It is important that recruiters not capitalize on the convenience of LCs to attract students. Although LCs may be presented as an easy way to satisfy liberal arts requirements, the courses themselves are not designed to be easy. In fact, the interdisciplinarity and intimacy of LCs often result in more challenging and rigorous curricula than might be offered in a lecture class with 300 students and Scan-tron tests. Forming close relationships with a team of faculty members and with classmates in the interdisciplinary Learning Community Program makes the freshman year experience more intimate and rewarding, especially in a large university setting. This situation closely approximates the ideal of a liberal education.
Students develop an informed, unified view of our increasingly interconnected planet.
They practice critical thinking skills that will be important to their vocations and home life. They develop an open, healthy attitude about life-long learning. Interdisciplinarity provides freshmen an early opportunity to connect information and theories in significant ways. In a more traditional course of study, if interdisciplinarity comes at all, it is in the junior and senior years, or in graduate study. The Learning Community helps freshmen begin to form an interconnected world view early in their college education.