German - Major

The general purpose of the major program is to educate students to think and perceive rationally and critically.  The student majoring in German will learn 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 will include 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 will 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.  At all course levels of language, literature and culture students engage with literature, documents and artifacts housed in the German Culture Center, as well as the holdings of the library of the College.  All students will learn to value and evaluate information available in electronic form.  Each student majoring in German will study abroad in the Berlin Residential Program a minimum of one semester, either in the sophomore or junior year.

Taken together, 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 a minor/s to complement their undergraduate education.  German may also be combined with a program in Education: Inclusive or Adolescence Education.