What Are General Education Courses?

In short, general education courses are all those required for college and university students to take besides those required in a major.

What Is a Curriculum?

A curriculum is all the courses or requirements that make up a course of study. So, for instance, all the courses and requirements for a major are a major’s curriculum. They are carefully thought through by faculty in that field and represent what those experts believe someone graduating with that degree should know and be able to do. A general education curriculum is also a planned course of study, but one that develops personal, civic, and academic as well as professional skills.

What Are the Liberal Arts and Sciences?

Liberal arts and sciences (or the shortened liberal arts or liberal education) is a phrase often used synonymously with general education, and it can refer to the same set of courses. It does, however, have broader meanings. The Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) “What Is a 21st Century Liberal Education?” states:

Liberal Education is an approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g. science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth study in a specific area of interest. A liberal education helps students develop a sense of social responsibility, as well as strong and transferable intellectual and practical skills such as communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings.

Cecilia Gaposchkin (2024) writes that “a liberal arts degree is a degree in thinking. What does this mean? It means that a liberal arts education, done right and undertaken with enthusiasm, curiosity, and passion, makes you smarter. That is, it hones your natural skills of discernment and intellect to productive thought and the creative application of knowledge.” The liberal arts and sciences encompasses knowledge and skills that we need in order to live effectively, efficiently, and/or joyfully.

The word liberal is used here not in the political sense, but in its application to education’s concern with broadening a person’s general knowledge and experience. This usage derives from the Latin word liber, meaning “free person.” The word arts, just to confuse us, does not refer to “the arts,” as in music, art, etc., but rather to skills of any kind that can be learned. Thus, the phrase references learned skills that are necessary for a free person to know.

What Do We Mean by Humanities, Social Sciences, and STEM?

Modern curriculum is generally separated into three categories, or cultures: the humanities, social sciences, and STEM. The humanities generally include subjects such as literature, history, philosophy, religion, writing, languages and linguistics, and the arts, among other disciplines. The social sciences generally include subjects such as sociology, political science, geography, education, and economics, among other disciplines. STEM is in its title: science, math, engineering, and technology. Note: occasionally there has been an attempt, especially in K-12 education, to change STEM to STEAM – science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics – in order to demonstrate the connections between the sciences and the arts, but this is not common.