Science is a human enterprise, internally connected, and linked also with the world, with other disciplines, with social and political forces. Beliefs and actions regarding science have important consequences. That the community must have a driving vision of what works . An appreciation of what is happening in science today, and of how great a distance lies ahead for exploring, ought to be one of the rewards of a liberal arts education. The reform of higher education cannot be limited, nor can even its main feature be limited, to the correction of abuses.
Reform is always the creation of new usages.
Abuses are always of minor importance. Any reform movement which is limited to correcting slovenly or slipshod abuses in our university will lead inevitably to a reform which is equally slovenly. That the community must work together . It is not enough for a lone-ranger reformer to change a single course, or attempt to overhaul an entire curriculum. Unless everyone with a stake in undergraduate science and mathematics education makes tough decisions now about strategic priorities about dollars, people, space, and time effective reforms will not happen.