My husband (Class of '75) and I (Class of '77) just heard today about the ongoing review of the curriculum for undergraduates. Naturally, I had to investigate. From my understanding, a lot of ideas are being discussed, and one of them is to reconsider the requirement for two theology and two philosophy courses in the curriculum. I don't know if this is a serious consideration, or simply a discussion point being tossed about. In either case, I would like to express my thoughts.
When I was at ND, I was a Biology/Microbiology major. Science and math courses taught me discreet facts that were accepted, for the most part, as truth. My experience with my required theology and philosophy courses was that they challenged me to ponder what I and others believe about this world and the world beyond.
There are a lot of my college courses that I don't remember, but I do remember those theology and philosophy courses. They taught me how to think about many things, including my view of God, how our Catholic traditions differs from other Christian traditions (one of my theology courses was team-taught by a Catholic priest and an Anglican priest) and also man's responsibility for the world we live in. I read a number of excellent books, some of which I still have today. Needless to say, I would not have chosen to read those books on my own, yet they made a lasting and positive impression on me. If I consider how my education might have differed if I had been able to opt out of the hard work and discipline of thinking about difficult issues (something that my 18-22 year old self might have done), I can only conclude that my Notre Dame education would have been incomplete.
My husband and I sent our eldest son to Notre Dame. My Notre Dame roommates sent their children to Notre Dame. Why do you think we did that?
There are many universities to choose from, and most of them are significantly less expensive and closer to home than Notre Dame. We sent our sons and daughters so they would benefit from the broadening that shaped us and would allow our young people to develop fully as thoughtful, faith-filled, productive and contributing adults. There was no other reason, because many universities offer high quality major-specific courses. Notre Dame provides that extra formation that is not required elsewhere. As you consider all the options for curricular revisions (which is a process I greatly respect -- I recently retired as a university professor myself) please don't diminish what sets Our Lady's university apart from all the rest.
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