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Electives - Liberal Arts Courses
Most bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees, regardless of the major, are based on a core of 30 credit hours or more of liberal arts courses. The vast majority of colleges and universities throughout the United States generally require this core or foundation of liberal arts courses. This core of courses may also be known as the "general education requirements."
While each institution of higher education determines its own core of subjects and specific liberal arts courses, the subject areas generally fall into the categories of Arts, Sciences, and Humanities. Each institution, in turn, also determines the number of credit hours of liberal arts courses they will require their students to take in order to qualify for graduation. Indiana Wesleyan University College of Adult and Professional Studies requires 30 credit hours of liberal arts courses.
Because of these requirements it is imperative, then, that as students plan the elective courses they will take in order to fulfill their credit hour requirements for graduation, especially in the bachelor of science and bachelor of arts degrees, they also consider the credit hour requirements for liberal arts courses. Students usually have access to an academic advisor, but it is still each individual student's responsibility to keep track of the liberal arts courses they take that will fulfill the graduation requirements.
Of importance also, as students consider the liberal arts courses they need to take, is for students to note whether specific courses or more general subjects are required, and which area of the liberal arts the courses fulfill. Within Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, the Arts include the broad categories of fine arts and performing arts. Fine arts include painting, drawing, photography, sculpting and other mediums, while the performing arts include drama, dance, and all forms of vocal and instrumental musical expression.
The Sciences portion of liberal arts courses includes mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. Each of those may be divided into a variety of more specific areas such as organic and inorganic chemistry. While those four areas of science have been established for many years, within the last century, many other areas of science have developed that actually involve two or more of the above broad divisions. For example, Computer Information Technology combines both mathematical concepts and laws of physics (electricity).
Humanities, as a group of the liberal arts courses, has been subdivided a variety of ways. Traditionally, English, literature, and language studies comprise one area. Religion, ethics, and philosophy comprise a second area, and the social sciences comprise an ever-widening area of subjects. Similar to the expansion of the sciences, within the humanities portion of what are considered to be liberal arts courses, the past one hundred and fifty years have seen the areas of social sciences subjects expand. While the study of history is probably the oldest subject within the social sciences, subjects developed within the 19th century included psychology, sociology, and anthropology.
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