Academic Program. In keeping with our overall philosophy of education, our academic program is designed to foster intellectual vitality, Christian character, and commitment to service that will last a lifetime. Crucial to this goal is providing our students with an education that is both deep and broad. In the context of a major, students learn the discipline of submitting to a particular methodology and of mastering a specialized body of content. It is in their general education that they acquire the tools for relating this specialized knowledge to other realms of understanding, to their own lives, and to the world around them.

Major Program. Each student, by the end of the sophomore year, will choose a major program. The primary purpose of a major is to provide students with the experience of going beneath the surface of a field of learning. Though the particular skills of “going deep” may vary from discipline to discipline, the overall experience inculcates such broadly applicable virtues as patience, persistence, sustained attention, and awareness of complexity and ambiguity.

General Education. In the tradition of the liberal arts, Southwestern’s academic program requires students to set their major programs of study within the larger context of General Education. The General Education framework ensures that a student’s major program will be supported by the skills, the breadth of knowledge, the strategies of inquiry, and the practices that will enable them to mature in wisdom throughout their lives and to apply their learning effectively in the world around them.

As a liberal arts college in the Christian tradition, we ground our pursuit of learning and wisdom in the context of God’s revelation—manifested in the scriptures and in the world around us, and apprehended through reason, observation, experimentation and the affections. Through the General Education program, students develop the necessary contextual background, concepts, vocabulary, and skills to support their exploration of these various avenues to understanding the world.

In addition to developing knowledge and skills, our general education curriculum at Southwestern seeks to inspire students to become constructive agents of redemption in a diverse and complex world. Thus, the General Education program provides opportunities for students to encounter a variety of viewpoints, and cultures. Finally, we offer students the opportunity to practice their learning in the context of concrete experiences that facilitate the acquisition of wisdom, empathy and practical expertise.

General Education    Purpose    Associate of Arts Objectives    Check Sheets