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Habits of Mind
https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/core-curriculum/core-curriculum-course-offeringsFundamental to a liberal arts education are the habits of mind that prepare students for a lifetime of learning and critical engagement with the world. 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.
Pathways to Knowledge
An understanding of the diverse ways that humans encounter and explain the world is a central component of a liberal arts education. Through specially designated courses in the disciplines, the SMC Core assures that students will learn to tread the most important such pathways to knowledge: Artistic Understanding, Theological Understanding, Mathematical & Scientific Understanding, and Social, Historical, & Cultural Understanding.
Engaging the World
An education is only complete when it ventures beyond the walls of the classroom. In fulfillment of the Catholic, Lasallian, and Liberal Arts mission of the College, the SMC Core asks all students to engage with the world in substantive and meaningful ways. Through participation in curricular and co-curricular experiences that meet the goals of American Diversity, Global Perspectives, The Common Good, and Community Engagement, students will explore issues of justice, civic responsibility, and social difference that facilitate a critical reflection on what it means to be a citizen in today’s world.