Bridging General Education and the Business Discipline: Surfacing Central Themes through a Core Course

Abstract

General education and business major courses often follow parallel paths with little intersection or appreciation of the other. Students benefit, however, by seeing key themes and skills linked to both general education and specialized disciplinary courses. Giving specific attention to Christian institutions, this paper argues for more intentional connections between these two parts of the curriculum, highlighting their common ideals of shared learning, shared connections as human beings, practical skills, institutional distinctiveness, and integration. One strategy to overcome the bifurcation of general education and business curricula has been to ground institutional distinctives within a core course experience, which can then be called to mind in subsequent courses. A core course for first-year students is especially effective for Christian institutions due to the significance of the themes typically introduced in such a course. Although educators have called for building connections between general education and specialized disciplines, very little scholarship has addressed business disciplines specifically or provided models of successful implementation. The present article provides a detailed example of how one Christian institution’s core course can engage and benefit students by highlighting connections to organizational and career themes. The article then demonstrates concrete ways important core course themes can be intentionally reinforced within the business curriculum. General suggestions for implementation are also provided.