There are many excellent reasons why (evolutionary) ecology should be part of any college education experience, I agree. Amalgamating the sciences (AND the arts) into a synthesis course for GE aimed at informing social and policy choice making is surely a project worth pursuing.
But then there's ecology as a way of thinking, rather than merely a subject to know. My field is planning, and some of us have found it important to recognize and call out the distinctions between simple systems and complex systems, mechanical and organic systems. [See, for instance, Holling and Goldberg, 1971, and Rittel & Webber, 1973, <http://www.csun.edu/~vasishth/index_Resources.html> as my own points of departure from conventional problem solving technologies and toward an adaptive ecosystem management approach.] Then, to know something ecologically is to know that thing with particular attention to context and to consequence, under conditions of change processes. Then ecology as pedagogical frame can be brought to permeate most disciplinary ways of knowing. I'm not an ecologist, and nor a wannabe, but I strive to show this way of knowing in every class I teach. What would each one of us need to know, to make savvy social and policy choices? Maybe more generalist-integrationist scientists need to be seeking out joint appointments in Liberal Studies programs across the nation? I know we'd benefit. Cheers, - Ashwani Vasishth [EMAIL PROTECTED] (818) 677-6137 http://www.csun.edu/~vasishth/
