Balance on the BRIDGE: Graduating Students for the Future – preliminary proposal
SIUE, through its Mission and Vision statements and those of its component Schools and Colleges, has set itself the task of rigorously educating students from a wide variety of backgrounds, academic and cultural, into life-long learners who can communicate their knowledge, reasoning, and understanding effectively in order to apply it to a diverse and complex world. In light of these commitments, we view the General Education curriculum as having two distinct purposes. The first purpose is to provide a foundation, which all students need to succeed in their college education and as life-long learners. The second purpose is to pursue an education, as opposed to mere training. The second purpose requires students to acquaint themselves with various sets of knowledge, ideas, ways of knowing and ways of thinking outside the scope of their chosen majors and their own personal backgrounds. An SIUE education should expand the opportunities and horizons of our graduates.
Our goal is to accomplish these purposes with a program that is balanced across the three main divisions into which human endeavor is conventionally divided, specifically: arts and humanities, social sciences, and the sciences. The program must be flexible enough not to unduly hinder students in their varied (and often changing) paths towards knowledge and understanding. This program must also encompass enough rigor so as to meet purposes one and two from above. Additionally, such a program must be simple enough for students, parents, and advisors to confidently plan educationally meaningful routes to graduation.
Our proposed program acknowledges the excellent education provided by SIUE's faculty and staff. We expect to build this program to capitalize on and strengthen the existing arc of SIUE's educational program from Freshman Seminar to Senior Assignment. Further, we expect that our program will encourage the curricula of departments and programs in certain directions but will not constrain them by reliance on specific courses. Our program must respect individual differences, intellectual freedom and the diversity of thought present across all campus units. In particular, we hope to strengthen the II/IC/IGR curriculum and to stress not only the breadth of the curriculum, but to add some depth to the curriculum as well.