Education at College of the Atlantic actively acknowledges and draws on the traditional liberal arts curricula. However, COA builds on this tradition through human ecology that explicitly integrates the arts, sciences, and humanities with lived experience, and gives students considerable latitude in designing their own academic program. The result is a socially and environmentally conscious alternative form of education. Ultimately, the goal of an education in human ecology is not to reproduce existing knowledge, but to generate new knowledge, ideas, and approaches that will help solve the environmental and social problems facing the world.
Traditional Liberal Arts
Human Ecology
Theory and content-centered learning by a neutral or objective spectator
Problem and question-centered, practical, action-oriented, value-based study
Discipline-centered and organized by departments and majors
Inter-disciplinary and non-departmental, integrating theories and practice across and within disciplines
Singular approach to knowledge and decision-making
Seeks to include all stakeholders and perspectives in study and decision-making
Education at College of the Atlantic actively acknowledges and draws on the traditional liberal arts curricula. However, COA builds on this tradition through human ecology that explicitly integrates the arts, sciences, and humanities with lived experience, and gives students considerable latitude in designing their own academic program. The result is a socially and environmentally conscious alternative form of education. Ultimately, the goal of an education in human ecology is not to reproduce existing knowledge, but to generate new knowledge, ideas, and approaches that will help solve the environmental and social problems facing the world.