General Education Courses at CCSF

City College of San Francisco's general education (GE) courses are approved by the Curriculum Committee. The approval process involves making sure that GE courses are categorized correctly and that courses' student learning outcomes (SLO) align with or map to gen ed learning outcomes (GELO). 

Gen ed courses satisfy graduation requirements and are transferable. They should be of a certain "breadth and depth" so that if a student were to take just one GE course in that particular area, that student would have received a strong foundation of learning in that particular area. 

GENERAL EDUCATION AND MATH: While there are math courses that fulfill GE requirements, there is also a separate math graduation requirement for each major.

Please note that community college guidelines for GE are changing. As of fall '24, CCSF's GE and graduation requirement courses will be organized a bit differently. Please read this Curriculum Committee resolution for more clarity on what will change and why.

GE Areas at CCSF until Fall '24

See a list of each GE area's approved courses.

Area A: Communication and Analytical Thinking
Communication and Analytical Thinking courses develop the ability to think and communicate clearly and effectively. Students will comprehend and interpret information, assess the validity of evidence both qualitatively and quantitatively, and critically evaluate arguments. They will formulate ideas logically and creatively, provide supporting evidence for their ideas, and express them with clarity and precision. 

Area B: Written Composition
Written Communication courses develop the ability to read texts and write essays, using conventions of standard English grammar and punctuation. Students will analyze and critically read college-level texts, annotating, synthesizing and evaluating primarily non-fiction material. They will compose organized expository essays, researching, selecting and integrating relevant and reliable sources, using an appropriate citation format.

Area C: Natural Sciences
Natural Sciences courses examine the physical universe and its life forms and give students the opportunity to apply the processes and practices of scientific inquiry to investigate phenomena and principles in particular fields of scientific interest. Students will explore scientific principles and use these to explain the behavior of physical and biological phenomena in the world around them and evaluate the interactions of these phenomena with our society.

Area D: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Social and Behavioral Sciences courses critically evaluate the ways people feel and act in response to social forces in diverse societies, cultures, and subgroups. In these courses students analyze how social conditions and institutions contribute to inequality; consider diverse viewpoints in order to understand and shape human behaviors, interactions, and rights; and learn how to use the methods of inquiry specific to the field of study. 

Area E: Humanities
Humanities courses explore the human experience through personal creative expression as well as critical analysis of language, reasoning, or artistic creation produced by diverse cultures and eras. Students recognize and explore the dynamics of human history, thought, experience, and expression by examining individual thinkers, artists, works, and ideas in their particular cultural and historical contexts.

Area F: U.S. History and Government Requirement
U.S. History and Government courses examine the historical development, democratic institutions, and political processes of the United States. Students will develop an understanding of the importance of participating in civic duties as they study and evaluate critical events in U.S. history and government.

Area G: Health Knowledge and Physical Skills
Health Knowledge and Physical Skills courses develop appreciation and understanding of the physical skills and health knowledge essential for mental and physical well-being. Students recognize and engage in the active integration of knowledge, skills, and values that lead to well being of self and our communities, including how the dimensions of wellness affect diverse populations and how the health of individuals and communities is determined by the complex interaction of biological, political, economic, social, and cultural factors.

Area H: Ethnic Studies
Currently, Area H consists of Ethnic Studies (H1), Women’s Studies (H2), & Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies (H3), but due to recent legislation, Area H will be transitioning to Ethnic Studies only.
Ethnic Studies is the critical study of racially oppressed communities in the United States. Students of Ethnic Studies critique systems of power to address ideological, institutional, interpersonal and internalized forms of oppression in the U.S. Ethnic Studies at City College of San Francisco centers the knowledge of cultural systems of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian American, Filipinx, and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. by analyzing power found in artistic expressions, political and decolonial movements, cultural representations, oral traditions, histories, and ethnic economies.