Purpose of General Education

• Provide at least three reasons why every student should be required to take general education courses. Explain your rationale.
• Describe what you have learned from at least two specific courses (e.g., philosophy, history, or psychology) that illustrated usefulness in your daily life. For instance, what did you learn in history classes beyond just names, dates, and places? In literature courses, what did you learn about life, the university, and everything beyond the literary work itself?
• Support your claims with examples from required material(s) and/or other scholarly sources, and properly cite any references. Be sure to include information from the websites and articles.
• Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length.

Required Resources

Articles

• Austin, M. W. (2011, April 13). The value of general education [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ethics-everyone/201104/the-value-general-education
  • In this article, the author gives some reasons that support the importance of general education courses. The reasons for general education courses include: helping a student become a better citizen; increasing critical thinking skills; and providing students with a broad and deep education.
• Dowd, M. (2015). What is the purpose of taking general classes for a college degree? Retrieved from http://education.seattlepi.com/purpose-taking-general-classes-college-degree-1876.html
  • In this article, the author explains the importance of breadth of learning. General education courses encompass several areas of study (social sciences, math, science, humanities and nature), which will help prepare students to think more analytically, consider many views on a topic and value cultural differences when they begin their advanced study courses.
• Lewis, H. R. (2008). A core curriculum for tomorrow’s citizens. Education Digest, 73(5), 47-50. Retrieved from https://www.eddigest.com/
  • The full-text version of this article can be accessed through the ERIC database in the Ashford University Library. The author of this article expresses an opinion regarding how college students should have the freedom to choose what they want to learn instead of being forced to abide by the university’s core curriculum. This article also addresses citizenship and how it is important for college graduates to understand the basic principles on which the U.S. government runs. This article will allow the reader to assess their own level of civic engagement and determine if their courses promote this.
• Reysen, S., & Katzarska-Miller, I. (2013). A model of global citizenship: Antecedents and outcomes. International Journal of Psychology, 48(5), 858-870. doi:10.1080/00207594.2012.701749
  • The full-text version of this article can be accessed through the Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost) database in the Ashford University Library. This article provides information concerning the idea of the global citizen. The authors explain the outcomes of identifying with a superordinate identity (global citizen) from two different studies. The relationship between global awareness and social values was evaluated. This article will allow the reader to assess their level of global citizenship and how it can impact their own identity and psychological well-being.
• Serafin, C. (n.d.). General education requirements: What’s the point? Retrieved from http://www.collegexpress.com/articles-and-advice/majors-and-academics/articles/college-academics/general-education-requirements-whats-point/
  • In this article, the author explains what general education requirements are and some of the reasons why colleges include them in degree requirements. The author suggests that one of the biggest problems with general education courses is the fact that students do not think they are important. The author then supports the fact that general education courses increase a student’s critical thinking skills, communication skills, and problem-solving skills before they start taking more advanced courses in their field of study.
• Wehlburg, C. M. (2010). Integrated general education: A brief look back. New Directions for Teaching & Learning, 121, 3-11. doi:10.1002/tl.383
  • The full-text version of this article can be accessed through the Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost) database in the Ashford University Library. This article addresses that assessment practices that take place in order to measure the course learning outcomes in higher education programs. Assessing general education has been a difficult task compared to assessing different majors based on content and skills. The goals of critical thinking, problem solving and communication may be more difficult to measure. Assessment procedures tend to be more qualitative when it comes to general education curriculum. This article will allow the reader to fully understand the assessment procedures that have been able to measure their core general education requirements.
• White, J. (2009). Why general education? Peters, Hirst and history. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 43,123-141. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9752.2009.00718.x
  • The full-text version of this article can be accessed through the Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost) database in the Ashford University Library. The author of this article provides historical background information concerning the opposing views of the purpose of general education from Richard Peters and Paul Hirst. This article will allow the reader to use critical thinking skills to assess whether there must be some good intrinsic reason for an academic curriculum as we see it today.

Multimedia

• Studio12TV. (2012, January 3). Global education and global citizenship [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXzRHbISFW0
  • This video provides reasons in support of the idea of global citizenship and its relationship with national citizenship. It addresses what people can do to identify more with being a global citizen. If we would look at our own identity and see how we are connected with others, we will be able to appreciate the differences in others. Identity is socially constructed based on the environment we live in. The video will helps raise awareness of one’s own identity and how it can be changed to increase global citizenship. Transcript

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