Departmental Mission Statement

The Social Science Department at LaGuardia Community College reaffirms its commitment to providing a solid Liberal Arts education for all its students regardless of their personal, career, or academic goals. It is our belief that a Liberal Arts education teaches the basic skills necessary for self-awareness, professional achievement, and lifelong growth. It trains students to think critically, to communicate effectively, to rise above prejudice, and to maximize their resources for dealing with the complexities of life. Within the liberal arts tradition, the Social Science department makes a major contribution to the development of a well-rounded individual. Through the teaching process, we try to explain why people behave the way they do; why society is the way it is; who has the power, wealth, and prestige; and how they got them. We help students understand themselves, the society, and the world in which they live so that they can begin to control their futures. In the struggle for human dignity and individual integrity, we must encourage students to appreciate their own heritage and the heritage of others if they are to have self-respect and mutual respect. We also consider it our obligation to foster in students a sense of civic responsibility, an awareness of the complexity of the search for human rights, and a consciousness of the possibilities for meaningful social change. The Social Science department rededicates itself to the promotion of intellectual curiosity, careful observation and critical evaluation as well as social, political, and cultural awareness for all students. In a Cooperative Education College, these skills are particularly important for they hold the key to career choices and personal development. Exposure to political and cultural skills are critical it students are ever to negotiate the social realities of the workplace. In an era of Rapid and often unsettling technological and social change the individual who can think, understand, and adapt is the person who will succeed. It is the objective of the Social Science Department to help students at LaGuardia Community College understand that if they want to live full lives they must be multidimensional, interdependent, and ever developing human beings. As professionals, we are continually striving to become creative generalists who use specialized knowledge against the sum total of experience. We invite all members of the college community to join us in this growing process as we look for ways to demystify the complexities of the age and improve the world in which we live together.