Learning Outcomes
Photo by Jackson Solway '08.
A southwest study major or minor takes on a rigorous academic program to accomplish the following outcomes:
- Effective writing skills - the ability to successfully and precisely communicate one's ideas in text which is vital for any profession or job requiring a college degree.
- Critical analysis skills - the ability to analyze a situation, research the origins of problems and devise creative and practical solutions…the foundation for strong decision making skills.
- Research skills - vital to any job, research skills translate into the ability to understand past practices and policies, to trace the roots of any issue, to find new information which bears on that issue, and to incorporate that information into an effective analysis.
- Interdisciplinary thinking - an Interdisciplinary thinker is able to dissect a problem in a multitude of ways, to analyze it using multiple tools, and to effectively communicate solutions which draw from different traditions of thought and practice.
- Curiosity and inquisitiveness - a successful learner is driven by inquisitiveness and develops the habit of examining the reasons beneath issues to arrive at the “Why?” Curiosity is an indispensable habit of the mind for the life long learner.
There is no better preparation for graduate school and professional practice.