UW-Platteville's educational philosophy is rooted in four ideas: first, that students are thinking beings, capable of and responsible for making choices; second, that the quality of choice is largely dependent upon the nature and extent of human experience; third, that experience can be meaningful and constructive only insofar as it is informed by knowledge; and fourth, that while there are kinds of knowledge that some persons need in order to practice their particular professions, there are other kinds of knowledge that all persons need in order to live in, create, and recreate a larger world than the purely professional.

The development of these latter kinds of knowledge is the essential purpose of liberal education. Such an education empowers persons to live thoughtful lives, concerned about a universe much larger than their immediate environment and about a public realm that reaches far beyond their professional circle, local community, or nation. More specifically, this central part of education promotes the ability to think and communicate coherently, critically, and creatively about:

• the thoughts and actions of humans from different cultures;
  
  
• the processes of nature, both animate and inanimate;
  
  
• the interrelations among humans and between nature and humankind; and
  
  
• the possibilities of either enhancing or destroying, adding to or detracting from the goodness and beauty of life.

In pursuit of these aims, UW-Platteville's general education plan requires work in the competencies and liberal arts described in this chapter. A list of courses approved as of spring 1997 follows the description of the overall general education plan.

In addition to the minimum general requirements discussed here, some programs may require additional courses in the general studies area. Also, some approved courses taken at other institutions or through UW-Platteville's Study Abroad Programs may be used to fulfill the general requirements.

The design of the basic competency program described below assumes that high school graduates have met the minimum admission standards described in the admission section of this catalog.

By virtue of their high school work, many entering freshmen will be able to test out of some of the following competency requirements for their baccalaureate degree.

Thus, students who so request will be given, one time only, an appropriate test-out exam in some competency areas. Those passing the test-out exam will be given academic credit; those failing must complete the courses required.

Students with exceptionally strong high school backgrounds may earn general education credit through the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) or high school Advanced Placement (AP) scores.

Students who earned a "C" or better average in a second year high school foreign language course will be presumed to have met the foreign language requirement. They need not take a test-out exam, but will not receive retroactive credit for university level basic foreign language courses. Students who continue study of a foreign language at the university level and successfully complete a more advanced course will receive retroactive credit for the prerequisite (two college semesters, corresponding to two high school years) foreign language courses. The foreign language requirement is a graduation requirement as well as a competency requirement.

Entering students who do not meet the minimum requirements on the UW-System English and Mathematics Placement Tests may be required to take remedial courses in these areas, but those courses will not count towards general education or graduation credit.

The following basic competencies aim to enable students to acquire and apply an undergraduate education.

Communication

Students should be able to understand and communicate in English and one other language through reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

A course meeting competency requirements in reading and writing will be designed to enable students to:

• understand written language, including stylistic devices such as figures of speech, irony, and satire;
  
  
• recognize the importance context can have for meaning;
  
  
• conceptualize a topic and establish a purpose for a piece of writing, always keeping in mind the intended reader;
  
  
• arrange ideas in a logical order and present them in a coherent, sequential manner, with transitional words and phrases chosen in such a way as to make the coherence and sequence of ideas clear; and
  
  
• shape writing imaginatively and with a view to aptness of expression and to the principles of standard usage.
  
  

A course meeting competency requirements in speaking and listening will be designed to enable students to:

• understand the processes of human communication,
  
  
• access and organize information in a logical pattern,
  
  
• design and deliver various speeches in an effective manner, and
  
  
• develop critical listening and reasoning skills.
  
  

A course meeting competency requirements in foreign language will be designed to enable students to communicate in the standard literary and spoken forms of a language other than English.

Students must meet competency requirements in spoken and written English before their junior year.

Critical Thinking

Students should be able to think critically, ask probing questions, analyze problems, and suggest solutions.

A course meeting competency requirements in critical thinking will be designed to enable students to:

• discern the hidden propositions upon which their own and others' positions and arguments are based,
  
  
• understand the requirements of sound argumentation and identify formal and material fallacies, and
  
  
• gain experience in resolving issues and solving problems on their own initiative.
  
  

Since all courses which meet liberal arts requirements must pose a challenge to critical thinking, students meet competency requirements in critical thinking by fulfilling their liberal arts requirements.

Information Literacy

Students should be aware of available sources of information and develop the ability to find and use information.

A course meeting competency requirements in information literacy will be designed to enable students to:

• develop appropriate research strategies for finding any information needed;
  
  
• understand the ways that information is produced, disseminated, and accessed;
  
  
• identify and evaluate primary, secondary, and tertiary information sources and know when one type must be preferred over others; and
  
  
• understand how and when to use information sources.
  
  

Since all courses which meet liberal arts requirements must require the gathering and analysis of information, students meet competency requirements in information literacy by fulfilling their liberal arts requirements.

Mathematics

Students should have a basic competency in both computational skills and quantitative perception. A course meeting competency requirements in mathematics will be designed to enable students to:

• develop problem-solving skills using the methodology of mathematics,
  
  
• use the recognition and extension of patterns to solve problems,
  
  
• distinguish between valid and invalid reasoning,
  
  
• work with fundamental notions of numbers and space,
  
  
• and remain alert to the plausibility of solutions.
  
  

Students must meet the mathematics competency requirements before their junior year.

Wellness

Students should learn how to achieve and maintain both physical and mental well-being.

A course meeting competency requirements in wellness will be designed to enable students to assess their own overall fitness level, and understand what lifestyle changes are required to improve overall fitness.

A course meeting competency requirements in physical activity will be designed to enable students to develop an appreciation for, and basic skills in, an activity which if pursued will promote a lifetime of fitness and enjoyment.

The following liberal arts areas challenge students to explore the diverse range of disciplines necessary to the accomplishments of the purposes of general education outlined above. Each plays a significant role in enabling free intelligence to maturein promoting the development of clear, coherent, powerful, critical, creative, and appreciative thinking.

All liberal arts courses should challenge students to high academic achievement. Therefore, all courses approved as satisfying liberal arts requirements must be designed to include:

• a significant writing component;
  
  
• a challenge to critical thinking;
  
  
• the gathering and analysis of information;
  
  
• a consideration of ethnic, gender, and international issues when germane to the course content; and
  
  
• a variety of ways of evaluating student learning, so that such evaluation does not rely alone on objective tests.
  
  
• Further, they must: achieve the purposes and meet the standards identified below that are specific to each liberal arts area.
  
  

Except in the cases of international education and ethnic and gender studies, a course may not fulfill more than one liberal arts requirement.

No more than six credits from one discipline may be counted toward the fulfillment of liberal arts requirements.

Liberal arts courses required by a department for its majors may not be counted towards the fulfillment of Liberal Arts Requirements unless they are integral to the student's major.

Fine Arts

To be free we must be able to think imaginatively and creatively, and to organize experience in meaningful ways. Genuine thinking is always imaginative, for it entails producing visions of the real and modes of construing actual and possible experience. Here the stress is on the creative power of thinking per se. To accomplish this purpose, students should become familiar with the historical and cultural heritage of the arts. They should gain an understanding of the creative processes and basic forms and concepts used in the arts.

Therefore, a course meeting liberal arts requirements in the fine arts will be designed to challenge students to:

• think imaginatively,
  
  
• explore the history and heritage of the arts, and
  
  
• examine the logic of artistic expression.
  
  

Historical Perspective

To be free we must understand ourselves and our present more fully, and evaluate the possibilities of the future more wisely. But that is possible only by understanding the forces and influences of the pastthe judgments, visions, and actions of those who have gone before us and have helped to shape who we are and make the present what it is. The purpose of the study of history is to equip students to understand and assess our past, in order both to awaken them to whom they might personally or collectively become, and to form a clearer perception of present problems and deal more effectively with public issues. It is to lessen bondage to the past as fate, and to increase openness to the future as possibility.

Therefore, a course meeting liberal arts requirements in historical perspective will be designed to challenge students to:

• gain knowledge of the past, of the judgments, actions, and visions of those who have gone before us;
  
  
• explore the circumstances that have helped to shape those judgments, actions, and visions; and
  
  
• explore ways in which all of these have shaped the present.
  
  

Humanities

To be free we must understand what it means to be human and what the human condition is, and how we as persons stand related to the rest of reality. One way to promote such understanding is to wrestle with questions such as these: is there a meaning to life? is the universe friendly or indifferent to human purpose? to what extent are we free or determined? to what extent are we independent individuals or grounded in community? what ends ought we to pursue? what is good and evil? and what are the possibilities and limitations of human power and human understanding?

The purpose of this study is to explore the whole range of human thought and experienceachievements and failures, joys and sorrows, love and hate, comedy and tragedy, life and death. It is to challenge students to understand and evaluate how others, past and present, historical and fictional, have struggled with conscience, labored with fate, affirmed and rebelled against existing orders, and poured their lifeblood into their visions and creations.

Therefore, a course meeting liberal arts requirements in the humanities will be designed to challenge students to:

• confront basic questions about reality, knowledge, goodness, justice, and beauty;
  
  
• examine critically how great writers and thinkers have addressed these questions; and
  
  
• ponder these questions as they apply to their own lives
  
  

International Education

To be free we must understand our own culture in a global context. Such understanding enables us to understand the sources of individual and collective values, attitudes, and behavior, to interpret the forces that find expression in them, and thus to evaluate more ably the possibilities latent in present circumstance. The same study will challenge students to come to terms with the human commonality and diversity that characterize this interconnectedness and interdependent world.

Therefore, a course meeting liberal arts requirements in international education will be designed to challenge students to:

• explore cultures, peoples, and nations other than those with which the students are familiar;
  
  
• analyze how people of diverse cultures address common issues and problems; and
  
  
• explore the implications of this study for the students' own lives.
  
  

Natural Sciences

To be free we must understand the character, the structure, and the dynamics of the universe in which we live. Here the emphasis is on how and why the universe operates as it does, according to the best of our current assessment of available data. The purpose of studies in the natural sciences is to help students understand nature and matter (living and nonliving), energy and transformational processes through time. It is also to help them understand how the processes of investigation and measurement lead to discovery, and what kind of discovery is thus made possible.

Therefore, a course meeting liberal arts requirements in the natural sciences will be designed to challenge students to:

• discover what patterns, principles, and dynamics seem to find expression in empirical data about natural phenomena;
  
  
• reflect on the history of science;
  
  
• assess the character, possibilities, and limitations of the scientific method; and
  
  
• engage actively in the analysis of directly encountered natural phenomena.
  
  

Social Sciences

To be free in society and in human relationships we must understand human behavior and social existence. Hence, students should develop an understanding from the social science perspective of social systems, the dynamics of individual and social behavior, and the forces that operate in social relationships.

Therefore, a course meeting liberal arts requirements in the social and behavioral sciences will be designed to challenge students to:

• learn something of the reality of individual and social behavior,
  
  
• discover the principles and forces that seem to find expression in that behavior, and
  
  
• explore the ways in which such structures and processes influence self- and group-perception.
  
  

Ethnic and Gender Studies

To be free, we must become sensitive to fateful social realities and pressing moral challenges of our time, especially racism and sexism. In general, the purpose of ethnic and gender studies is the same as that of the fine arts, historical perspective, humanities, and the social sciences. In particular, it is to help students come to a better understanding of the historical and current social and political structures of racism and sexism, of the western ethical tradition of justiceby which judgments and actions are seen to be sufficient or deficient and in need of changeand of themselves as responsible individuals acting within a cultural context.

Therefore, a course meeting liberal arts requirements in ethnic and gender studies will be designed to challenge students to:

• explore the history, culture, customs, values, lifestyles, and contributions of women, racial and ethnic minorities, and socio-economic minorities in the United States;
  
  
• investigate the social and political structures that support racism and sexism;
  
  
• recognize the influences that the students' own culture and experiences have on their attitudes towards women and minorities;
  
  
• understand the western ethical tradition of justice; and
  
  
• examine the literature that depicts, analyzes, and protests racism and sexism.
  
  

Total credits for Graduation 120 credits

General Education Requirements 43-58 credits*

* depends upon high school foreign language courses completed, scores on the UW-System Mathematics and English Placement Tests, and whether courses selected for international education and ethnic/gender studies also count for other liberal arts requirements.

To simplify the listing of approved general education courses which follows, the competency and liberal arts areas discussed previously will be condensed into the following areas: A, B, C, D, and E, where A refers to competency requirements and B, C, D, and E to liberal arts requirements.

A. Competency Requirements (13 credits)

English 1130 - 3 credits*

English 1230 - 3 credits

Speech 1010 (or Speech 2010 - 3 credits) 2 credits

Mathematics 1630 or above 3 credits**

Wellness (PE) 1000 - 1 credit

Physical Activity (PE) 1010 to 1490 - 1 credit

Foreign Language 0-8*** credits

B. Humanities, Fine Arts, and Historical Perspective (12 credits)

Courses must be from areas of humanities, fine arts,and historical perspective.

C. Social Sciences (9 credits)

Courses must be from areas of communication, criminal justice, economics, geography, political science, psychology, sociology, or women's studies.

D. Natural Sciences (9 credits)

Courses must be from areas of biology, chemistry, geosciences, or physics. All courses must involve a laboratory experience.

E. International Education/Ethnic and Gender Studies (6 credits)****

International Education 3 credits****

Ethnic and Gender Studies 3 or 6 credits****

Approved courses are from the following areas: agricultural industries, art, business administration, criminal justice, economics, English, ethnic studies, history, geography, philosophy, political science, sociology, teaching, women's studies.

* Students with high UW-System English Placement Test scores will be invited to take the test-out for English 1130.

** Varies depending upon UW-System Mathematics Placement Test score.

*** Two years of the same high school language with a minimum of "C" average the second year fulfills this requirement.

****Courses selected for area E only may double count for credit in areas B, C, and D.

1. Only approved courses may be used to fulfill the general education requirements.
   
   
2. Except in the case of courses taken to fulfill the international education and ethnic/gender studies requirements, a course may not fulfill more than one liberal arts (B,C, D, or E) requirement. Students must take one 3 credit course counting for both ethnic and gender studies (EGS) or take six credits; one 3 credit course counting for ethnic studies (E) and one 3 credit course counting for gender studies (G).
   
   Courses that are listed in the Humanities, Fine Arts, Historical Perspective, and Social Sciences areas which can be used to meet the international education requirement are listed under the area of international education and are also designated with an (IE) in the respective lists. Courses which can be used to meet the ethnic/gender studies requirement are designated with an (EG) for Ethnic and Gender, (E) for Ethnic only, or (G) for Gender only.
   
   
3. Liberal arts courses required by a department for its majors may not be counted towards the fulfillment of Liberal Arts Requirements unless they are integral to the student's major.
   
   
4. No more than six credits from one discipline may be counted toward the fulfillment of liberal arts requirements in the areas of B, C, D, and E.