central themes
Liberal & Civic Studies is built around 9 themes that permeate the curriculum and serve as distinguishing characteristics of the Program. Click on the items below for further explanation of each theme.
- Service Learning is integrated into the curriculum so that classroom knowledge informs community service, and knowledge gained through service enhances classroom learning.
- The Arts provide vital and integral elements to our lives and the life of our society. L&CS promotes an awareness and undertstanding of the arts.
- Diversity is central to the program, which places a strong emphasis on race, class, gender, and global issues. Through workshops, class discussions, and field trips such as Glide Memorial Church, students are exposed to multiple perspectives which enhance their appreciation of diversity.
- Ideas from the Great Conversation is at the heart of the liberal arts tradition at SMC. The L&CS program build on and extends the Seminar series by exploring the contemporary and global nature of this conversation, drawing from Western and non-Western writers.
- Critical Thinking requires a person can make reasoned judgments about the validity and value of an idea. A critical thinkinger can also synthesize information in order to see issues holistically, and can analyze a text thoughtfully. L&CS develops critical thinkers through the close reading, analysis and class discussions of texts and themes.
- Integrative Thinking is a form of critical thinking that explores the relationships between parts and wholes, transcending categorical and disciplinary boundaries. Integration, or integrative thinking is achieved throughout the Collegiate Seminars, in all the L&CS courses, and in the Jan Term field experience.
- Self-Assessment requires students to engage in the process of reflection and self-evaluation throughout their time in the program.
- American Civic Values refers to the principles, practices, and values that define the United States of America. Because the L&CS Program is preparing students for active citizenship in the 21st centruy, the curriculum includes "American" readings in 121, 122, 130/31. In particular, students study the Constitution, and issues of race, poverty, and what it means to be a participatory democracy.
- The Environment and Global Ecology is important to understand in considering our responsibilities to the global community. We explore the significance of our connections to the physical environment and the cultural values that determine our relationship to the natural world, and the implications for the biosphere, of our activities as consumers, custodians, and destroyers. These issues are confronted in 122 and 123.
For a more detailed discussion of our Central Themes, see pages 6-10 of the Guide to the Liberal and Civic Studies Program.
