Education Goals

The general goals for liberal arts students are:

1. To understand the way classical studies reflects and relates to the learning goals of the college as a whole.
2. To become acquainted with features of the ancient Mediterranean world.
3. To be introduced to critical questions in the humanities.
4. To become able to stand outside of contemporary culture and consider it critically from interdisciplinary perspectives.
5. To begin developing skills of creative thought and critical analysis that make it possible to use knowledge effectively.

In addition to these goals, we have the following goals for our majors:

1. To develop knowledge of the main areas of the classical western culture: history, literature, religion, philosophy, humanistic values, language, and art.
2. To situate Greek and Roman culture within the wider Mediterranean world.
3. To develop critical independence of judgment of classical texts through the knowledge of a classical language (Greek, Latin).
4. To understand and critique the roots of Western culture and its survival in the contemporary world.
5. To gain intensive training in the classics, and (for those with special interests and capacities) to prepare for graduate study.
6. To develop the skills of creative thought and critical analysis that make it possible to produce original scholarly work in the discipline of classical studies.