General Education
Download the GE checklist
The General Education program is the core of the curriculum, foundational for all students and all areas of study and vocation. In its concern with ultimate questions, the development of the person, responsibility to society, and the integration of understanding across disciplinary lines, the program reflects the distinctive values of the Christian liberal arts university. In its concern with basic skills of thinking and communication, the program is directed toward practical success in the wide variety of occupations and roles that our graduates enter.
In accordance with the stated Mission of North Park, we intend the entire student experience, including both curricular and co-curricular activities to achieve the following learning outcomes. These are stated with the understanding that learning outcomes can only be developed in a content-rich environment, and that academic outcomes are best formed as students attempt to enter into the community of scholars in a variety of disciplines.
A list of learning outcomes is an inadequate way to convey the whole of a person’s formal education, let alone the whole of one’s life. The arrangement of the learning outcomes as presented here is not to suggest a hierarchical or sequential relationship. As one reflects on who one is, one should come to realize what one needs to know. Acquiring that knowledge may prompt one to action, but it may also prompt further reflection.
A Life of Significance
- Introspection: examining who one is and who one should become.
- Wellness: Physical and psychological well being.
- Character: Moral and ethical maturity.
- Faith: spiritual maturity.
A Life of Intellectual Growth
- Learning: a deep commitment to and pleasure in the acquisition of information and knowledge.
- Responsibility: the ability to monitor, direct and take ownership for one’s own learning.
- Inquiry: the ability to use a variety of means for acquiring knowledge and constructing meaning.
- Analysis: the ability to evaluate information, knowledge claims and beliefs.
- Aesthetics: appreciation and understanding of different kinds of aesthetic experience.
A Life of Service
- Collegiality: ability to work respectfully with others, including people who are not like you.
- Communication: the ability to convey your beliefs, ideas and feelings to others in a variety of ways and media and the ability to understand others communicating with you.
- Problem Solving: the ability to take one’s knowledge and skills and apply them to solving a problem.
- Social Responsibility: Desire to work with others in creating a better world.