Certain off-campus programs may also fulfill one or more of these requirements. Through the study of different languages and cultures, students will learn about the nature of cultural difference and the culturally plural world in which they live. Through the study of foreign languages, students will achieve a deeper understanding of language as a human phenomenon, be able to produce insights into another culture, and lay the foundation for communicating in a second language. By taking other courses taught in English or in a foreign language that focus on different cultures, those both of American minority groups and of foreign countries, students can better communicate across national and cultural differences. Rationale It is crucial that liberally educated men and women come to a deeper understanding of the realities of the world in which they will take their place.
Students are part of a society that is global in character and culturally plural.
They need to understand the nature of cultural difference and to learn something about cultures other than their own. Foreign language study provides a unique access to a different culture. The process of learning a foreign language expands one's perception of the world. Through study in a foreign language, we come to realize that American English, for instance, provides only one linguistic construction of the world. Work in a foreign language invites one to restructure one's cognitive world and to recognize the idiosyncrasies of one's own language-based assumptions.