Since Burns Crookston argued that advising could be both a teaching and a developmental activity, advising as a field has been quick to assume those roles. But, frankly, Crookston never discussed how the relationship between developmental theory a n d advising was to be made. More importantly, he never outlined the teaching activity that he claimed was associated with a developmental view of advising. Although the field has been quick to adopt Crookston's vocabulary-most visibly his idea of the shared responsibility between advisors and studentswith hindsight it is fiction to claim that in his article Crookston provided either a solid basis or a good direction to think about a developmental view of advising as teaching, let alone put it into practice.

Based on a concept described by the authors as “The Myth of the Academic Major,” a scheme for working with students who are undecided about their choice of major or career was developed. This scheme is a hands-on, time-limited method for using students' self-descriptions, rather than the institution's structure (e.g., lists of curricula), as the starting point for dialogue that points students in academic directions.

This chapter argues that liberal learning can be transformative and foster students' intellectual and ethical development only if we consider its development underpinnings and pedagogic strategies that illustrate that the skills of academic inquiry are the skills of personal development.NED SCOTT LAFF is coordinator for special academic projects and coordinator for core advising in the Office of the Provost at Loyola University Chicago. SETTING THE STAGE

This article is adapted from a chapter in Giving Advice to Students: A Roadmap for College Professionals, * by Howard K. Schein, Ned Scott Laff, and Deborah R. Allen. It will appear in the summer 1987 edition of American College Personnel Association Media Publication No. 44, published by the American Association of Counseling and Development. Inthis adaptation, the authors offer root concepts and critical thinking skills as the solution—the “common ground”—to the disparate interests and concerns of academic affairs and student affairs professionals. Further, it provides the academic advisor with a variety of advising strategies to assist advisees in learning how to make well-informed decisions about their future.

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