The Necessity and Method of Death Education as a Liberal Arts Subject

The purpose of this essay is to create and promote a discourse on how to develop and operate convergence education within the liberal arts. Currently, the liberal arts curriculum is suffering from considerable difficulties caused by the logic of capital that has penetrated into universities. In such a crisis situation, death education can be an important motive for restoring the value of liberal arts. Students must one day face their own death. In the face of existential and ontological death, students are forced to ask the most valuable and meaningful questions in life, and these questions contain the classic essence of the liberal arts.Death has a very complex and multi-layered nature that can not be dealt with only by a single major subject. In order to fully and deeply deal with death, convergence education is needed. As death is a mirror that reflects life as a whole, it is necessary for us to review carefully the various and opposing views and positions on death together. Therefore, rather than having one professor in charge of death education, it is much more effective for many professors with different majors to participate in the lecture as possible. Seen in this light, a lecture on ‘Life and Death’ as an example of convergence education in the liberal arts is presented. By participating in free and open discussion about the problems of life and death without trying to provide only one right answer, students can gain a broader perspective on human beings and the world, as well as have an opportunity to reflect on their own lives and make independent decisions.

The Realm of Federalism: Appreciation to a Prospective Shift on the Form of Philippine Government

The current administration of the Republic of the Philippines is seen as an ardent advocate of federalism. This research study purports to explore the appreciation and understanding of the youth – specifically the Liberal Arts students in higher educational institutions who have the knowledge on the government forms, laws, and history of our system of government as regards a possible shift in the system of government. This study utilized descriptive qualitative design through Collaizi’s method of data analysis. Findings show that informants having perceived the possible shift on the system of government of the Philippines, have led to three clustered themes namely: (1) federalism defined, (2) benefits of federalism, and, (3) possible challenges during the transition period. Moreover, it is concluded that informants defined federalism as a system of government where powers are being decentralized to the local government and the latter being independent from the national / central government. Standardized local legislation, increased economic status, and responsive local government were identified as the benefits of federalism. Lack of proper knowledge, constitutional proceedings and amendments, and, costly and time-consuming were cited as the possible challenges during the transition period on the shift in our system of government. We suggest that, in order to actualize federalism, there is a need to enhance governance capabilities through transparency and accountability and a clearer definition of local autonomy should be observed.

Intervention Outcomes, Anxiety, Self-Esteem, and Self-Efficacy With DHH Students in Universities

This article reports the impact of an online spiritual counseling (OSC) program in mitigating anxiety and building self-esteem and academic self-efficacy among deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students in universities. Compared to online relaxation sessions, the OSC was more effective. Male DHH students and those whose parents were highly qualified exhibited less anxiety and higher self-esteem and self-efficacy at pretest (T1). Post-test (T2) male students having better educated parents responded better to the OSC. T2 anxiety was lower and self-esteem and academic self-efficacy was higher for liberal arts students and having stay-at-home parents compared with science and commerce students and whose parents worked outside home. Self-esteem was also positively moderated by better economic class and presence of siblings. Intervention compliance in terms of regular attendance and self-practice mediated the relationship between sociodemographic predictors and outcomes. Results support the biopsychosocial model and encourage the implementation of the OSC with DHH university students.

Thinking Through Improvisation: Do General Improvisation Studies Belong in a Liberal Arts Curriculum?

Thinking Through Improvisation implies two meanings: 1) carefully examining all that improvisation encompasses including how it is practiced, and 2) using improvisation to generate ideas or performances. Using a First Year Seminar course I taught for 20 years, I illustrate how a general course in improvisation can introduce students to improvisation as a way of thinking in diverse fields and can strengthen liberal arts skills in critical and creative thinking. Interdisciplinary and multicultural approaches are readily incorporated as are a range of activities including writing, critical reading, performance, and creative problem solving. Risk taking, trust, creativity, adaptability, teamwork, respect for knowledge, abstract and practical thinking and the joy of creative discovery are explored through discussion and practice of improvisation. Scientific explanations of improvisation are compared to subjective experiences of improvisational performance. These activities lay a groundwork for creative explorations of the discipline-oriented curriculum in the range of fields subsequently encountered by liberal arts students.

Neurocognitive Evidence for Different Problem-Solving Processes between Engineering and Liberal Arts Students

Differences exist between engineering and liberal arts students because of their educational backgrounds. Therefore, they solve problems differently. This study examined the brain activation of these two groups of students when they responded to 12 questions of verbal, numerical, or spatial intelligence. A total of 25 engineering and 25 liberal arts students in Taiwan participated in the experiment. The results were as follows. (i) During verbal intelligence tasks, differences between the two groups were observed in the information flows of verbal message comprehension and contextual familiarity detection in the problem-identifying phase, whereas no significant differences were found in the resolution-reaching phase. (ii) During numerical intelligence tasks, differences between the two groups were observed in the information flows of mental calculation and message comprehensionin the problem-identifying phase and those of verbal perception and analogical reasoning in the resolution-reaching phase. (iii) During spatial intelligence tasks, differences between the two groups were observed in the information flows of spatial relation integration and spatial context memory retrieval in the problem-identifying phase and those ofspatial attentionand contextual relation integration in the resolution-reaching phase.

Teaching on Religion and Violence

I have many times now taught a course entitled “Religion and Violence” at Brite Divinity School and Texas Christian University. The Brite course is in-class; the TCU course is online with Master of Liberal Arts students. I will describe the difference between the two formats and also provide sample syllabi. The course has traditionally focused on the “why” question--“Why are human beings violent?”--rather than on ethical debates about pacifism vs. just war. Feedback from the online students often asked for another course focusing on peacemaking, now that the psychology of violence has become better understood. I therefore developed a new course called “Peacemaking in a Violent World,” which will also be described. I will make the argument that our culture as a whole would benefit from greater curricular attention to the psychology of violence, at all levels of education. I will also provide attendees with a bibliography for collection development in this area.