THE GMC PROGRESSIVE PROGRAM is based on a simple idea: that people are better learners when they're passionate about what they learn. Students in the program are eager to discover their truest passions, and they have the motivation to follow those pursuits intensively.

Every semester, faculty and peers work side-by-side with program participants to clarify their educational goals. Students write self-evaluations that reflect on their progress, and receive narrative (rather than letter-grade) assessments of their performance. The program is designed to make learning a journey through which the student discovers his or her educational path -- rather than the traditional educational model in which students progress by getting course requirements "out of the way."

The writing of educational thinkers like John Dewey, who believed that education "is a process of living and not a preparation for future living," provides much of the foundation for GMC’s Progressive Program. For students, learning occurs in and out of the classroom, and is a social process that connects us with our community and environment.

Learning Outcomes

• Participate in holistic, cooperative, and value-driven learning.

• Become sensitive and engaged members of their community.

• Cultivate their own educational goals, and work with professors to bring them to fruition.

• Demonstrate competencies in a variety of areas critical to academic success, such as research, writing, environmental and cultural awareness, critical thinking, and quantitative and scientific reasoning.