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The Distribution, Cultural Diversity, and Skills requirements each have learning goals that all Lake Forest graduates should attain. These, in turn, contribute to College-Wide learning goals.

College-Wide Learning Goals

We believe that all Lake Forest College graduates should be able to:

  • Demonstrate understanding of a broad range of 21st century approaches to knowledge production by engaging with key concepts, theories, and methods across the breadth of the liberal arts: Creative and Performing Arts, Humanities, Natural Sciences, Quantitative Reasoning, and Social Sciences.

  • Demonstrate a deep understanding of at least one academic field, including its methods of inquiry, technological tools, and traditions of scholarship, through the completion of a major program of study that culminates in a capstone experience integrating content and methods within that field.

  • Locate, synthesize, and evaluate multiple and possibly divergent sources of information, thereby demonstrating the ability to think critically.

  • Communicate clearly and persuasively when writing and speaking.

  • Appreciate differences in social and cultural experience both within the United States and globally.

  • Apply knowledge and skills in a purposeful and reflective way to experiences outside the classroom.

Distribution Requirement Learning Goals

As a liberal arts institution, the College believes that the depth of specialization that is achieved within a major should be balanced by exposure to a range of knowledge and methods of inquiry, such as that found across the liberal arts. Students will satisfy the distribution requirement by completing one course in each of the five areas listed below. In order to encourage exposure to breadth of content, students must take courses from five different departments or interdisciplinary areas (i.e. the requirement must be fulfilled with five courses with five different course prefixes).

Creative and Performing Arts (CP)
Upon successful completion of the creative and performing arts requirement, students should be able to:

  • Engage imaginatively with an artistic medium, and

  • Express creative ideas by producing original work or by reinterpreting artistic work made by others.

Humanities (H)
Upon successful completion of the humanities requirement, students should be able to:

  • Demonstrate an understanding of artistic, historical, intellectual, literary, or religious traditions, and

  • Find evidence (textual, artistic, or otherwise), develop arguments from that evidence, and evaluate arguments made by others.

Natural Sciences (NS)
Upon successful completion of the natural sciences requirement, students should be able to:

  • Explain the principles of scientific experimentation or observation, and

  • Analyze and interpret evidence acquired through experimentation or observation.

Quantitative Reasoning (QR)
Upon successful completion of the quantitative reasoning requirement, students should be able to:

  • Employ basic notions of arithmetic and coordinate geometry, and

  • Frame and solve problems using quantitative principles.

Social Sciences (SS)
Upon successful completion of the social sciences requirement, students should be able to:

  • Identify factors affecting human behavior manifested in either individual actions or social systems, and

  • Use evidence to explain the structures and processes of social systems or human behavior.

Cultural Diversity Requirement Learning Goals

In order to prepare students to think and act as responsible global citizens in the 21st century and in accordance with the College mission statement (“we embrace cultural diversity” and prepare students “to become responsible citizens of the global community”), students are required to complete two courses focused on aspects of cultural diversity: one course that addresses issues of domestic pluralism in the United States and one course that explores global perspectives.

US Domestic Pluralism (DP)
Upon successful completion of the US Domestic Pluralism requirement, students should be able to:

  • Explain how one or more categories of diversity (race, ethnicity, national origin, social class, gender, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity) enhance as well as complicate the U.S. experience, and

  • Demonstrate an awareness of how issues of power, position, and privilege impact the history and experiences of groups and individuals in the U.S.

Global Perspectives (GP)
Upon successful completion of the Global Perspectives requirement, students should be able to:

  • Demonstrate an understanding of one or more aspects of the social, political, cultural, economic, or historical context of at least one region of the world outside the United States.

Skills Requirement Learning Goals

In order to be competitive in a variety of career fields, students are required to complete coursework that provides instruction and practice in writing, speaking, and the use of digital technology. Students must complete at least one course in each of the three component areas:

Writing-Intensive Courses (W)
Upon successful completion of the writing-intensive requirement, students should be able to:

  • Articulate a written argument clearly and support it coherently.

Speaking-Intensive Courses (S)
Upon successful completion of the speaking-intensive requirement, students should be able to:

  • Compose and deliver effective oral presentations.

Technology-Intensive Courses (T)
Upon successful completion of the technology-intensive requirement, students should be able to:

  • Use some form of digital technology to solve a problem.