Jene Thomas – General Assignment Reporter
As of Aug. 2009, Southern Connecticut State University has adopted a new program study to satisfy students’ general education requirement. The Liberal Education Program at Southern intertwines general education classes with courses specific to the student’s individual area of study.
LEP consists of three levels, also known as tiers: Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3. Each Tier accompanies a specific goal the university deems necessary for the students to have: foundations, exploration and connections, respectively.
But what does each tier include?
Tier 1: Foundation sets new students with small sized 18 credits classes, focusing on “competency courses,” according to The General Education Task Force.
Competency courses are areas of study that develop student growth in subject areas. Each student is expected to enroll in six classes in Tier 1, one three-credit class in each area.
Among the competency are categories such as critical thinking, multilingual communication, quantitative literacy, technological fluency, and written communication. Critical thinking helps students to think outside of the box and includes your mental and societal courses such as psychology, sociology and anthropology. Quantitative literacy offers a list of math courses that students are able to enroll in. To fulfill the multilingual requirement, students must complete or go beyond the 200 level of a language study, not including English. Technological fluency encourages students to gain some experience with computers in the digital age while written communications are the basic English courses.
Tier 2: Explorations allows students to explore subject matter outside their major or majors. This is where many change their majors from enjoyment in a new topic. Tier 2 is a 27-credit program, expecting students to enroll in one three-credit course in each of the nine subject areas. Explorations feature courses in American Experience, creative drive, cultural expression, global awareness, mind & body, Natural World 1: The Physical Realm, Natural World 2: Life and Environment, Social structure, and Time & Place.
That seems like a lot of foreign concepts but in all honesty, they are all the classes students might have taken in high school. These are the art, literature, social studies, science, lab, social awareness and ancient studies classes, respectively.
Thus ends all of classes, with the exceptions of electives that may not relate to specific majors.
Tier 3: Connections uses skills developed and enhanced in the first 2 tiers to complete a capstone course in one’s specific major. The LEP proposal, written by The General Education Task Force, notes that this is where students will, “address one or more capacious contemporary issues,” for a project. The student will work with others and design a capstone project that, “utilize many of the Competencies at an advanced level,” before graduation.
Since the LEP was established on the Southern campus, there have been mixed reviews on the requirements.
Fourth year nursing student, Paule- Anne Lewis says, “I think [the LEP program] is good; it gives you a feel for everything.” Others say otherwise.
“I don’t think we should have it” says Nyoshee Lowry, senior. “You should just take classes for your major and that should be it. The college just wants your money.”
Angelique Ross, senior, says “I’ve taken every single class they told me to but I’m still going to need another semester in order to graduate.”
Students believe that with this program, it is extremely difficult to complete the undergraduate program in four years or under.