Bennington College

The principle of learning by practice underlies every major feature of a Bennington education: the master-apprentice model of teaching and learning; the requirement that students direct the course of their own education; the winter Field Work Term (an annual seven-week internship term), which gives students work experience and connects them to the greater community. The College’s commitment to learning across the disciplines extends to the faculty, who teach what is uppermost in their minds, exploring new pursuits as well as ongoing areas of study and work. Bennington is grounded in the conviction that as a college education develops students’ professional capacities, it should also prepare them to be deeply thoughtful and actively engaged citizens of the world. Bennington’s curriculum is shaped by the diverse range of the faculty’s experience and expertise, including all of the traditional liberal arts disciplines and the visual and performing arts. A student progresses through Bennington by integrating different areas of the curriculum around central ideas or questions, newly discovered and ongoing. This method of integration is called the Plan Process and is the heart of a Bennington education. The areas of concentration that result differ from traditional majors in that students have developed their own programs of study, working closely with the faculty.