ABSTRACT
The title of this chapter echoes syntax popularized by theologian Marcus Borg, who invites attention to the assumed familiar as though “for the first time.” Creativity will be necessary if progress on reaching the consensus required for greater alignment and improved cooperation is to be made. The greater credibility accomplished by such reforms will in turn make possible the achievement of greater efficiency and the broader exercise of agility and creativity. In another sense, the full creativity of which higher education accreditation is capable is unlikely to emerge unless there is first considerable progress toward consensus and alignment. By fostering the reforms required if more students are to learn more effectively through a broader spectrum of delivery methods without incurring an insupportable burden of debt, accreditation can respond to that opportunity and thus disarm the threat of intervention. But as influential political leaders have warned, the opportunity may not remain open indefinitely.
