German - Major

The purpose of the major program is to educate students to think and perceive rationally and critically. The student majoring in German learns about the world of ideas and cultural values through significant texts and how these intersect with the great issues in the world, past and present. This education includes reading and thinking; learning about literary and cultural movements; and making connections between the primarily aesthetic literary artifacts of the related cultures and their political, social, and economic histories. Students learn to interact through rational discourse and presentations, both written and oral.

Students are trained, first, to interact effectively in the German-speaking cultures through language. At all language course levels, students make use of the Emerson Foreign Language Laboratory to allow them to perfect their language skills. Students engage with literature, documents, and artifacts housed in the German Culture Center, as well as with the holdings of the library of the College. All students learn to value and evaluate information available in electronic form. Each student majoring in German studies abroad in the Berlin residential program for a minimum of one semester, in either the sophomore or junior year.

The program prepares students to think philosophically and practically by creating their own linkages between the German major and another major or minor. Students majoring in German may choose a second major in another academic discipline, or one or more minors, to complement their undergraduate education. German may also be combined with a program in education: inclusive or adolescence education.