About the Program

Berea College offers a liberal education by helping students develop the skills, acquire the knowledge, and nurture the habits and attitudes that will enhance their ability to live reflectively and responsibly.  This education should result in personal satisfaction as well as in growing awareness of one’s relations and obligations to the larger communities in which one participates.  Believing that narrow specialization in the undergraduate years can inhibit growth and restrict opportunities, the College emphasizes a broad range of subjects and approaches to learning.

The General Education program is where the goals of liberal education are explicitly addressed for all students. It is designed to help students (1) develop their abilities to think critically and to communicate effectively through writing and speaking;  (2) deepen their understanding of their cultural heritage ,including religion, history, the arts, and the natural and social sciences; and (3) cultivate their appreciation of human diversity and their capacity for moral reflection.

Classrooms, laboratories, studios, workshops, and libraries are not the only sites of powerful learning.   Informal conversations with teachers and labor supervisors; convocation programs; and the day-to-day interaction with fellow members of our diverse student body also contribute significantly to one’s liberal education.

The Components of the General Education Program

Five Core Courses:

• GSTR 110:    Writing Seminar I: Critical Thinking in the Liberal Arts
• GSTR 210:    Writing Seminar II:  Identity and Diversity in the United States
• GSTR 310:    Understandings of Christianity
• GSTR 332:    Scientific Knowledge and Inquiry
• GSTR 410:    Senior Seminar in Contemporary Global Issues

Six Perspective Areas:

• Arts
• International
• African Americans’, Appalachians’, Women’s
• Religion
• Social Science
• Western History

Two Practical Reasoning courses (at least one of which must be Practical Reasoning with Quantitative Emphasis)

Active Learning Experience

Writing Competency Requirement

Developmental Mathematics

Lifetime Health and Fitness:  PEH 100 and two 1/4 credit activities

Knowledge: the General Education Program will help students understand:

1. aesthetic, scientific, historical, and interdisciplinary ways of knowing;
2. religion, particularly Christianity, in its many expressions;
3. Berea College’s historical and ongoing commitments to racial (traditionally black and white) and gender equality, as well as to the Appalachian region;
4. the natural environment and our relationship to it;
5. the roles of science and technology in the contemporary world;
6. U.S. and global issues and perspectives.

Skills: the General Education Program will help students develop the abilities to:

1. read and listen effectively; write and speak effectively, with integrity and style;
2. think critically and creatively, and reason quantitatively;
3. develop research strategies and employ appropriate technologies as means to deepen one’s knowledge and understanding;
4. work effectively both independently and collaboratively;
5. resolve conflicts nonviolently.

Habits of Mind: the General Education Program will help students:

1. deepen their capacities for moral reflection, spiritual development, and responsible action;
2. develop an openness to and knowledgeable appreciation of human diversity, in terms of race, gender, class, religion, sexuality, language, and culture;
3. cultivate their imagination and ability to discern connections, consider alternatives, and think about topics and issues from multiple perspectives;
4. think and act in ways that promote peace with justice;
5. develop habits leading to lifetime health and fitness.

Learning Experiences: the General Education Program will help students become independent learners through:

1. discussion and lecture;
2. student-initiated learning;
3. experiential learning (for example, service learning, travel, internships, etc.);
4. collaborative learning.