Area C: Humanities

Literature

Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a basic understanding of the literary, historical, social, and cultural influences that inform literary works, including diversity of perspectives, experiences, and traditions.
• Articulate in writing and discussion their responses to literary texts (75% of which must be written texts) with a view to equipping them with the knowledge, values, and sensitivity to succeed as persons and professionals.
• Demonstrate a basic critical ability to identify, interpret, and evaluate the ideas and formal features of an integrated body of literary texts in the context of a socially responsible learning community of high quality scholarship and academic rigor.
• Show a sensitivity to the plurality of meanings within a literary text, including the moral implications of human choices.

History

Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a basic understanding of a significant span of history over a wide geographic area.
• Articulate in writing and discussion their understanding of the ways significant historical forces (e.g., colonization, industrialization, war, social movements) shape the development of societies and civilizations.
• Exhibit historical consciousness by understanding past societies and civilizations in their own contexts and times.
• Demonstrate a sense of how historical thinking can establish a valuable framework for considering ethical issues in the past and present.