Recognitions

2002

What We Want Students to Learn: Cultivating Playfulness and Responsibility in a Liberal Education By Nancy Cantor and Steven Schomberg. Published in Change Magazine, Volume 34, Number 6, November/December 2002

Student Recognitions

Dear Chancellor Cantor & Assoc. Chancellor Schomberg:

Your mention of the East St. Louis Action Research Project in "What We Want Students to Learn" (Change, Nov/Dec 2002) had a special significance for me. As a 1999 graduate of the bachelor's program in urban planning, I participated in ESLARP as part of two UP classes. My experience in East St. Louis was one of the two experiences I now feel were most "transformative" during my U of I experience (the other was serving as an RA in the university residence halls). Certainly, ESLARP reinforced the purpose of my education: to challenge my "comfort zone" (as my resident director called it) and improve our world.

If they are to be anything more than vocational schools, universities must produce students who are not simply technically proficient in a narrow discipline, but also skilled in the civic arts and imbued with a sense of duty to serve the public interest. Thank you for your commitment to this goal and the attention you give the topic in your recent article.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Hayes (Planner for the City of Carbondale, part-time SIUC graduate student, and above all, a proud Illinois alumni)