General Education Requirement "D" - Diversity

General Education Curriculum
As approved by the General Education Committee on 10/27/04

Description:

Courses in this category will examine one or more diverse subcultures of the United States of America, focusing on selected contemporary examples. A subculture is a social group sharing values, behaviors, and a history that distinguishes it within the larger American society. Subcultures may be based on such factors as origins, race, religion, belief, class, gender, occupation, region, sexual orientation, age, or other factors.

Students will be offered comparative perspectives on questions of cultural identity and will examine influences and practices that shape subcultures, contribute to American diversity, and identify American experience within the global community.

The Diversity (D) requirement is designed to help students become more aware of the social diversity that informs American life, and of some of the ways in which Americans are seen in other cultures and countries.

Goals:

Students will learn:

• about one or more specific subcultures of the United States of America
• the terms and practices by which the subcultures identify themselves
• the ways in which the subcultures are viewed by the larger American public
• the ways in which the subcultures help shape a view of Americans and American experience in the world outside the United States

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

• define the subcultures by describing their practices, values, and histories
• describe the ways in which the subcultures function within the larger American culture and contribute to American diversity
• understand diversity as a function of American identity
• understand how diversity contributes to the views that other societies have of Americans and American culture

Assessment:

Students' performance of the objectives of the D requirement of the General Education Program will be assessed by:

1. pre-, interim, and post-testing using writing samples and/or other qualitative assessment instruments and/or
2. a core writing assignment (or assignments) common to all Gen Ed D courses and involving concepts and terms common to all D offerings

The assessment instrument(s) will:

• require students to define American subcultures, by articulating their signal practices, histories, contributions, and problems
• require students to relate subcultures to the larger American culture by explaining how the values and practices of the subcultures work within the larger contexts of American law and custom
• ask students to describe how the identity or actions of specific subcultures influence the ways Americans are viewed by other cultures, societies, or nations