NORTHRIDGE : Criticism Applies to CSUN, Wilson Says

A scathing appraisal of the nation’s higher education system released earlier this month applies in part to Cal State Northridge, said university President Blenda Wilson, who helped draft the report.

Wilson, one of 16 members of a panel that produced “An American Imperative: Higher Expectations for Higher Education,” said in an interview that although the tone of the report is dire, its aim is to offer hope to institutions struggling to meet the demands of the 21st Century.

“The language had to be sharp to call attention to the seriousness of the problem,” Wilson said. Among other criticisms, the report suggests that “too much undergraduate education is little more than secondary-school material--warmed over and re-offered at much higher expense.”

The report is published by the Johnson Foundation.

It’s designed as a wake-up call for the higher education institutions in the same way that an earlier report, “A Nation at Risk,” was a wake-up call for public schools.

The report calls for a revival of democratic values in undergraduate curriculum and faults universities and colleges for graduating students who lack what was traditionally thought of as a liberal education, including adequate background in math, science, foreign language, literature and culture.

The report also chides many colleges for concentrating on graduate education and research at the expense of undergraduate education.

Wilson, who joined other university officials, corporate presidents and the head of the American Federation of Teachers to draft the report, said that some of its harsher language does apply to CSUN.

For example, she said, CSUN students need better preparation for life in a diverse society, including training in foreign languages and culture that still promotes a sense of a common national interest.

Wilson said students who graduate from CSUN “are well prepared in general,” although the school is not exempt from some of the institutional mistakes detailed in the report.

“I think many of our students do not easily see the coherence in our curriculum,” she said. “They take courses in a more scattered way than we would want them to.”

CSUN has already taken some steps to address these problems, including a review of its general core curriculum and a campuswide discussion of what constitutes “student-centered” education, she said.

Wilson added that she is hopeful that the report will be influential in shaping campus debates and in guiding campus administrators on how to reform their institutions.