This course is part of GVSU’s General Education Program.   

The goal of the program is to prepare you for intelligent participation in public dialogues that consider the issues of humane living and responsible action in local, national, and global communities.  

The program is designed to increase your knowledge and skills in the following areas:  

Knowledge Goals

1.     The major areas of human investigation and accomplishment - the arts, the humanities, the mathematical sciences, the natural sciences, and the social sciences.

2.     An understanding of one's own culture and the cultures of others.

3.     The tradition of humane inquiry that informs moral and ethical choices.

 

Skills goals

1.     To engage in articulate expression through effective writing

2.     To engage in articulate expression through effective speaking.

3.     To think critically and creatively. 

4.     To locate, evaluate, and use information effectively.

5.     To integrate different areas of knowledge and view ideas from multiple perspectives.

 

Ensuring that undergraduate students receive a broad general education has been a primary goal of colleges and universities since their inception.  In this era of increasing specialization and growing demand for professional expertise, it is vital that we continue to emphasize the value of general learning.   

GVSU maintains that a complete education involves more than preparation for a particular career. A career occurs in the context of a life, and a sound general education helps one “make a life” as well as “make a living.”  The university is committed to assuring that all undergraduate students, regardless of academic major, receive a broad education rooted in the arts and sciences.  

Teaching in the liberal tradition is at the heart of Grand Valley 's identity, and this focus is critical in our General Education Program.  Liberal education transcends the acquisition of information; it goes beyond the factual to ask important evaluative and philosophical questions.  Liberal learning holds the fundamental principles and suppositions of a body of knowledge up to inquiry, question, and discussion.  It helps a person recognize the assumptions under which he or she operates and encourages the examination and questioning of those assumptions.  Liberal learning begins in the General Education Program and continues through the more specialized studies comprising each student's major and minor areas of study.

 

Grand Valley State University educates students to shape their lives, their professions, and their societies.