The potentially unifying elements of a baccalaureate education are often presented as unaligned parts in separate courses. Thus, general education remains inchoate--unhitched from the somewhat more unifying pull of the major disciplines. This essay explains how application of assessment principles can help to align the parts and hitch them to the disciplines as a coherent, integrated system. The author describes ten assessment guidelines that affirm how assessment should feed back to reinforce, among other things, the significance of self-motivation, high performance standards, application of knowledge toward solving problems, good communication, and time on task.