The General Education Program combines a traditional distribution component with an interdisciplinary core component. The core consists of three interdisciplinary issues courses and a New Student Seminar. The purpose of these interdisciplinary courses is to acquaint students with contemporary issues stemming from scientific, global and national concerns, and to ensure that all students deal with the same issues, thus sharing a common academic experience. These interdisciplinary courses will be taught by faculty teams.
On completion of the General Education requirement, students will enjoy the benefits of the best of the traditional liberal arts curriculum: a sense of history, a perspective on social sciences, a familiarity with the humanities and the arts, and an understanding of mathematical and scientific principles and some of their contemporary applications.
The courses taken to fulfill this requirement are designed to impart not merely information, but techniques of problem-solving and analytical thinking. Primary readings and substantial writing assignments will be featured in GenEd courses. Whenever possible, professors will show how several academic disciplines bear on a single problem or topic.
The General Education Requirement dedicates some of the major resources of Montclair State to the teaching of introductory courses. Combining the strength of the liberal arts curriculum with a contemporary approach to social and technological change, this requirement supplies a valuable balance to any major program.