Habits of Mind

Considered fundamental to a liberal education, habits of mind foster each person's development as one who seeks to know the truth and is preparing for a lifelong pursuit of knowledge.

The SMC Core is designed to challenge students to develop their skills across their four years in:

• Critical Thinking: Recognizing, formulating and pursuing meaningful questions about one's own and others' ideas. 
   
• Shared Inquiry: Reasoning together about common texts, questions and problems. 
   
• Written and Oral Communication: Development of strong written and oral communication skills. 
   
• Information Evaluation and Research Practices: Understanding how information is gathered and evaluated in society.

Students will first encounter these skills in their Collegiate Seminar and Composition courses, further practicing and developing them in their majors and throughout the rest of the curriculum.