerings” of the college.
Particularly telling is the section, “Empire
State College Objectives,” included here.
Written by the college’s founding academic
vice president, Arthur Chickering, these
“objectives” offer a glimpse of the ways in
which the college sought to communicate
its core values about knowledge and
“personal development.”
Thanks, as always, to our college historian,
Richard Bonnabeau, for assistance in this
archival work, and to Arthur Chickering
for his help in our efforts to search out
the document’s author. Readers might be
interested in comparing the language and
the ideas in this document with Chickering’s
summer 2010 publication, “Our Purposes:
Personal Reflections on Character
Development and Social Responsibility
in Higher Education” (Liberal Education,
96 [3].)
Educational effectiveness is enhanced
when the objectives and their
relationships to the institutional
policies and practices are spelled out. The
chance of generating contradictory forces
which cancel one another is then minimized.
When an educational institution believes
in its objectives, it sets into motion forces
which affect everyone associated with it.
Students must weigh their own purposes
and values against those of the institution.
They then must determine whether there
is sufficient agreement between the two to
warrant committing their time and energy
to the institution. Clearly stated objectives
make this determination possible.
For these reasons, we take time to be as
clear as we can about the educational
objectives embedded within the admissions
process, the Learning Contracts, the
educational resources and special programs,
and the academic procedures and standards.
What are our objectives Think of
a pyramid. At its apex are simple
communication and reading skills. These
skills are supported by several major
blocks of intellectual competence, which
rests on six major dimensions of personal
development. Though they are described
sequentially and range from the simple and
concrete to the abstract and complex, when
a man or a woman enters the Empire State
program, all three levels of objectives are
met at once.
Empire State’s program places a premium on
oral and written communication, including
effective reading ability.
When a prospective student visits a
Learning Center, he needs to be able to
read the materials available there and to
talk with others about his interests and
what the Center offers. To complete the
Admissions Prospectus, he must write
answers to difficult questions. Planning,
implementing, and evaluating Contracts
and Programs of Study calls for continual
oral and written exchanges between
student and Mentor. Most Contracts
require substantial reading and written
reports.
Empire State’s program requires several
major aspects of intellectual competence:
knowledge, comprehension, analysis,
evaluation, synthesis and application.
Knowledge involves more than recalling
specific bits of information, i.e., terminology,
dates and facts. It includes knowledge
of conventions, trends and sequences,
classifications and categories, and major
theories or generalizations which are
appropriate in a given field. It also includes
knowledge of the methods of inquiry and
The Bulletin
of the criteria by which facts, principles, or
opinions are judged. Knowledge is acquired
through memorization and direct experience,
and is reinforced by use.
Donald Wentworth and Dolores Guion
were granted advanced standing in
part because they had acquired such
knowledge through education and prior
work experience … Emma Schmidt’s
knowledge of philosophy and group
dynamics will grow as she reads Spinoza,
Bales, and others, just as Bob Lenard’s
knowledge of Greek culture will expand
as he reads The Iliad.
Comprehension converts information
acquired through memorization into
working knowledge. It is evident when
people can translate information from
one form or another, can express it in
their own words, in mathematical terms,
in artistic products or literary metaphors.
Comprehension is indicated by the power to
interpret and extrapolate ideas, and when
the consequences are consistent with the
information given.
suny empire state college • all about mentoring • issue 39 • spring 2011