Shared Futures

Whittier College

Whittier College’s new Liberal Education Program focuses on our core values:  community, communication, cultural perspectives, and connections.  Specific learning goals are that students should develop:

• the ability to make connections across disciplines in order to understand the convergence and divergence of different fields of knowledge and to understand the nature of an academic community
• an understanding of, and competency in, the use of signs and symbols to construct, create, perceive, and communicate meaning
• the capacity to entertain multiple perspectives and interpretations and understand the connections among them
• an understanding of culture and of the connections between themselves and others in relation to physical, historical, social, and global contexts
• breadth, defined as familiarity with essential concepts in major fields, and depth, defined as knowledge of at least one field (usually achieved in the major).

Two practices underpin the Liberal Education Program: critical thinking (the development of the skills and methods necessary for systematic investigation—i.e., the ability to define, analyze, and synthesize using a variety of methods and technologies) and the practical application of knowledge (praxis).  These goals and practices cut across “general education” and the major.  We want to be sure that students experience breadth, and thus require that their college work include two courses from different departments in each of the three intellectual groups of humanities and arts, physical and life sciences, and social sciences.  But we want to also be sure that they learn to use multiple intelligences, explore multiple perspectives, and embrace a multicultural world.  To that end, the core elements of the Liberal Education Program (general education) are:   

Community (12 credits)

• First-Year Writing Seminar (Fall) linked with another course (6 credits)
• Two thematically-linked courses (Spring, first year) (6 credits)

Communication (9 credits)

• Quantitative Reasoning (3 credits)
• Writing Intensive Course (3 credits)
• Creative and Performing Arts (2 credits)
• Senior Presentation (1 credit)

Cultural perspectives (12 credits)

                        One course from four of the following six areas:

• African
• Asian
• Latin American
• North American
• European
• Cross-cultural

Connections (10 credits)

• Two paired courses or a sequence of two team-taught courses (6 credits)
• A course that integrates scientific and mathematical methods and ideas with analysis of cultural or societal issues. (4 credits)

Our Shared Futures project focuses on infusing global perspectives into the following requirements: Community 2 (first-year linked courses), the four-courses under Cultural Perspectives, and Connections 2 (science and society).  By November 2, we will have proposals from faculty to revise or develop new courses for these three parts of the curriculum.  Community 2 requires first-year students to co-enroll in two courses that are linked thematically (for at least one week).  Our Shared Futures project will support strengthening these suggested links through themes dealing with global learning; for example, for faculty to develop overlapping assignments that require students to view a global issue from the different perspectives of each of the links. 

The four-course requirement for Cultural Perspectives has been in place for over a decade.  What will be new is the development of courses that focused on global issues or exploring the connections (or conflicts) among cultures—rather than the current courses that are largely area studies in nature.  Finally, Connections 2 makes an important change in “science and math in context” requirements by emphasizing that science and society are mutually connected.  We will be able to provide a clearer picture of the specific courses and projects in the next few weeks, as we begin to receive proposals from the faculty.