ABSTRACT
Cross-cultural courses, as part of the general education curriculum, are designed to help students:
• Understand the interdependence of world systems and the ways global inequality affects quality of life and life chances for people in the world
• Develop increased understanding and appreciation for cultural traditions significantly different from their own and become aware of how people from different cultures perceive the world, interpret reality, and make meaning
• Understand the paradoxes, tensions, and contradictions, as well as consistencies and values in a society significantly different than their own
• Reflect upon their own culture and society from the perspective of another culture
• Develop an appropriate sense of cultural relativism and reduce ethnocentrism
• Gain skills and experience living and working in a culture different from their own
Faculty members may develop additional, more specific educational objectives for their particular course contexts. Often, these are unique to the specific skills or disciplinary knowledge they wish their students to acquire.
