GENERAL EDUCATION STUDENT GUIDE
Part of SOWELA’s mission is to provide its students with a firm foundation of knowledge and skills that will enable them to graduate, continue their education, and get the job they want. The information in this guide will help you to take charge of your academic success by presenting a simple self-assessment plan. This plan will help to ensure that you acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to complete your college degree and succeed professionally.
GENERAL EDUCATION OUTCOME GOALS
A General Education is designed to help you achieve your academic, career, and life-long goals through participation in courses that foster the acquisition of knowledge, critical thinking, and use of methodologies in various disciplines, including the humanities and the social and natural sciences. The knowledge and skills you gain will help you succeed in all areas of your academic, professional, and social life.
Communication skills are vital for success in attaining both your academic and career goals. As a student, having effective communication skills will be crucial in written reports and in being able to successfully articulate points in oral presentations. In the workforce, employers expect you to be able to fluently get your message across in oral and written forms. You will acquire and reinforce these skills by taking courses in English and speech, by enrolling in writing intensive courses, and through a variety of workshops offered by the College.
Quantitative reasoning will teach you how to think logically and solve difficult problems. These skills are crucial for almost every academic and career task you will be asked to complete throughout your college life and in whatever career you choose to enter. You will acquire these skills by enrolling in courses such as mathematics and science.
We live in a world where new developments in science are everyday occurrences that directly impact our personal, professional, and academic lives. To understand these developments and live in such a world you will need to understand concepts and methods used in the natural sciences. You will learn these concepts and methods by taking a set of science courses. These courses will ask you to study real-world situations and actively engage in scientific data collection, create explanations, design experiments and evaluate theories, which will help you to comprehend the methods of scientific reasoning. In addition, you may also be asked to use your scientific knowledge for work in other courses for your major.
The social and behavioral sciences enable you to analyze the world in which you live, understand human behavior, develop sensitivity to various cultures, and appreciate how societies change-skills that are particularly crucial as you are preparing for a career in education, business, or law. The concepts, methods, and theories learned in this area of study can be applied to your everyday work and personal life. SOWELA offers a wide range of courses and opportunities, including study abroad programs that will help you acquire important knowledge and strengthen your perception of the world around you.
In any society, culture and the arts enable people to understand who they are while giving meaning to the world around them. At SOWELA, you will have many opportunities to expand your knowledge of the arts and humanities by exploring classes in art, communications, literature, and history. More courses in the humanities are added each semester. These skills may also be enforced through participation in school exhibits, plays, and attendance at events that showcase the arts and humanities.
As a SOWELA student, you will learn to appreciate diversity by being given opportunities to analyze issues from the perspective of another cultural tradition. Developing a global perspective includes seeking to understand the links between our own lives and those of people throughout the world. We also need to develop the skills, attitudes and values which will enable us to work together (across countries and cultures) to bring about change in the pursuit of a more just and sustainable world.