General Education Requirements
The General Education program at SUNY Canton is designed to provide students, throughout their college years, with a broad set of coherent and focused educational experiences aimed at enabling them to acquire knowledge and skills that are useful and important for all persons, regardless of their jobs or professions. General Education goes beyond the acquisition of the skills necessary to be competent in a field of specialization. It involves the discovery, evaluation, and transmission of essential knowledge that prepares students to lead fulfilled lives and to assume roles as creative and contributing members of society.
In accordance with the SUNY Board of Trustees Policy on General Education, all entering freshmen must meet specific General Education requirements. Faculty and students will periodically be required to engage in assessment activities to ensure that the General Education learning outcomes are being met. At SUNY Canton, students enrolled in the Associate of Arts (A.A.) or Associate of Science (A.S.) degree must complete seven of the ten Knowledge and Skills Areas of General Education in order to transfer seamlessly to another SUNY college to earn a baccalaureate degree. In order to meet graduation requirements, students enrolled in a SUNY Canton baccalaureate degree program must complete 30 credit hours of general education which must include Mathematics (GER 1) and Basic Communication (GER 10) as well as at least three credits each in at least five of the following academic areas – Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, American History, Western Civilization, Other World Civilizations, Humanities, the Arts and Foreign Languages. (See individual baccalaureate degree requirements for exceptions to this mandate.) All students will fulfill competency outcomes in Critical Thinking and Information Management which are infused throughout the curricula. Courses meeting specific General Education Knowledge and Skill Areas are so designated in the course description section of the Academic Catalog. Students should work carefully with their advisors to ensure they are fulfilling the SUNY General Education Requirements (GER) in order to transfer seamlessly to another SUNY college or to meet SUNY Canton baccalaureate graduation requirements.