General Education Area Descriptions

General Education Area Descriptions

(Executive Order (EO) 1100 Revised)

California General Education Transfer Curriculum (Cal-GETC) Requirements - EO 1100

Subject Area 1 English Communication

9 semester units (12 quarter units).

One course in each area.

Subject Area 1 requires 9 semester units or 12 quarter units in English composition (1A), critical thinking (1B) and oral communication (1C). Students taking courses in fulfillment of Areas 1A and 1C will develop knowledge and understanding of the form, content, context, and effectiveness of communication. Students will develop proficiency in oral and written communication in English, examining communication from the rhetorical perspective and practicing reasoning and advocacy, organization, and accuracy. Students will enhance their skills and abilities in the discovery, critical evaluation, and reporting of information, as well as reading, writing, and listening effectively. Coursework must include active participation and practice in both written communication and oral communication in English.

In critical thinking (1B) courses, students will understand logic and its relation to language; elementary inductive and deductive processes, including an understanding of the formal and informal fallacies of language and thought, and the ability to distinguish matters of fact from issues of judgment or opinion. In 1B courses, students will develop the abilities to analyze, criticize, and advocate ideas; to reason inductively and deductively; and to reach well-supported factual or judgmental conclusions.

Subject Area 2 Mathematical Concepts and Quantitative Reasoning

3 lower-division semester units (4 quarter units).

Additionally, 3 upper-division semester (4 quarter) units may be taken in Subject Area 2 or Subject Area 5 (see Subject Area 5 below).

One lower-division course in this subject area, and one upper-division course in either Subject Area 2 or 5.

Through courses in Subject Area 2, students shall demonstrate the abilities to reason quantitatively, practice computational skills, and explain and apply mathematical or quantitative reasoning concepts to solve problems. In addition to traditional mathematics, Subject Area 2 courses may include computer science, personal finance, statistics or discipline-based mathematics or quantitative reasoning courses.

Subject Area 3 Arts and Humanities

9 semester units (12 quarter units), with 3 semester units (4 quarter units) taken at the upper-division level.

One lower-division course in each area, and one upper-division course in either area.

Subject Area 3 requires 9 semester units or 12 quarter units among the arts, literature, philosophy and languages other than English.

Across the disciplines in Subject Area 3 coursework, students will cultivate intellect, imagination, sensibility and sensitivity. Students will respond subjectively as well as objectively to aesthetic experiences and will develop an understanding of the integrity of both emotional and intellectual responses. Students will cultivate and refine their affective, cognitive, and physical faculties through studying works of the human imagination. In their intellectual and subjective considerations, students will develop a better understanding of the interrelationship between the self and the creative arts and of the humanities in a variety of cultures.

Activities may include participation in individual aesthetic and creative experiences; however, Area 3 excludes courses that exclusively emphasize skills development. Students may take courses in languages other than English in partial fulfillment of this requirement if the courses do not focus solely on skills acquisition and integrate a substantial cultural component. This may include literature, among other contents.

Subject Area 4 Social and Behavioral Sciences

9 semester units (12 quarter units), with 3 semester (4 quarter) units taken at the upper-division level.

Two lower-division courses and one upper-division course in this subject area. Courses shall be completed in at least 2 different disciplines among the 9 required semester (or 12 required quarter) units.

Subject Area 4 requires 9 semester (or 12 quarter) units focused on human social, political and economic institutions and behavior, and their historical background.

Students learn from courses in multiple Subject Area 4 disciplines that human social, political and economic institutions, and behavior are inextricably interwoven. Through fulfillment of the Subject Area 4 requirement, students will develop an understanding of problems and issues from the respective disciplinary perspectives and will examine issues in their contemporary as well as historical settings and in a variety of cultural contexts. Students will explore the principles, methodologies, value systems and ethics employed in social scientific inquiry. Courses that emphasize skills development and professional preparation are excluded from Subject Area 4.

Subject Area 5 Physical and Biological Sciences

7 lower-division semester units (9 quarter units), which includes 1 semester (1 quarter) unit allocated for a laboratory.

Additionally, 3 upper-division semester (4 quarter) units may be taken in Subject Area 5 or Subject Area 2 (see Subject Area 2 above).

One lower-division course in each area. One of the two lower-division courses must be associated with a 1 semester (1 quarter) unit laboratory. In addition, one upper-division course in either Subject Area 5 or 2.

Subject Area 5 courses focus on scientific theories, concepts and data about the physical and biological aspects of the world. Through their courses in Subject Area 5 disciplines, students will achieve an understanding and appreciation of scientific principles and the scientific method, as well as the potential limits of scientific endeavors and the value systems and ethics associated with human inquiry.

The Subject Area 5 laboratory must support learning by exposing students to scientific inquiry, the empirical nature of science, and hands-on experiences in any instructional modality (see 3.2).

*Three semester (or 4 quarter) unit science courses with an embedded laboratory may be used to meet the laboratory requirement as long as the minimum unit value is met for Subject Area 5. Stand-alone laboratories shall be a minimum of 1 semester (or 1 quarter) unit and shall have a prerequisite or co-requisite of the associated lecture course.

Subject Area 6 Ethnic Studies

3 semester units (4 quarter units).

One course in this subject area.

This lower-division, 3 semester (4 quarter) unit requirement fulfills Education Code Section 89032. The requirement to take a 3 semester (4 quarter) unit course in this area shall not be waived or substituted.

To be approved for this requirement, courses shall have the following course prefixes: African American, Asian American, Latino/a American or Native American Studies. Similar course prefixes (e.g., Pan- African Studies, American Indian Studies, Chicano/a Studies, Ethnic Studies) shall also meet this requirement. Courses without ethnic studies prefixes may meet this requirement if cross-listed with a course with an ethnic studies prefix. Courses that are approved to meet this requirement shall meet at least 3 of the 5 following core competencies. Campuses may add additional competencies to those listed.

1. Analyze and articulate concepts such as race and racism, racialization, ethnicity, equity, ethno- centrism, eurocentrism, white supremacy, self-determination, liberation, decolonization, sovereignty, imperialism, settler colonialism, and anti-racism as analyzed in any one or more of the following: Native American Studies, African American Studies, Asian American Studies, and Latina and Latino American Studies.
2. Apply theory and knowledge produced by Native American, African American, Asian American, and/or Latina and Latino American communities to describe the critical events, histories, cultures, intellectual traditions, contributions, lived-experiences and social struggles of those groups with a particular emphasis on agency and group-affirmation.
3. Critically analyze the intersection of race and racism as they relate to class, gender, sexuality, religion, spirituality, national origin, immigration status, ability, tribal citizenship, sovereignty, language, and/or age in Native American, African American, Asian American, and/or Latina and Latino American communities.
4. Critically review how struggle, resistance, racial and social justice, solidarity, and liberation, as experienced and enacted by Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans and/or Latina and Latino Americans are relevant to current and structural issues such as communal, national, international, and transnational politics as, for example, in immigration, reparations, settler-colonialism, multiculturalism, or language policies.
5. Describe and actively engage with anti-racist and anti-colonial issues and the practices and movements in Native American, African American, Asian American and/or Latina and Latino communities to build a just and equitable society.

As described in Article 6, CSU campuses may certify upper-division ethnic studies courses to satisfy the lower-division Subject Area 6 requirement so long as adequate numbers of lower-division course options are available to students. As described in Article 2, ethnic studies courses required in majors, minors or that satisfy campus-wide requirements and are approved for Subject Area 6 credit shall also fulfill (double count for) this requirement.