SFSU General Education Explained

Our campus' program of Undergraduate General Education often poses conceptual difficulties to faculty and staff alike, both on our own campus and off. In an attempt to help explain the structure, goals and idiosyncracies of our program, this model may be helpful.

Segmented Education, or Pathways to Undergraduate Achievement

Why does San Francisco State University have such a byzantine General Education arrangement?

Believe it or not, much of SFSU's approach to general Education is mandated both by legislation and CSU policy. Title 5 of the state Education Regulations outlines the General Education plan which includes basic skills, breadth requirements and the need to take at least 9 units of upper division GE in residence (so that transfer students must take these after arrival to their intended campus.)

SFSU's use of the different Segments of GE is a little unusual, so this explanation may help describe the peculiar aspects of GE that often cause misunderstandings. The notion of segments often prompts one to think of various families of invertebrates, in particular, segmented worms.

Let us examine GE at SFSU from this framework as an aid to comprehension.

Segment I is basic skills. In the drawing it may look like this part of GE is the Head, or the most important part, but really it is merely the beginning. No element of GE is more important than another, but there is a linear order that is best adhered to for superior results. Knowledge must begin somewhere and somehow, and it is reasonable that it begin with a mouth. Data must have an entry place for processing, and Segment I is the first step in taking raw, unmediated data, and attempts to recast this material into something more useful. Segment I includes Basic Writing, Quantitative Reasoning, and Critical Thinking -- all solid and necessary components to beginning study at university.

In segment I, students learn to recognise data, ingest it, and begin to process it for their future studies. Like much invertabrate life, much of this is repetitive and even tedious, but it should be noted that civilisation began with invertebrate life many millions of years ago, and that rome was not built in a day.

Segment II increases the relative sophistication of data incorporation, and makes a movement towards greater conceptual territories. The breadth requirements insure that the individual does not remain in one location, but in fact slithers its way through a variety of environments. Further refinement takes place and data becomes information, a pre-digestive stage significant to the development of higher life forms. The living entity is encouraged, nay forced, to move through Arts and Sciences environments, which include subareas Physical, Biological or Integrative Sciences, Behavioral and Social Sciences, and Humanities and Creative Arts. Each ecosystem has unique digging experiences for the student entity to explore and process, and it is important for Life-Long Development that these lessons not be one time discoveries, but ongoing educational experiences. The very life of the collective student body is at stake. Another component of Segment II is AERM, which insures that segmented entities become aware of variant life-forms, and comfortable with a range of segmented variations.

Many consider Segment III to be the pinnacle of segmented life, but again, the GE model is not hierarchical but a linear progression -- Segment III is merely the final stage, and produces that which is most momentous in the GE program.

As data becomes information in the transition from Segment I to Segment II, the synthetic need of the organism remains unfinished. For information to become Knowledge, the crowning acheivement of educated life, further processes are called into play. Writing and integration are important themes to Segment III. This is best evidenced by the campus-wide endorsement of the concept of "fertilising across the curriculum." Data that becomes information is then utilised to support the organism, when it reaches a point of refinement and saturation, then the organism releases the remainder into the environment, enrichening all around it. The organisms movement through the educational process loosens hardened clay-like substrates, the dampness of educational slitherings serves to break down resistant clumps of soil, and the fertilising tendencies of organic life insures that plenty of nutrients are distributed and diffused to benefit future generations.

Fertilisation does not come cheaply however, and great efforts are necessary that the requisite richness and variety are acheived. Rather than adopting a "worm farm" model, SFSU has chosen a "free range" approach. No single test can measure the fertility of both the organism and the ecosystem, so a broad based system of assessment is employed as student organisms are able to witness the masterful work of their segmented elders, whose efforts are nothing short of miraculous.

When properly administered, the SFSU GE program produces an ecosystem of astonishing diversity, vitality, and fertility. The flexible and omnivorous nature of segmented underground life is a foundation for citizenship, and its overall utility unparalleled.

N.Fielden
February 2002