College of Letters and Science

Undergraduate Study in Letters and Science

Goals of a Liberal Education
Achieving a Liberal Education
Foundations: Tools of Learning
Breadth: Exploring the Liberal Arts and Sciences
Depth: Understanding a Field of Study (Major)
Letters and Science Degrees

Goals of a Liberal Education

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Students in the College of Letters and Science immerse themselves in an array of course offerings and opportunities that comprise the rich undergraduate liberal arts and sciences education that the UW-Madison provides. This education is both broad and deep, in keeping with the philosophy that a liberal education is one that empowers individuals with broad knowledge and transferable skills, and a strong sense of values, ethics, and civic engagement. In keeping with this philosophy of education, the College of Letters and Science seeks to provide the following four educational goals:

1. Education of the complete person: breadth of study spanning the humanities, arts, social sciences, biological sciences, and physical sciences; the ability to receive new information, place it in an understandable context, and think critically.
2. Education for citizenship: academic and practical preparation suited to participation, leadership, and transformation in a world of that is rapidly changing technologically as well as in terms of economic, physical, and national boundaries.
3. Education for a productive life: broad and flexible academic preparation that helps students achieve practical aspirations related to the pursuit of meaningful work and service, and to engage in important pursuits outside of those settings.
4. Education for the love of learning: educational experiences that foster the joy of learning to satisfy human curiosity, since the practical world is often shaped by ideas and devices whose origins were in the love of learning for its own sake. The breadth and variety of experiences encompassed by these goals is reflected, in turn, in the numerous paths toward a degree that exist within the college. Those paths are created by each student who makes course selections, writes papers, completes exams and courses, and fulfills requirements, accumulating and creating knowledge along the way. Successfully completing this work allows these four goals to become accomplished.

Achieving a Liberal Education

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These four goals of liberal education are achieved by developing particular skills and strategies for understanding and communicating about the world around us. These include:

• Skilled written and verbal communication: excelling in formulating and expressing a point of view, reflecting and questioning current knowledge through reading, research and consideration of the views of others, and demonstrating the ability to use quantitative information to understand, develop, and respond to arguments;
• The ability to draw flexibly upon a variety of modes of thought, including those characteristic of the arts, humanities, biological, physical, and social sciences, and to apply those principles of inquiry and analysis to individual and community problems;
• Knowledge of our basic cultural heritage as a multifaceted and often contested history, and of being a member of one or more communities within which differences are negotiated with respect, and values are cultivated as durable qualities of personal and social life; and
• Deep understanding of at least one subject area, focusing on that subject as a coherent body of knowledge with identifiable methodologies, and as a historical process of knowledge-formation.

The ways in which students attain these skills and goals is the subject of the sections below, which describe the L&S bachelor's degree requirements. These requirements provide a framework for achieving these objectives, and by extension, deliver an excellent and complete liberal education.

Foundations: Tools of Learning

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In all programs of study, it is essential that students achieve competency in communication. The ability to communicate accurately and effectively is a vital component of the curriculum, as it is a vital component of education for citizenship and education for a productive life. Similarly, students are expected to attain mathematical and quantitative skills that not only foster accurate understanding and sharing of information, but also contribute to the mastery of other skills. Finally, knowledge of a foreign language enhances the ability to understand and communicate with other cultures, and to participate in a global community. The importance of these aspects of education makes it necessary for students to acquire competency in composition, mathematics, and language either before or during their enrollment in the college. The university's General Education Requirements help every UW-Madison student acquire an educational core in communication and quantitative reasoning, both of which introduce critical thinking and analytical skills appropriate for a university-educated person. These skills, as well as those related to inquiry and research in breadth and ethnic studies areas, provide a foundation for all four goals of liberal education.

For a more detailed explanation of the university General Education Requirements, with a complete list of approved courses, please refer to www.ls.wisc.edu/gened/.

Breadth: Exploring the Liberal Arts and Sciences

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At the heart of a degree in the liberal arts and sciences is the variety of scholarly approaches to knowing the world. Completion of the breadth requirement ensures that every student who graduates from the College of Letters and Science will have had significant exposure to four principal fields of knowledge: humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, and biological sciences. These fields comprise many of the ways in which the complexity of the world can be understood, and the underlying value of the requirement reflects the importance of both the education of the complete person and for the love of learning.

Depth: Understanding a Field of Study (Major)

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An educational experience should include a focus on, and an opportunity to pursue, a thorough investigation of at least one subject or problem. The depth requirement fosters a student's love of learning, and, because of the specialized nature of study, it encompasses the values of education for citizenship and for productivity. The depth of students' work should reflect a continuous use of skills, knowledge, and values, where the advanced learning experiences grow from and expand upon earlier ones. In sum, the curriculum seeks to place students at the front edge of their capacity to understand themselves and their world, to develop their intellectual powers, and to encourage them to make a constructive and humane contribution toward resolving problems. The curriculum is designed to provide a valuable educational experience within the tradition of liberal studies.

Letters and Science Degrees

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The College of Letters and Science offers two basic degrees for students in the General Course and five other degrees for students in special programs. Students in the General Course, regardless of major, may earn either a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree. The special degrees are: Bachelor of Science-Applied Mathematics, Engineering, and Physics (AMEP); Bachelor of Science-Chemistry; Bachelor of Arts-Journalism or Bachelor of Science-Journalism; Bachelor of Music; and Bachelor of Social Work. (For details, see sections for AMEP, Chemistry Course, Journalism, Music, and Social Work later in the L&S section of this catalog.)

Honors degrees may be earned in all of the above upon completion of the L&S Honors Program. See the section on the L&S Honors Program for more information. Majors completed in the General Course and for the Bachelor of Music degree will be posted on the transcript.