Student’s Guide to the Core Curriculum

College students today have tremendous freedom to choose the courses they will take. With such freedom, however, students face a pressing dilemma: How can they choose well? Which courses convey the core of an authentic liberal arts education, transmitting our civilizational inheritance, and which courses are merely passing fads? From the smorgasbord of electives available, how can students achieve a coherent understanding of their world and their place in history? In a series of penetrating essays, A Student’s Guide to the Core Curriculum explains the value of a traditional core of studies in Western civilization and then surveys eight courses available in most American universities which may be taken as electives to acquire such an education. This guide puts “the best” within reach of every student.