Higher education has historically done well in fostering teaching and learning with respect to critical reasoning and quantitative analysis-what might be described as higher-order thinking skills. But in our culture today, which can best be described as one of distraction, we also need an education-a kind of thinking, of being, of knowing-that fosters teaching and learning that develops methods and practice. This kind of learning teaches students to be reflective, to be mindful, and to pay attention. The contemplative theories and practices described in this volume, some of them ancient-for example, mindfulness meditation is thousands of years old-offer a new direction for community college teaching and learning. This is the 151st volume of the Jossey-Bass higher education quarterly report series New Directions for Community Colleges . Essential to the professional libraries of presidents, vice presidents, deans, and other leaders in today's open-door institutions, New Directions for Community Colleges provides expert guidance in meeting the challenges of their distinctive and expanding educational mission.