Conference reports
Liberal arts students are
in the dark on technology
By Ann Portal
Of Iff Emerald
A small but growing number
of educators feel liberal arts
students aren’t getting the skills
they need to deal with an in
creasingly technological socie
ty
Students cannot be “strong
and whole" human beings with
out learning how to think in an
alytical and quantitative terms in
their liberal arts courses,
suggest the results of a recent
conference on "technological
literacy" held in Florida
But the University already is
moving toward meeting that
need, says the dean of the arts
and sciences college, although
technological skills may not be
as important as knowledge of
their effects
"We need ethics courses,
philosophy courses, history
courses and literature courses
that force students to see the
moral implications of tech
nological thought," says dean
Robert Berdahl
"Technological thinking im
plies certain moral judge
ments."
However, he says there's “no
question that education is mov
ing in some perceptible ways
toward what they are referring
to as technological thinking "
Mathematics and computer
science already are areas of
growing importance at the
University, Berdahl points out
For example, the faculty in
troduced and approved a new
math requirement for the
Bachelor of Science degree last
year, although that requirement
will not take effect until the
budget can provide the neces
sary faculty.
(B.S students currently must
only fulfill a minimum "science"
requirement, which may be sat
isfied with either math, com
puter science or science
Graphic by Max DeRungs
courses)
In addition, the arts and
sciences college is working
toward a point where "virtually
everyone can get a minor in
computer science," Berdahl
says The overflowing computer
science major may be limited to
those with a 3 0-or-better grade
point average, but there is a
"real commitment" to allow
everyone into the lower level
computer courses by fall term
1983, he says
"Computer science is a lan
guage that is pretty important in
our culture," and everyone
should have a "minimum liter
acy” in it, Berdahl says
Students also need to learn
scientific thought processes,
particularly in the social
sciences where new research
methods require quantitative
skills, Berdahl says But the
University also needs to offer
more courses about tech
nology, stressing its impact, he
says.
Berdahl says he would like to
see some clusters of courses
built around a technological
theme, with literature, econ
omics and sociology courses all
looking at the history of tech
nology from different angles.
Many implications of tech
nical thought are disturbing
because they're dehumanizing,
he says. The language of Viet
nam, which was all "quantitative
terms," masked activities that
were morally questionable, he
says
"That seems very dangerous
to me We really need the kind of
education that provides people
with the critical understanding
of language to understand what
they're talking about," Berdahl
says. "Nuclear exchange” is
just a "nice, clean” term for
nuclear holocaust, he says
Yet he isn't arguing over
whether technology is
important and relevant, or
whether it has a place in the
liberal arts curriculum
"There are no nuts here that
think technology ought to be
stopped It just must be under
stood.”
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