“What Every Student Should Know”: General Education Requirements in Undergraduate Education

Abstract

The present paper defines general curriculum requirements in higher education. It focuses on the history of the arguments that make up general curriculum requirements starting from the Yale Report 1828 to the recent perspectives on general curriculum. The purpose of the review is to illustrate that what defines knowledgeable person is determined by the value and the philosophy of the culture of the institution. The paper concludes with Stark's academic plan as a model universities can utilize as a check list for what ought to be included in the general curriculum requirements for undergraduate education.

Understanding the Individual in Context: Socioeconomic Inequality in College Students’ Perspectives

“…Like many of its peer institutions, this university purported to endow students with understandings of how individual experiences are shaped by social, historical, and political contexts (Aldegether 2017; Arum et al 2016). In addition to relevant major-specific objectives and goals for extracurricular engagement, the institution’s general education core included an objective stating that students should learn to “explain how individuals … are influenced by contextual factors.” The university catalog indicated that this objective could be met by taking courses in sociology, anthropology, business, economics, education, government, history, international affairs, or psychology.…”

“…Teachers of communication likewise focus on building capacities to understand how perspectival differences are informed by the ways individuals are situated in broader context, and economists aim to develop students' appreciation for how individual circumstances and behaviors are shaped by macroeconomic forces (Arum et al 2016). More broadly, these types of learning objectives are central components of college and university general education requirements (Aldegether 2017).…”

“…Key among these are questions about how students come to understand lived experiences in relation to broad social, historical, and political contexts. Such learning objectives are often integral to general education requirements (Aldegether 2017), major- or discipline-specific programs of study like sociology, history, communications, and political science (Arum, Roksa, and Cook 2016), and even to the goals articulated by the student affairs profession for learning beyond the classroom (Evans et al 2009). While scholars have written a great deal about best practices for facilitating these forms of awareness (Ghidina 2019; Trautner and Borland 2013), to date we know little about whether college students actually develop understandings of the interconnections between individual experiences and social, historical, or political contexts (Palmer 2023).…”

Embracing the New Gen Ed Curriculum: Lived Experiences of Ge Teachers

“…HEIs globally include the general education courses in undergraduate programs. It is accepted that through the help of general education courses, students can develop skills such as critical thinking skills, communication skills, and skills to adjust in life in general (Aldegether, 2015;Nababan, 2014;Nelson Laird and Garver, 2010;Vander Schee, 2011). Even in the history of American tertiary education, the growth of societal transformations prompted the birth of the general education curriculum.…”

Individualized and Innovation-Centered General Education in a Chinese STEM University

“…Walker and Soltis (1997) summarize three approaches to general education that reflect institutional academic values and intended learning outcomes: the first is a subject-centered approach that focuses on transmitting knowledge to the next generation, and general education is delivered by teaching basic skills, critical thinking, and mastery of important facts and information; the second is a society-centered approach that focuses on creating and ensuring a prosperous and healthy society, so the aims of education focus on civic responsibility, vocational training, ethical values, development of democratic attitudes, and the preparation of individuals for an industrialized society and for economic competence; and the third one is an individual-centered approach, which emphasizes the importance of individual freedoms, talent, and happiness, developing the student's potential, and preparing them for community life [20]. Aldegether (2015) points out that there are three perspectives on general education requirements, namely the traditional or conservative perspective, the multicultural perspective, and the radical perspective [21]. Each of these perspectives holds a different view of academic values and hence the direction of education.…”