The General Education Program
(For students admitted prior to Fall 2003)
Wheaton's General Education Program gives students a foundation for further learning. One important goal of a liberal education is to gain a deeper understanding of how knowledge of ourselves, the world, and our place in it varies from discipline to discipline. Consequently, the General Education Program exposes students to a range of introductory courses in the traditional fields of learning: arts and humanities, natural sciences and social sciences.
Ways of understanding are also differentiated by cultural perspectives; our understanding of the world is largely determined by the culture and language within which we live and learn. For this reason, the General Education Program also includes courses that develop our awareness of the perspectives of other cultures, both within our own society and from non-Western points of view. It also seeks to strengthen the basic skills--in writing and language, reasoning and computing--that give us access to different points of view and help us develop and articulate our own.
The courses that fulfill the General Education Program are usually introductory and therefore available to freshmen and sophomores, but students may take courses in this curriculum throughout their four years. Writing-intensive courses can only be completed after the first year. The specific components of this curriculum are as follows:
First-Year Seminar
Each section of this course focuses on a "great controversy" and illustrates how differently people may interpret or understand topics in the arts, humanities, sciences and social sciences--the major divisions of the liberal arts curriculum. Required of all students in their first semester, the course is designed to foster active learning and class participation and stresses many of the skills needed for success at Wheaton.
Writing
Unless exempted on the basis of Advanced Placement test scores or Wheaton's English placement procedure, all students complete a section of English 101 in the first year. The course is taught in small groups on a variety of topics; the instructional emphasis is on developing writing skills. After the freshman year, students must complete two other courses in any department that are labeled Writing Intensive. These courses allow students to develop writing skills in specific academic areas; they may fulfill other general education requirements and major requirements.
Foreign Language
Each student completes at least two semesters of study in a single language at a level appropriate to the student's proficiency. Advanced language courses also may fulfill the arts and humanities requirement. Wheaton offers language instruction in Chinese, French, German, Ancient Greek, Italian, Latin, Russian and Spanish. Students are encouraged to include language courses early in their course of study, since this may open other opportunities within their academic careers, such as study abroad or work in major fields (international relations, art history or philosophy). Students for whom English is a second language may fulfill this requirement with English 106.
Mathematics.Logic
One course in mathematics, computer science or logic is required. No one can be a truly literate, or "numerate," member of a technological culture without a basic understanding of mathematical/logical thought and expression.
Arts and Humanities
Two courses are required from the fields of literature, the arts, philosophy or religion, one of which may be in creative arts. Typically, courses in this area deal with how artists, writers and thinkers in our own and other cultures have found meaning and value in the worlds they have experienced.
Natural Sciences
Two semesters of work in astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, physics or psychobiology are required, at least one of which includes a laboratory section. These courses help develop skills in empirical observation and experimentation, careful theorizing, and inductive and deductive reasoning, and thus form an integral part of a liberal arts education.
Social Sciences
Students must take one course in anthropology, economics, education, political science, psychology or sociology. The social sciences acquaint students with phenomena of human behavior and social systems and institutions, and typically involve developing theories or ''models'' to explain these phenomena from the perspective of the discipline.
Western History
Students must take one course in American or European history from the history department or a course that emphasizes the Western historical perspectives from another department.
Perspectives on the Non-Western World
Recognizing that the Western perspective is sometimes a limited one, the college expects that students will complete at least one course that focuses on an aspect of non-Western societies. Such courses are offered in several different departments and may satisfy other parts of the General Education Program where indicated.
Cultural Diversity
Students complete at least one course that focuses on the diversity of race, class or ethnicity within U.S. society or deals comparatively with such aspects of society in the U.S. and elsewhere.