The End of Education

Commonweal just posted a very interesting article on The End of Education. In it, Alasdair MacIntyre, a professor at Notre Dame, argues that American Higher Education has become too specialized, that we need to instead embrace a model of education that would allow students to see the interconnectedness of ideas and subjects. I have long felt that this should be the case.

The best class I ever took was as a senior in high school. For two hours every day, my classmates and I would sit in front of Fr. Richard Riendieu in a combination theology / humanities class. We studied culture - theology, art, history, music, literature, and philosophy - and how they informed and influenced each other. It taught us connections and opened up new worlds for us. If such a curriculum could be duplicated in other high schools and colleges, I think students would benefit greatly from it.