"Leadership will be key in resolving many of the major challenges facing America today - the need to strengthen our educational institutions, America's role in the global community, the problem of economic competitiveness, our developing sense of culture and multiculturalism, the attraction of private comforts versus the call to public service." "Based on the University of Oklahoma 1990 Centennial Leadership Symposia, The Next Generation reveals the values and attitudes of college students who seek to be future leaders as they engage in dialogue with leaders of today. An interpretive framework, combining historical background, contemporary context, and theories of leadership, illuminates and supports the symposia record. The book examines leadership in four main areas: education, the arts and humanities, business and technology, and government. Education emerges as a central theme; a shared belief in education's potential to effect positive change finds expression in a multitude of specific, varied, and often innovative suggestions for educational improvement." "Included in the volume are major statements by Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr., former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Vartan Gregorian, president of Brown University; John S. Foster, Jr., chairman of the National Defense Science Board and a director and consultant for TRW; and Ernest Boyer, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Other speakers include United States Senators David Boren and Don Nickles, Congressman Dave McCurdy, and John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends. Panelists include national and state leaders in business, education, government, humanities, and the arts. A unique feature of the book is the inclusion of student perspectives as presented in symposia discussions and essays." "An impressive document of the University of Oklahoma's pioneering effort to promote leadership, The Next Generation introduces our future leaders, to whom society will present some very pressing questions: What are America's prospects in the twenty-first century? What obstacles stand in the way of national renewal? What can we do to build a better future?"--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved