我國之通識教育，有國家之教育目標與教育之使命，不同於美國突顯各校特色之“GENERAL EDUCATION”。我國之通識教育，主要乃由早年之「共同科」延續與發展而來，受國內過去歷史與社會環境影響頗深。至今，通識教育之目的與性質，均殘留有國家與社會之特殊功能與要求。 通識教育主要乃為人文之教育，非為專業技術性或育樂性之教育。通識教育之課程設計與內涵要求，應依國家環境與文化背景之特點而定。近年來，國內通識教育之問題，主要乃過度偏向生活技術性與育樂性性質，缺乏知識性與學術性。改進之道，應設法使其回歸「學術性」與「嚴肅性」。

Taiwan’s general education is different from general education in schools of the United States in that it carries the country’s education objectives and education missions. Extended and developed from common courses in the early years, our general education is deeply affected by the island’s past history and social environment. Today, specific functions and requirements of the country and society still remain in its purpose and characteristics. General Education, principally a part of Humanities Education, is different from professional, technical and “edutainment” education. Its curriculum design and content requirements should be defined by characteristics of country environment and cultural background. In recent years, Taiwan’s general education has been biased too much towards life technique and edutainment yet lacks knowledge and academic properties. To address these problems, we should devise a way to make it return to “academicness” and “seriousness”.