General Education at Pomona College Readies Students for a Changing World

Pomona College's general education curriculum aspires to "equip students to live resiliently in a changing world"-a concept that befits a post-September 11th environment. The college's innovative approach to a general education curriculum easily incorporated courses that respond to the tragedies of September 11, such as "A Media Studies and Politics Seminar: Terror, Television, and the Hijacking of the American Political Agenda" which will debut this spring semester.

"…[T]his painful tragedy offers us the opportunity to do what only a liberal arts curriculum can do well, that is, adapt the educational process swiftly to changing circumstances without compromising our traditional commitment to intellectual breadth and vigor…" according to seminar professors, Leo Flynn, a professor of politics; Sallie Hughes, a former Washington Post reporter and visiting professor of politics; and Andrew Roth, a post-doctorate fellow in the sociology department. Students will study many angles of the issue-a hallmark of liberal education-including the conventions of American journalism, the economic and market drivers of media coverage, the pace of communications technology, government media strategies, effects on policy and governing, and the effects on society and other nations.

Instead of a string of required courses, the general education program at Pomona begins by requiring all incoming students to choose a section of "Critical Inquiry" courses in their first semester, such as the media studies and politics course. Other titles of the 25-30 sections of critical inquiry courses offered each year include "Governing America: The Constitution, The Court, and the American People"; "Muslim Literary Landscapes"; "Why Biodiversity?"; Life and Death, War and Peace"; "Democracy and Citizenship in the Contemporary United States"; and "The Emergence of Modern Art in Paris During the Second Empire and the Early Third Republic."

Enrollment in the seminars is limited to 15 students and is focused on analysis, cooperation, open discussion, and independent thinking. "Each [seminar] is taught by a faculty member whose field of expertise is only a starting point for examining the interdisciplinary relationships that students will encounter during their four years at Pomona," according to the description of course offerings on the Web site.

Pomona College's approach to general education, developed by faculty in 1994, focuses on the skills of perception, analysis, and communication, and is intended to satisfy students' individual interests while training them to identify and question their own assumptions. Students must choose two courses that are writing intensive, and at least one that is speaking intensive. For a foreign language requirement, students must demonstrate proficiency defined as fluency at the level of a third-semester foreign language course at the institution. Under the Perception, Analysis, and Communication (PAC) requirement, students must choose courses from each of ten categories, with no more than three PAC courses from the same discipline. PAC courses train students with skills both for their major and for pursuits after graduation. PAC sections are designed to train students to:

1. read literature critically
2. use and understand the scientific method
3. use and understand formal reasoning
4. understand and analyze data
5. analyze creative art critically
6. perform or produce creative art
7. explore and understand human behavior
8. explore and understand an historical culture
9. compare and contrast contemporary cultures
10. think critically about values and rationality.

A curriculum committee approves each course to ensure it meets these criteria. Pomona College is located in Claremont, California, 35 miles east of Los Angeles. The college is the founding member of The Claremont Colleges, made up of seven interdependent institutions.

For more information about general education at Pomona College, visit http://www.pomona.edu/ADWR/Registrar/Overview/GeneralEducation.html

If your campus is working on revisions to the general education curricula, consider applying to send a team to AAC&U's summer institute, the Asheville Institute on General Education. Applications will be available on December 15.