ABSTRACT
What does it mean to have a college education? What is considered success when a student attains a bachelor’s degree? The response from the crisis of higher education writers is that they are graduating without appropriate skills and values, and employers find them unprepared for the work place. There is another, more muted answer to the essential questions of what students should attain from a bachelor’s degree and how. The liberal arts view is an alternative to the crisis perspective. To educate most of each incoming class rather than just the top half poses a fundamental challenge to faculty and quality. Nor is there mention of this challenge in the public higher education crisis literature. With neither attention nor resources, many faculties have responded and found ways to educate the second half of each class.
