Undergraduates majoring in Early Childhood Education (Birth to Grade 2) must select a 30 to 32 credit academic specialty from the Liberal Arts and Sciences curriculum. Such study complements the Early Childhood Education courses and provides you with specialized knowledge in one particular discipline. This adds depth and breadth to your level of teaching expertise. As a teacher, you can transmit your enthusiasm for the focused subject to young learners, helping them to grow intellectually and socially. You may select Philosophy from among the Liberal Arts and Sciences curriculum. The Philosophy concentration is designed to provide future teachers with an understanding of the leading historical movements and topics of Western Philosophy, as well as the analytical skills that are the basis of sound critical thinking and effective communication. From the seminal thinkers of ancient Greece and Rome to Descartes in the 17th century, Kant in the 18th century, Hegel, Marx, Emerson and Nietzsche in the 19th century and Wittgenstein, Sartre, Dewey, Russell and Emerson in the 20th century, you will experience the wonder and passion of clear thought directed at the enduring questions of human existence and meaning. The breadth and depth of philosophical inquiry is abundantly apparent in the elective offerings, which range from courses in Symbolic Logic and Medical Ethics to Philosophy and Film and Philosophies of Love and Sex. Students take 30 credits in Philosophy to satisfy the Liberal Arts and Sciences requirements for the B.S. in Early Childhood Education degree program.