Students often wonder, ''What is the value of General Education?'' The major's narrow perspective is enhanced and enlarged by Religious and General Education; students' perspectives about themselves and the world around them are deepened by these two other components of what constitutes an education from BYU. And that world reaches from the local to the global, from the heights to the depths, from the infinitesimal to the immense. As we have been admonished we need to study "things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms'' (D & C 88: 79).

• From the BYU Mission Statement:

  Because the gospel encourages the pursuit of all truth, students at BYU should receive a broad university education. The arts, letters, and sciences provide the core of such an education, which will help students think clearly, communicate effectively, understand important ideas in their own cultural tradition as well as that of others, and establish clear standards of intellectual integrity.

• From The Aims of a BYU Education:

  BYU should furnish students with the practical advantage of an education that integrates academic skills with abstract theories, real-world applications, and gospel perspectives. Such an education prepares students who can make a difference in the world, who can draw on their academic preparation to participate more effectively in the arenas of daily life.

• From the Task Force General Education Objective Statement:

  Within The Aims of a BYU Education, the objective of BYU's General Education Program is to prepare students with a broad, integrated foundation of knowledge, skills and cultural understanding which supports and enhances major education and facilitates the ability and desire for lifelong learning and service. In an environment which blends the spiritual and the secular, general education courses should improve the student's ability to think clearly, communicate effectively, and act wisely.

• The University Core is comprised of four categories:
  • Doctrinal Foundations;
  • The Individual and Society;
  • Skills;
  • Arts, Letters, and Sciences.