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Jan. 13, 1965 THE SKYSCRAPER Page Three Analysis Committee Reveals Revisions, Unveils Outline of Basic Curriculum Basic Studies courses outlined on this page and some specializa tion courses will be offered to in coming freshmen in the fall term, 1965. Sophomores, juniors and sen iors will enroll in courses which have been redesigned to meet the needs of the term system, accord ing to Dr. Norbert J. Hruby, vice president and Academic Board member. Report Presents Structure of Term System Plans outlining the formation of departmental major sequences un der the new term system were sub mitted to the faculty and depart ment chairmen by the Committee on Specialization, Dec. 18. Committee members include: Sister Mary Ignatia, B.V.M., chairman, Sister Mary Antonia, B.V.M., Sister Mary Eloise, B.V.M., Sister Mary St. George, B.V.M., Mrs. Edward Matula, Sis ter Mary Terese Avila, B.V.M., Sister Mary Therese, B.V.M., Sis ter Mary Ann Ida, B.V.M., Dr. Norbert Hruby and Sister Mary Georgita, B.V.M. This committee made several recommendations to help depart ment chairmen plan the transition from the present semester cur riculum to the new curriculum based on the 11-week term. Included in these plans were complete explanations of the term course and the general academic requirements determined previ ously by the executive committee of the Academic Board. Define Term Course The present three-hour semester course, which meets three times a week for 50 minutes over a 16- week period, will be replaced by a term course which will meet four times a week for 50 minutes over an 11-week period. Variations within this time pattern will be possible if the nature of the sub ject matter recommends it. The term course, which will be equivalent to the present three- hour course, will eliminate all one- hour, two-hour, four-hour and five- hour courses from the curriculum. According to the report, the term course is not merely a re arrangement of the semester course in a more compressed time pack age. It has significant quantitative and qualitative differences. Requirements for a Mundelein degree will be 40 term courses, combining a total of at least 20 of the basic studies courses and 10 courses constituting the require ment for a departmental major. Eliminate 'Minors' Fifteen courses will fulfill the requirement for an area of con centration or interdepartmental major, which will include several closely related areas of study cut ting across departmental lines. Under this system, there will be no minors except for those stu dents preparing to teach in the secondary schools; these students will take approximately six edu cation courses in their junior and senior years. Those preparing for elementary teaching will take ap proximately eight. The department chairmen will consider the new term course, the academic requirements and both the content areas and sequential order of the basic studies courses before translating their present majors into ten or fewer term courses and submitting their plans to the Academic Board by Feb. 1. If the entire study course of a Mundelein student were to contain only 20 courses, which ones would give her a truly lib eral and adequate education ? This question has been answered by the Institutional Analysis Committee on Liberal and Tu torial Studies by its proposal of a core curriculum of 22 courses of which 20, in addition to those in a field of specialization, must be taken to earn a degree. The considerations which influ enced planning of the 20-course Basic Studies sequence were utili zation of new modes of learning, inter-disciplinary whenever possi ble; greater student responsibility for learning; greater freedom to learn with emphasis on varying points of view; and greater breadth of learning, according to a report submitted Dec. 18 by Sis ter Mary Ignatia, B.V.M., aca demic dean, and chairman of the committee. The basic studies are to be spread over four years and taken concurrently with courses in the specialization sequence. This method is more than merely a change in chronological structure. It pre supposed an effort to develop more mature courses in the upper years. It suggested, moreover, that we ought to provide for a general synthesis of knowledge near the end of the college experience, given when a student can profit by bringing together the sum of her learning both within and without her area of speciali zation in attacking problems more comprehensive than those which would be encountered in any single discipline, the Lib eral Studies committee report stated. Here is a look at the core cur riculum designed to do this. In freshman year students will take six (some may take seven) term courses Communications I, Math I and II, Humanities I and III or IV, Social Science I and foreign language or literature (for quali fied students). Communications I is designed to develop skills in writing and speech necessary for success in college work as well as in research, ques tioning and assimilating. Classes will be small in number. Mathematics I is structured to foster an appreciation of mathe matics, its certitude and its limita tions, while Math II will give in sight into the relationship between a mathematical structure and the phenomenon it describes. Both courses are geared to large classes. Humanities I will encompass the information considered by the English department necessary in subsequent college work. The em phasis will be on techniques of lit erary analysis. The course will have large numbers in each sec tion. Humanities III or IV encom passes a serious study of either art or music to awaken or deepen aesthetic tastes. Both will be inter departmental to underscore com mon elements such as rhythm, color and harmony in the fine arts. Social Science I is designed to promote understanding of basic tools of social science and their use as well as comprehension of concrete social problems. Freshmen who have passed the foreign language exams at the in termediate level may enroll for a one-term course in literature or culture taught in the language. Sophomore year courses include Theology I, Communications II and III, Humanities II and Natural Science I and II. Theology I involves a depth ap proach to scripture and concern Christian education is con cerned not only with the shap ing of minds but with the be coming of persons. Though we cannot yet say how, we are convinced that the College must help the student not merely to gain conceptual un derstandings but to develop the convictions, integrity and responsibilities that lead to commitment. Report of Tutorial and Liberal Studies Committee for ultimate questions of Chris tianity God, His revelation of Himself in history, Christ and the destiny of man and the world in Christ Communications II focuses on skill in argumentative discourse in writing coupled with a more criti cal reading of non-fiction through knowledge of logical fallacy, propaganda devices and semantics. Communications III will pre pare students for research and help develop a sense of per sonal responsibility for learn ing. Humanities II is designed to encourage appreciation for and understanding of great litera ture by means of close analysis of selected works. Fr. Clark Exposes Skeleton, Clarifies Galileo Question Using lively, humorous analogies and emphasizing the human as pect of the Galileo affair, the Reverend Joseph T. Clark, S.J., spoke about this famous 17th cen tury controversy to a capacity crowd in McCormick Lounge, Jan. 7. Father Clark, an assistant pro fessor of philosophy and classical languages at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., began talking in his abbreviated, scholarly style, leav ing the audience to notice his Bronx accent between quips and pseudo-dramatic comments. Since 1964 was the 400th anni versary of Galileo's birth, Father pointed out that scholars are now more interested in the affair. In an analysis of this problem, sci ence and philosophy, and science and theology are both related. Through detailed and analytical research, which at one point con cerned itself with the place of a comma in a manuscript, Father Clark and his assistants have ar rived at what they believe is the true and simplest version of the Galileo affair. Just 25 years ago, Father ex plained, Galileo was considered the father of the science of physics, the first defender of the Coperni- can theory of a sun-centered uni verse, and the first discoverer of the physical principle of inertia. Now after research into scien tific theory and reconstruction of by Nancy Vandenberg the historical circumstances, schol ars like Father Clark have con cluded that Galileo did not know about the inertial principle, that he was not the first to defend Copernicus, and that he was in no sense the father of physics. Father commented that Galileo has now become a symbol of the per secution of a free thinking scien tist by pedantic theologians. Centuries before the Galileo trial took place, four lines of history developed, and according to Father Clark, these four views led to the controversy. The first view was the influence of Aristotle's philosophy on the Church and on the world. Until the 12th century Aristotle was completely unknown to the church, and Father pointed out that before this time the Church had worked out its own destiny without any aid from Aristotle. Aristotle's influence was channeled from the ancient Greeks by the Moslems to the Western world; coming from Moslem North Africa, across the straits of Gilbralter, and over the Pyrenees, until the Aristotelian Corpus, wrapped in a Moslem skin, was deposited at the feet of an intellectual Parisian community hungry for new ideas. When the Church realized that the Moslems had written their commentary on Aristotle into the text, a ban was put on this philoso phy because of its Moslem over tones. Here Father Clark em phasized the Church's instinct for preservation, for immediately af ter Aristotle enjoyed great popu larity in Paris, the Church's ban destroyed that brief interlude. After acting in haste, the Church reflected on the banning of Aristotle and began to realize that the Moslem overtones could be sifted out of the original test, leaving pure Aristotle as the source of philosophy. After the sifting was finished Aristotle be came an official required course at the University of Paris, but the Church learned that teachers were using the original Moslem texts for classes, since the new texts were scarce. The lowest point of Aristotle's popularity came in 1277 when Bishop Tempier banned Aristotle lock, stock and barrel, according to Father Clark. How ever, soon after this misunder standing Aristotle again became an accepted element in the cul ture of the Christian world. The wavering influence of Aris totle's philosophy indicates three things, according to Father Clark. Most important, the Church is prepared to vomit out a foreign body inimical to itself; this is essentially the policy the Church followed in Galileo's case. Second, the Church could not have been (Continued on page 4) Natural Science I and II will combine approaches from the various areas of science which employ the method of scien tific causality in studying man and the physical universe. Courses included in the jun ior curriculum are Theology II, Philosophy I, Humanities III or IV and Social Science II. Theology II is designed to ex amine the meaning of Revelation and to develop insight into the various traditions, important phases of theology, and historical reality of the Church as it adapts to various times and places. Philosophy I is located in junior year on the assumption that specu lative philosophy must follow expe rience in other fields of the liberal arts to be fruitful. This course focuses on the unfolding of man's nature in history and contempo rary interpretations of human na ture and encourages the students to formulate a philosophy of man. Humanities III or IV, which ever was not taken in freshman year, is placed in junior year. Social Science II is designed to apply the criteria of philoso phy, science and prudence to problems of public policy and to foster appreciation of the complexity of such problems. The senior year sequence of courses includes Theology III, Philosophy II, History I and II and Great Issues. Theology III will accentuate study of Christian dogma and include examination of the thought of past and contempo rary theologians, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox. It will center on study in depth of one theologian through in dependent study. Philosophy II will have as one of its primary goals realization of the relation between reason and faith in understanding man's rela tionship to God. Included will be philosophies from Anselm to Sar tre dealing with questions of rea son, faith, theism, human knowl edge of God and the meaning of religious language. Reading will include articles in English and foreign language journals. Effective learning in an area depends on the student's self-motivated activity. As dean of the Chicago Theologi cal Seminary puts it, Every student must do his own learn ing, just as he must do his own dying. Report of Tutorial and Liberal Studies Committee History I and II is structured to foster appreciation of general characteristics of European his tory by stressing the ability to analyze historical fact, to trace situation, cause and results and to apply history to present circum stances. The course is designed to synthesize the information and methods learned in other disci plines throughout the four years. The senior course Great Issues will challenge students to use theory in coping with a burning contemporary issue. Each issue will be selected in spring by fac ulty decision for the following fall term to insure real relevance. The course will confront the senior with the kind of issue she will face continually after graduation and will necessitate application of knowledge and viewpoints gained throughout the college experience.
title:
1965-01-13 (3)
publisher:
Women and Leadership Archives http://www.luc.edu/wla
creator:
Mundelein College
description:
Student newspaper for Mundelein College
subject:
Newspapers
subject:
Religious communities--Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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Students
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Universities and colleges
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Women's education
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Mundelein College Records
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English
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Mundelein College