In the liberal arts tradition, the program prepares well rounded teachers who must complete courses that fulfill the program’s “General Education” requirements. All students pursuing the University Certificate in Teacher Preparation or those pursuing a State License (NJ CEAS) must complete the General Education Courses.
The General Education course requirements are all satisfied by the Princeton University distribution requirements except for the area of Fine Arts. The Fine Arts requirement may be satisfied by taking a course in creative writing, dance, film, music, theater, visual arts, and selected courses from the Department of Art and Archaeology as determined by a Teacher Prep staff member.
Students may use the pass/D/fail option for courses satisfying the Fine Arts requirement and other General Education courses that are not used for subject area certification.
The General Education areas are:
- Humanities: includes courses in literature, philosophy, religion, comparative literature, foreign languages, the Classics, and any course in the Department of English (this requirement is fulfilled by meeting the University General Education Requirements);
- Mathematics: can be satisfied by the University’s distribution requirement for Quantitative Reasoning (QR);
- Science: includes courses in the sciences, engineering, and psychology (this requirement is fulfilled by meeting the University General Education Requirements);
- Social Sciences: including history, economics, politics, sociology, anthropology, and related courses (this requirement is fulfilled by meeting the University General Education Requirements).