The Competence Movement and the Liberal Arts Tradition: Enemies or Allies?
There is a common confusion of competence-based learning with behavioral objectives that is symptomatic of an association made even by many who understand the differences between the two concepts. Competence-based or outcome-oriented programs1 are sometimes perceived to be expressions of a behavioristic philosophy of education [1, 4]. This perception suggests that those who would advocate, design, or implement outcome-oriented programs, wittingly or not, must subscribe to a concentration on outcomes at the expense and to the detriment of the educational process. The proper place for such programs, by this view, is in the trade or professional school. There, a concern for certifying minimal competence can be justified by the nature of the study and the behavioral base of its objectives. But those who attempt programs in the liberal arts and sciences with an outcomes design would appear either to have sold out to expediency and vocationalism or to have been deluded by the false promise of educational reform. That such is far from being the case is the argument of this essay. We will critique the traditionalist's view of competence-based education, describe the particular appeal of an outcomes model to a class of liberal arts institutions, and examine the motives of the competence advocates in