Overview of Disciplinary Core Components of the Core Curriculum

A. Proficiency-Based Requirements

• Foreign Language—the equivalent of Language 211
• Mathematics Proficiency—elementary algebra and geometry
  (prerequisite for the Mathematics core course)

B. Cross-Disciplinary Courses

• First-Year Symposium (2 courses)
• Senior Seminar (1 course)

C. Disciplinary Courses

• Fine Arts (4 credits + F.A.E.) (Art, Music, Theater)
• Humanities (5 courses) (History, Literature, Philosophy, Theology)
• Mathematics (1 course)
• Natural Sciences (2 courses) (Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Geology, Physics)
• Social Sciences (2 courses) (Economics, Government, Psychology, Sociology)

D. Flags For Courses

• Gender Perspectives (1 flag)
• Global Perspectives (1 flag)
• Quantitative Reasoning (1 flag)

Foreign Language Proficiency

Students will fulfill the requirement in the modern and classical languages by demonstrating proficiency in speaking or reading the target language. This can be done in one of the following ways:

1. Satisfactory completion of FL 211.
2. Demonstrating speaking proficiency at the "intermediate low" level (Level 1) on the Foreign Service Institute scale.
3. Demonstrating reading proficiency by a score in the 85th percentile or higher on the Pimsleur exam or the equivalent score on some other selected exam.

Explanation: The proficiency levels will be incorporated into the 111-211 language sequence at CSB/SJU, and most students who pass 211 will be at or above the proficiency level. Enough students will be given formal oral or reading exams to assure that these levels are adhered to. Students who do not receive a passing grade in a 211 course may request to take a speaking or reading exam in order to demonstrate proficiency.

Incoming students with at least two years of high school language will take a placement/ proficiency exam during orientation week and may either be certified as proficient or placed into the appropriate course.

Students who are receiving AB or better at the end of 112 may take the oral or written proficiency test at that time.

Speakers at the "intermediate low" level are beginning to use their knowledge of the language to create original sentences and can participate in an intelligible fashion in short conversations on topics related to everyday survival needs. Proficiency at this level is demonstrated by means of a short interview, which need seldom exceed five minutes in length.

Mathematics Proficiency

The mathematics proficiency requirement is intended to help the entire student body develop basic mathematical skills. In order to fulfill the proficiency requirement, students must either place well in the calculus-readiness exam with a score of 50 percent or higher, or pass a mathematics proficiency exam with a score of 75 percent (see Note below) or higher.

Students who do not achieve a passing grade will have the opportunity to attain assistance from the Math Skills Center. For students who lack the necessary skills, the MSC will provide computer-assisted instruction, review, and drill in the specific areas of weakness. In this way, all students will be helped to eventually attain the desired level of proficiency.

The current proficiency exam covers basic skills in the following areas:

1. Basic Knowledge of the Number System

1. Place Value
2. Primes
3. Number Patterns

2. Properties, Skills, and Operations of Arithmetic and Algebra

1. Arithmetic Skills
2. Arithmetic Properties and Operations
3. Algebra Skills and Operations

3. Algebra—Equations and Inequalities

1. Linear Equations          
2. Linear Inequalities
3. Quadratic Equations
4. Systems of Equations

4. Applications

1. Problem Solving
2. Ratios & Proportions
3. Averages
4. Basic Geometry
5. Graphs
6. Translating
7. Logic
8. Percent
9. Probability

Note: The current passing score of 75 percent is based on experience gained by giving the mathematics proficiency test to the 1985 and 1986 entering CSB/SJU first-year students (a pass rate of about 75 percent). However, as future data are collected, the passing score will be adjusted to reflect more closely the relationship between student mathematics achievement and their proficiency test scores.

Humanities Requirement

Requirement: The humanities requirement will consist of courses selected from designated courses taught by faculty members in the humanities departments (except where otherwise indicated) and meeting the administrative guidelines and course characteristics listed below.

All students must complete three designated lower-division courses: one in theology, two additional courses, one each in two of the three remaining disciplines (history, literature, philosophy); and two upper-division courses: one in the same discipline as one of the lower-division courses already completed and one in a Judeo-Christian heritage course.

Guidelines and Characteristics

I. Lower-Division Humanities Core Courses (three courses)

A. 100-Level Theology (one course)

1. Objectives. Students will:

1. Gain at least an introduction to scripture as the basis of Christian theology and living.
2. Learn to think critically about some religious questions.
3. Come to some degree of critical understanding of the development of Christian tradition (e.g., its beliefs in story, ritual, doctrinal explanations, and ethical norms).
4. Examine the role of the believing community and the individual within the Church.
5. Become aware of the interrelationship of tradition and experience and learn some of the principles and processes for the truth-searching and empathetic dialogue necessary between them.

2. Courses proposed, approved, and taught by the theology department.

3. Class size will be limited to 35 students.

B. Lower-Division History, Philosophy, or Literature (Modern and Classical Languages or English) (two courses)

1. Course Characteristics

1. Course focus will be western culture but broadly defined as to both "western" and "culture."
2. Courses will address ways of knowing in the discipline—philosophical reasoning, textual analysis and criticism, or historical consciousness.
3. Courses should stress writing and oral communication.
4. Courses should address the extent to which gender enters into our recording, understanding, and interpretation of human endeavors.

2. No more than one course from any department.

3. Courses will be offered through and designated by departments and approved by the division.

4. No more than one of these courses may be taken in the first semester of the first year.

5. Class size will be limited to 35 students.

II. Upper-Division Humanities Courses (two courses)

A. Philosophy, Literature (Modern and Classical Languages or English), History, or Theology (one course)

1. Courses should support the skills in writing and oral communication stressed in First-Year Symposium.

2. Courses should address the extent to which gender enters into our recording, understanding, and interpretation of human endeavors.

3. Course readings should include documents and/or other primary source material.

4. Courses should work toward the development of critical reading skills.

5. Courses will be offered through and designated by departments and approved by division.

6. In theology both 200- and 300-level courses may satisfy the upper-division requirement.

7. The upper-division course must be taken in one of the disciplines in which the student took a lower-division course.

8. Class size will be limited to 25 students.

B. Judeo-Christian Heritage (one course)

Judeo-Christian Heritage

1. Objectives and Characteristics

1. Focus in depth and breadth on an area of Judeo-Christian culture and acquire facility in the methodology of the field which is the area of competence of the professor of each course.
2. Develop and apply skills for critical analysis.
3. Give preference, where appropriate, to the primary sources of scripture and theology.
4. Develop, where appropriate, familiarity with the standard bibliographical, reference, and research tools available in the CSB and SJU libraries for investigation into religious topics.
5. Specify the historical-cultural context of Christianity and its dialectic (both correspondences and disjunctions) with a secular world view.
6. Relate the study of the Judeo-Christian heritage to contemporary life questions and experiences.
7. Where appropriate, examine the Benedictine tradition and its varied contributions to the Christian dimension of western culture.
8. Integrate where possible the perspectives acquired in the other core curriculum humanities courses into a coherent synthesis that focuses on the Christian contribution to western culture.

2. It is anticipated that most of these courses will be developed and proposed by humanities division faculty, but proposals from outside the division will be considered.

3. This course may be taken only after one of the lower-division courses are completed.

4. Class size will be limited to 30 students.

 

Mathematics Requirement

Requirement: Each student must take and pass one course that satisfies the mathematics guidelines (generally during the first or second year).

Prerequisites:

1. Three years of college preparatory mathematics (or its equivalent).
2. Satisfaction of the CSB/SJU proficiency requirement.

Philosophy: Mathematics as a skill and as a theoretical structure has played a crucial role in modern civilization as well as in the everyday lives of individuals. The core curriculum mathematics courses should, therefore, foster both an appreciation for the aesthetic and historical dimensions of mathematics as well as a sense of its practical necessity. In the tradition of liberal education, the mathematics course will help students develop the habits of self-education by involving them in doing mathematics and by focusing on understanding concepts of mathematics.

The core courses will serve at least two types of students: a) those who view mathematics simply as a tool and who need special attention to the liberal arts dimension of mathematics; and b) those for whom mathematics is a subject feared and avoided and who need help and sensitivity in developing a more positive attitude toward mathematics. The department will offer a variety of classes that satisfy the requirement and that meet the different needs of these students.

Remedial work will be available outside of the core course and will generally not be provided within the course itself. Conversely, rigorous coverage of a large body of information will be secondary to the development of the students’ understanding of the material discussed.

To meet the following guidelines, courses will be limited to 25 students.

Guidelines:

1. The course will address the history, philosophy, and contemporary role of mathematics. It will stress mathematics as a conceptual discipline and will demonstrate to students the aesthetics and the value of mathematics.
2. The course will be structured so that students are actively involved in doing mathematics and are asked to demonstrate in various ways their understanding of appropriate concepts.
3. The specific content, the questions, and the examples used in the class should begin with ideas familiar to the students.
4. The course will assist students to understand mathematical symbolism and the need for it. It will also address the power and limitations of mathematical modeling as a tool for solving problems outside of the classroom.
5. The course will focus on student involvement, understanding, and appreciation for mathematics rather than on computational rigor.

Natural Science Requirement

Requirement: Each student must complete two courses in the natural sciences that meet the following guidelines. No more than one course may be taken in a single discipline with the exception of courses carrying "Natural Science" or "Course of the College" as their course title.

(Courses in these two categories carrying NS designation are required to be interdisciplinary, i.e., to approach their content from the standpoints of at least two sciences.)

Prerequisite: No course—except integrated, interdisciplinary two-course sequences—will stipulate a prerequisite.

Philosophy: Science constitutes a way of investigating the world and a way of understanding our experience and role in it. The required courses in the natural sciences emphasize this quality of science. The courses will examine how and what natural science teaches about our culture and our involvement in that culture.

The core natural science courses will vary in content and in emphases, but the following guidelines lay out the focus and direction of the instructors’ and students’ approach to that content.

To ensure that students will be actively involved in the process of science, courses will be limited to 30 students and laboratory sections to 15 students.

Guidelines:

To satisfy the natural science guidelines, each course should:

1. Be grounded in the students’ experience and be appropriate to the students’ level of intellectual development.
2. Demonstrate the interactive relationship of science and culture and, where pertinent, should show the influence of gender.
3. Explore the connections among the various natural sciences.
4. Develop the students’ capacity for scientific literacy and for exercising responsible citizenship in a scientific and technological society.
5. Emphasize the fundamental role in science of observation and experiment and, where possible, should provide a hands-on laboratory experience, where possible, as part of the class.
6. Show the role of creative imagination, aesthetics, abstract thinking, and critical analysis in the methodology of science.
7. Illustrate the application of scientific concepts to everyday life and their usefulness in understanding common experiences.

Social Science Requirement

Requirement: The social science requirement shall consist of two courses, one lower-division and one upper-division. Students are free to take their core social science course work in the same department or in different departments. The upper-division course may be an interdisciplinary course sponsored by the division as a whole.

Prerequisite: The upper-division social science core courses will normally be taken in the junior or senior year and will have as a prerequisite one lower-division social science core course, not necessarily in the same department.

Special Characteristics of the Courses

A. The lower-division course

1. The course will offer broad knowledge of human thought, feeling, and behavior as viewed from a standpoint of the discipline(s) sponsoring the course.
2. The course will consider the application of social scientific "theory" to "practice" and the interactions between practice and theory.
3. The course will address quantitative and qualitative descriptions as goals of social science.
4. The course will consider the social environment as both a limitation on, and a resource for, innovation.

B. The upper-division course

1. The content of the course will be centrally concerned with one of the following:
   
   a. Cross-cultural or international themes.
   b. Developmental, evolutionary, or historical themes.
   c. Application of social-scientific knowledge to issues in ethics, or public policy, or practice in a professional area.
   d. The philosophy of science.
    
2. The course will address how ideology and values affect the practice of social science.
3. The course will consider the relationship between social science knowledge and canons of method.
4. The course will build upon a student’s prior study in the whole core curriculum and not just upon the single, lower-division course in social science.
5. The course will expose students to the depth of social science understanding.

Note: Class size should reflect the spirit intended in vehicles of learning as established in the core document.

Gender Perspectives Flags

Requirement: Each student is required to take one course that carries a gender perspectives flag.

Philosophy: Scholars are increasingly looking at how gender has shaped the definition of knowledge, its sources and content, as well as the methods used for its discovery and communication. Their research suggests that gender makes a profound difference in both how and what we know, as well as in the value allocated to various kinds and ways of knowing. Courses that offer a gender perspectives flag need to be grounded in this literature.

Requirements for a course carrying a gender perspectives flag:

1. A significant portion of the course should be spent in attention to consideration and analysis of the role of gender.
2. This attention must be manifest through explicit focus on the question of the effect of gender on the subject matter at hand in the classroom.
3. This attention should also be manifest in some of the following ways:
   
   a. Whenever possible, both male and female authors should be included on the reading list.
   b. Discussion in the syllabus of gender as a significant part of the course work.
   c. Focus on the effect of gender on the state of the discipline.
   d. Focus on the role of gender in the process of learning.
    
4. The course should be structured in ways sensitive to different male/female learning styles.
5. At least one significant out-of-class assignment related to gender must be completed by each student.

Global Perspectives Flags

Requirement: Each student is required to take one course that carries a global perspectives flag.

Philosophy: All students are world citizens and need a strong foundation for expanding their awareness of global interdependence and for working toward building a world community. Most of their learning thus far has been oriented towards Western Europe and the United States. Consequently, courses meeting the global perspectives requirement will place considerable emphasis on areas outside of Western Europe and the United States.

Global Perspectives Flag Goals:

The Core Guidelines state that, “All students are world citizens and need a strong foundation for expanding their awareness of global interdependence and for working toward building a world community.”

Utilizing concepts from __(disciplinary area)__, students will:

1. Demonstrate understanding of the global interdepedence of the world and articulate their individual role as a world citizen.

2. Analyze the influence of diverse cultural values and beliefs on the development of a global community.

3. Describe the connections between culture and the human condition.

4. Communicate sensitivity to and understanding of cultural differences and articulate the social and personal benefits of this sensitivity.

Requirements for a course carrying a global perspectives flag:

1. A significant portion of the course should be devoted to issues with global significance.
2. Students should be made aware of the diverse patterns of thought, values, and beliefs manifested in different cultures. This might be accomplished by examining one or more of the following:
   
   a. The various concepts of the divine, the human, the world, and their interrelationships.
   b. The various forms of literary, linguistic, artistic, or religious expression.
   c. The various forms of political, social, economic, or environmental structures.
    
3. Students should examine the possibilities and choices confronting individuals and nations and be encouraged to imagine the future and analyze the values that guide the choices.

Quantitative Reasoning Flags

Requirement: Each student is required to complete one course that carries a quantitative reasoning flag.

Prerequisite: Students must satisfy their mathematics proficiency requirement before enrolling in a course flagged for quantitative reasoning. Individual courses may have additional prerequisites.

Philosophy: Quantitative reasoning develops students’ capacity to understand and evaluate the quantitative information that they encounter in their college studies, in their subsequent careers, and as citizens.

Quantitative reasoning is a process for analyzing questions mathematically and might be described in terms of the following five logically sequential steps:

1. Selection of a question that lends itself to a mathematical solution.
2. Translation of the question from a verbal form into an appropriate mathematical formulation, or model, that uses numbers and/or symbols.
3. Transformation of the symbols according to defined rules of mathematics to express their relationships mathematically.
4. Evaluation of the mathematical expression to determine a solution.
5. Translation of this "solution" back into the verbal form, with an interpretation of the significance and applicability of the mathematical result.

Being skilled in the use of mathematical modeling means that students must be able to select an accurate and useful model for their question and must understand the assumptions and limitations of various models.

Requirements for a course carrying a quantitative reasoning flag:

1. A significant portion of the course must be dedicated to development of students’ quantitative reasoning skills in projects that require the active participation of the students in the quantitative reasoning process.
2. The course will explicitly address, in a context that is "natural" for the subject matter of the course, the quantitative reasoning process. (Selection and translation to and from the mathematical model should receive greatest emphasis.)
3. The course will explicitly teach: a) why and how to exercise these skills, and b) that these are