General Education Competencies
I. COMMUNICATION
- Reading
- comprehending the meaning of texts
- analyzing and synthesizing written material
- critically evaluating and responding to texts
- Writing
- writing scientific or technical material
- writing to describe, prescribe, persuade or criticize
- writing creatively
- Speaking
- presenting a formal speech
- speaking extemporaneously
- speaking to persuade or speaking to describe
- speaking creatively
- Listening
- Attending to detail and analyzing content
- Clarifying and remembering meaning
II. CRITICAL THINKING
- using formal and informal logic for argumentation
- interpreting and criticizing texts
- analyzing complex issues and arriving at informed positions
- synthesizing information to arrive at reasoned conclusions
- interpreting and evaluating information from a variety of sources
- integrating types of information into one's system of beliefs
- transformation of information into knowledge and knowledge into judgment and action.
III. INFORMATION, RESEARCH & COMPUTER SKILLS
- determining when information is needed
- acquiring the information that is needed
- evaluating the quality of the information
- synthesizing information from several, possibly conflicting sources
- using appropriate technology for acquiring needed information
- using information ethically and legally
IV. SCIENTIFIC AND MATHEMATICAL LITERACY
- Scientific Literacy
- understanding the scientific method
- recognizing the importance and contribution of science to human progress
- understanding the historical development of the human sciences
- appreciating the interrelationship among the sciences and between science and mathematics
- understanding statistical analysis in evaluating scientific data>
- interpreting scientific literature and writing scientific reports
- using science ethically and legally
- Mathematical Literacy
- stating a problem and translating it into mathematical statements
- performing a rigorous and detailed analysis using appropriate technology
- forming a clearly stated and well-justified conclusion
V. HUMANISTIC AND SOCIAL INQUIRY
- Cultural and Multicultural Literacy
- understanding one's own cultural traditions
- understanding and respecting the diversity of human experience
- understanding the interconnectedness of global and local concerns
- incorporating into one's own world view a comparative, historical and global perspective on the diversity of human experience
- recognizing the moral dimension of one's own decisions and actions
- Humanistic Literacy
- understanding social and political institutions
- recognizing a variety of perspectives that emerge from new scholarship on gender, race and class as well as from non-Western cultural traditions
- recognizing the importance of aesthetics in one's own life
- engaging in various forms of art and in the artistic process
General Education
- a. Broad Cross-Cutting Competencies
The term “Liberal Arts Education” has generally come to mean the classical curriculum that has shaped contemporary, higher education. Its ideas are expressed in the injunction “Know Thyself,” the posture of the inquirer, eager to examine their own or any other system of beliefs. Its goal is to educate the free person, education itself liberating the mind from ignorance. The term “General Education” is considered that part of a liberal education shared by all students. “Specific Education” is also a part of liberal education. Students freely chose their own course of study. The general focuses on scope and breadth, the specific on depth and concentration. The term “Core Curriculum” refers to the specific courses chosen in various areas of inquiry, providing broad exposure to multiple disciplines. “Core” is difficult as it points to the ancient, metaphysical notion of substance, essence, being, elusive words. So, “core” probably has little meaning outside a specified set of courses designated the “Core Curriculum.”
General Education stresses the development of various types of competencies that are taught and reinforced throughout undergraduate education and across all disciplines.
Competencies have been broadly categorized into communication, critical thinking, information literacy, research and computer skills, scientific and mathematical literacy, and humanistic and social inquiry. These have been further refined. Reading , writing, speaking and listening, for example, fall under communication. Formal and informal logic, interpretation, criticism, analysis, synthesis and evaluation fall under critical thinking which is widely thought to be the most extensive of all competencies. No inquiry is possible without logic. The Organon , or “instrument,” is always the leading treatise in the corpus of Aristotle's writings, an examination of the tools of thought that are used in order to think; grammar, terms, statements, arguments, the language of science, categories of existence, in short, logic or “critical thinking.” Formal and Informal logic are typically taught in philosophy, social science or humanities departments. Much of the content of informal logic is what is often called “critical thinking.”
- b. Interdisciplinary/Disciplinary Continuum
The dichotomy can again be divided into the specific and the general or major programs and general education. Increasingly, general education is being seen as a college wide responsibility. Faculty are engaged not only in their own areas of specialization but also general education, and the commitment to general education across all disciplines is growing more important as a measure of assessing faculty. General education is no longer seen as confined to the first or second years of undergraduate education. Courses within majors and the professions are increasingly expected to address general education knowledge, competencies and attitudes. We note some trends in the sorts of programs and commitments. Learning communities, theme based courses, common readings, freshman year programs, writing across the curriculum, great works courses, the integration of great works into courses. These are some of the more well known commitments that make up the common terminology of general education.
- c. Moral, Ethical and Historical Dimensions of Science and Technology
Numerous fields of study have been linked with moral philosophy. We see in curricula business ethics, ethics and technology, ethics and society, biomedical ethics, nursing ethics, ethics and the professions, ethics and the family, ethics and social work, ethics and the legal system, engineering ethics, ethics in literature and philosophy, to name a few. No field of study, it seems, is without ethical concerns. Work in genetics and cloning are striking examples. What sort of moral notions has this technology summoned? Self, other, parenthood, property, relation, family, marriage, reproduction, identity and the value of life.
Today we hear the call for integration while others insist on the autonomy of the humanities. The same tensions emerge between the general and the specific; moral philosophy vs. nursing or history of technology vs. engineering. Should the humanities remain fully autonomous, a venture unto itself? Should they apply themselves outside of their fields, in the service of the technologies and the professions? Is integration possible? Great works or texts have been integrated into the technologies, professions and careers. Some have integrated histories of technology with histories of moral philosophy. Others' attempts at integration merge interdisciplinary areas; Society, Ethics and Technology, Environmental Philosophy, Science and Values, Literature and Mathematics, to name a few. Integration, here, is not spoken of in the way we speak of the integration of colors. A great history of science is sometimes paired with a physics text. Each retains its identity. Where is the obvious integration? An understanding of context? Some have wondered why we insist that integration is a condition for linking multiple areas. Integration may slowly be discovered in bits and pieces, long after the fact. The need to discover an integrative link between two apparently, disparate fields in order to justify the pairing of these fields perhaps forgets for a moment the initial motive to the liberal arts and sciences; simply a desire for and a pleasure in knowing. Application, utility, usually come as an afterthought.
- d. Global Perspectives: Cross-Cultural Competence
According to “Middle States Standard 12” :
“General Education should draw students into new areas of intellectual experience, exploring their cultural and global awareness and sensitivity…a program that incorporates the study of values, ethics and diverse perspectives.” Under various core curricula, the following commitments to global studies can be found: Studies in Race, World Civilization, Nature and Culture, World Literature, Cultural Diversity, World Politics, Contemporary World Views, Western Civilization and the World, World Religions, International Perspectives, Multicultural Studies, Foreign Languages, Studies in Non-Western Literature.
