Competencies or general life skills and understandings that a political sciences course attempts to promote in the student in a general education curriculum are examined. General education is described as a set of skills which help individuals exercise control over their own lives. These compentencies consist of the understandings that (1) politics involve power relationships which have both causes and consequences; (2) politics involve making decisions from among competing claims and enforcing those decisions through appropriate means; (3) political decision making implies the existence of structures and processes which are both formal and informal; (4) political decision making means people making decisions affecting both themselves and other people; (5) political decision making can be used to lead the attack both for and against change; (6) politics is purposive and the purposes may or may not be arrived at rationally; and (7) the political process and ability to reach conclusions about one's own desired role in the process involves pros and cons. Citizen competence and social learning competencies are viewed as essential not only for the individual but for the society as a whole. (Author/DE)