A Comparative Study Of General Education Between American Research Universities And Liberal Arts Colleges

General education advocates the free exploration of a wide range of disciplines,achieving the“Integration” and “Understanding” of different knowledge,thus promoting the comprehensive improvement of intelligence,ability,the quality of mind and morality.General education has become one of the core ideas guiding the reform of undergraduate education.The modern general education in the America aims at all the people and cultivates citizens with sense of responsibility and service in modern society.With the accelerated development of globalization,the general education in the America keeps pace with the times,adding to the forefront of ideas which rich in globalization,broad vision and world citizens.The reform of general education in China has learned from the successful experience of America,and has lasted for more than 20 years.The reform has achieved a lot,such as adding free elective courses and core courses,setting general education management institutions,etc.However,there are many problems.For example,the problems of "acclimatization" of general education under the professional education system,the unclear understanding of its concept,the low status of general education and the lack of support system which restrict the development of general education in China.This study selects two key supporting organizations of general education in America,that is American research universities and liberal arts colleges,as the objects.And,using the theory of organizational culture,this study constructs an analysis dimension,namely the general education ideas and general education system.Besides,it adopts the methods of historical research,comparative study and case study.It combs the historical evolution of general education,then makes a comparative analysis of the general education ideas and systems of the two types of organizations,and finally selects a typical case to deeply analyze the characteristics of general education of research university and liberal arts college.On the basis of comparing the similarities and differences of general education between the two institutions,this study summarizes the successful experience of America and puts forward some suggestions for the general education reforms in China.The results show that,on the one hand,the general education ideas of the two types of organizations are following the development of the times,integrating into the modern democratic society and strengthening the connection with professional education to achieve the goal of whole person.And,there are differences in the values,implicit assumptions and educational purposes of general education.On the other hand,the common features of the two general education systems are that the curriculum models cover most of the knowledge areas as far as possible,weaken the professional boundaries,enhance interdisciplinary learning and set up colleges to organize and manage general education.The differences of general education system are mainly reflected in the course teaching,teaching methods and the organizational structure of the college.The reform of general education in China can be made in the following aspects: building a diversified general education system,clarifying the training objectives,and developing general education based on Chinese local culture.