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202454 https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.202454 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ All Rights Reserved 2025 79 pages Masters Thesis Academic theses en Verma, Anish Dacosta, Laverne Thomas, Kathy Williams, Sean Arizona State University Partial requirement for: M.S., Arizona State University, 2025 Field of study: Integrative Social Science This thesis critically examines the structural deficiencies of general education requirements in American higher education and proposes a full-system replacement rooted in credential-based learning. Through historical synthesis, policy analysis, and systems-level modeling, this research shows how general education has devolved into a fragmented, bureaucratic structure disconnected from both student learning outcomes and labor market demands. The study draws on interdisciplinary theories from critical pedagogy, public policy, and design thinking to assess the historical intent, current dysfunction, and future implications of maintaining the general education status quo. The proposed alternative centers around a modular framework of verified, stackable credentials, including a required General Foundational Credential, that replaces traditional general education requirements with flexible, transparent, and performance-based learning units. Grounded in past empirical research and guided by current state and federal policy trends, this thesis outlines a ten-step implementation blueprint addressing instructional design, faculty incentives, employer and transfer recognition, and regulatory compliance, suggesting that credential systems offer a more equitable, portable, and verifiable pathway through higher education, one that realigns student learning with relevance, rigor, and long-term sustainability. Higher Education Education Stacking Futures, Dismantling Pasts: Micro-credentials as a Reimagining of General Education