Why General Education?

General Education is the core of an undergraduate education. It is general in that it provides students with a comprehensive educational experience and prepares them for study within their major. General Education teaches students to think critically and communicate effectively; it provides an introduction to the methodologies and practices of the academic disciplines; it promotes intellectual curiosity and a love of learning.

What we want from General Education

• We want students who complete the General Education Program and graduate from Eastern Michigan University to be literate, informed, critical participants in our diverse global society.


• We want students to acquire knowledge by exploring and examining a variety of topics and issues from different disciplinary perspectives.

Why General Education is important to a University education

• "General Education is the center of a university" (Carol Geary Schneider, AAC&U President).


• General Education is vital to a student's undergraduate experience. It helps shape and form that experience and gives students essential skills and knowledge for functioning both as a student and as an engaged citizen.


• Without General Education, students do not acquire the ability to critically evaluate and apply all kinds of information.


• General Education distinguishes a university's liberal arts education from a purely vocational education. Employers value the breadth of knowledge and flexibility that a university education provides.


• A university education prepares students to become lifelong learners and to adapt to various situations. Our culture is vastly different from what it was even a generation ago. Few individuals stay with a single employer for life.

Why Education for Participation in the Global Community

Education for Participation in the Global Community will greatly improve the academic environment on Eastern's campus. It is a program responsive to EMU's institutional culture, taking into account our diverse student population and providing opportunities for curricular innovation. It offers faculty enormous flexibility to create and teach engaging new courses and it seeks to extend student learning beyond the classroom, encouraging students to become involved in the EMU community. Education for Participation in the Global Community has the potential to become the highlight of our student's undergraduate careers, providing an exciting introduction to university life.

The current General Education program at EMU has many strengths, including breadth of course offerings and some flexibility. However, the world and our disciplines have changed, and it is time for us to step back and reflect on what we offer students generally and what we offer them in our disciplines. Our personal and professional lives have been transformed by changes in a world that is increasingly interconnected. These changes give rise to both theoretical and practical reasons for emphasizing diversity and learning in a global context.

This program responds to the 1998 Basic Studies Task Force recommendation that the General Education program have a stronger explanatory framework to enable students, faculty, and staff to understand the rationale for General Education generally, and to understand better each segment of the program and each course in each segment of the program. In response to these various concerns, we have sought in revising General Education to make the program much more explicit and intentional.

The new General Education Program, Education for Participation in the Global Community is organized into five main categories:

(1) Effective Communication

• Frequently cited as employers' number one concern with college graduates. Education in speaking and writing is essential in helping students think clearly and in helping them organize and present their thoughts effectively.


• Individuals need to be able to communicate effectively for their own advancement and for their engagement with the world.

(2) Quantitative Reasoning

• Quantitative reasoning skills are required in almost every major and professional program, as well as in personal and professional life.


• Students need quantitative literacy to function in society. Common examples include managing one's own finances (e.g., credit card debt), reading and understanding the newspaper, and informed voting.

(3) Perspectives on a Diverse World

• Global Awareness


• Because of the interconnectedness of nations at this point in our history, very few organizations function solely in the U.S.


• We all need to understand the world in which we live; to be informed citizens, we need to be able to think about and understand other cultures. By studying some aspects of a number of nations or one nation in depth, students learn the skills for understanding other nations.


• U.S. Diversity


• College is often the first place where students are placed in an environment with people unlike them. We all need to learn respect for other persons, and such respect comes with knowledge.


• An understanding and appreciation for diversity is central in employment, civic participation, and life more generally.

(4) Knowledge of the Disciplines

• Because each discipline offers a different perspective for understanding the world, understanding anything well requires some understanding of all of them.


• Students employ critical thinking skills to develop questions of inquiry that reflect an understanding of different disciplinary perspectives.

(5) Learning beyond the Classroom

• A university education is about more than just classes. Students involved in activities outside of the classroom have higher retention rates and more positive educational experiences.


• Learning beyond the Classroom encourages students to obtain hands on experience and to learn about professionalism; it also provides a way to apply classroom knowledge.