We can bring students along by...

preparing them for college, since the college years do not stand alone. Education neither begins nor ends with college, nor can the goal of ensuring high quality liberal education for all students be met by changes only in higher education. Since college attendance is now assumed, and it is less a question of if than when a student will enroll, high schools should prepare every graduate for postsecondary education. Clarity in what colleges expect of entering students and alignment of those expectations with high school graduation requirements are both essential parts of the solution; so, also, are producing excellent primary and secondary school teachers, building community understanding of quality education, and helping parents and spouses provide supportive environments.

More important than knowing simply what subjects students should study in preparation for college (although continuous study certainly counts) is knowing what they should, and actually do, learn. What knowledge stays with them? What intellectual skills can they demonstrate? Research indicates that rigorous high school work correlates with good college performance,⁵⁷ and rigor means both the sophistication of subject matter and the amount of effort required for success. High school classes, then, should be demanding in terms of both content and intellectual activity.

If high schools introduce students to the same kinds of learning they will encounter in college (such as using critical abilities to address complex issues drawn from real life), their graduates will be better prepared for the more advanced work of college. The varied teaching methods being called for in college can also serve the range of high school students' learning styles.

Currently the task of training elementary and secondary school teachers rests with departments and schools of education. Achieving greater expectations for all students spreads responsibility for teacher preparation across the entire college or university. Teachers themselves will need to be highly skilled in three ways:

• as professional educators, and therefore knowledgeable about learning and teaching
• in the disciplines they will teach, and therefore solidly grounded in content
• in the range of important intellectual abilities students in their classrooms will be expected to develop, thereby becoming themselves models of intentional learners—empowered, informed, and responsible.

The first capacity they will get through teacher education programs, the second by majoring in a disciplinary field, and the third by graduating from a rigorous liberal education program. Arts and sciences faculties in colleges and universities will be needed as engaged partners to assure the quality of liberal education for future teachers. It will be highly desirable for students of education to see in practice—in many disciplines—the varied and engaging teaching methods they may find useful in their own classrooms.

To this point, the discussion regarding preparation for college has been related to traditional students who come straight from high school. But many of today's students have interrupted their formal education for shorter or longer periods of time. These older students bring special perspectives into the classroom. For the colleges and universities serving non-traditional student populations, evaluating their preparation—formal and from life experiences—is increasing in importance as their numbers rise.