Your thoughts on Catholic Colleges?

[MentzerLivesOn]

I am going to major in computer graphics and animation in college and there is a very good school in my city that I want to go to. However, this college is expressly Catholic and I was wondering if any of you have had an experience with this type of school. How big a part of the curriculum should I expect it to be and will it really make any difference that I am a-thiest?

[Godless Capitalist]

All of your projects will be about Jesus; you'll have to make movies about his life, etc. You'll be required to attend Mass and marks deducted if you don't go. And so on ...

Actually I'm kidding. I can't see how it would affect the curriculum. Best bet is to go there, sit in on some classes, talk to some students and teachers, etc. It's a good idea to do that anyway to see if it's really a good school for you.

[unskinned]

I think Washington Area Objectivist Psychologist Dr. Michael Hurd went to Catholic University. (-the- Catholic University) For what it's worth.

[Patrick N.]

All of your projects will be about Jesus; you'll have to make movies about his life, etc. You'll be required to attend Mass and marks deducted if you don't go. And so on ...

Christ, are you serious?

Actually I'm kidding. I can't see how it would affect the curriculum. Best bet is to go there, sit in on some classes, talk to some students and teachers, etc. It's a good idea to do that anyway to see if it's really a good school for you.

Just kidding...thank God.

I have been wondering about Catholic Colleges myself. I wonder if it would be better than going to a left-wing state university. Anyone know?

[PirateF]

I went to a summer graduate course at Loyola College in Maryland - a Jesuit institution. Once you get used to the image of Jesus on the cross hanging in every classroom and priests walking around campus, it's not so bad. Religion didn't enter into the coursework, but it was a rather condensed graduate program. I have no idea what sorts of general "Jesus" requirements might be mandatory at the undergrad level.

[drsm]

I went to the University of Notre Dame for my undergraduate degree in biology. I found the atmosphere to be very academic oriented with no real pressure to be religious. Certainly, there is always a background of Catholicism, but it was in no way a problem.

[BurgessLau]

I have been wondering about Catholic Colleges myself. I wonder if it would be better than going to a left-wing state university. Anyone know?

I attended, 40 years ago, a private secular university, and recently a state university. I have never attended a religious school. However, at the local state university, which I attended for 5 years for basic languages and history, I met many students and professors. The ones who treated me -- and my ideas -- with the most respect were religious students and professors, of various ages. We got along very well because -- despite our radical differences -- we all know the need for values and for coherent, well-founded systems of thought behind those values.

As long as I treated university-level religious people with respect, I got it in return. I was not an evangelist for my philosophy, Objectivism, nor was I shy about expressing my beliefs where required in the course work. I tried to always remember that I was there to learn not to preach. In other words (words which I learned from my son, who attended the U. of Chicago), the student's purpose is to perform not inform.

In some fields, such as philosophy and history, Objectivist students will probably run into a lot less nihilistic, postmodernist trash at religious schools than they would at some of the supposedly more prestigious secular universities.

[Godless Capitalist]

Christ, are you serious?

gotcha!

I should add that the Catholic Church has a long tradition of scholarship and promoting education. Where I grew up, in Ontario, the Catholic schools are publically supported and generally more academically rigorous than the "public" schools. There are a few religious aspects but essentially the curriculum is the same. Some nonCatholics I knew sent their kids to the Catholic schools to get them a better education.

[Patrick N.]

gotcha!

I should add that the Catholic Church has a long tradition of scholarship and promoting education. Where I grew up, in Ontario, the Catholic schools are publically supported and generally more academically rigorous than the "public" schools. There are a few religious aspects but essentially the curriculum is the same. Some nonCatholics I knew sent their kids to the Catholic schools to get them a better education.

I'm glad to hear Catholic school students aren't required to "get their Jesus on."

I have pondered taking the Aristotle route into the academic world (being openly Objectivist doesn't sound like a good idea yet). I would imagine Catholic universities would be a good place to study Aristotelian philosophy. I am just worried that a religious setting would not be the best place for an atheist.

[Godless Capitalist]

The way I look at it, religion is no worse than all the other nonsensical ideas we are bombarded with all the time, like socialism. If religion ever comes up explicitly, for example if someone invites you to pray with them, just say "No thank you, I'm not religious." I see no point in being a militant atheist, ie attacking religion at every opportunity.

[Toolboxnj]

Christ, are you serious?

Just kidding...thank God.

I have been wondering about Catholic Colleges myself. I wonder if it would be better than going to a left-wing state university. Anyone know?

Actually, I've found people at Jesuit schools to be better grounded and more polite than "left-wing" schools. I've visited a handful of both in my years, and I'd go to a Jesuit school over a "left-wing" school anyday. My sister goes to St. Joe in Philly and she loves it. Sure, there are crosses and stuff on the walls, but that's the only cosmetic difference. It's MUCH different than Catholic high school, which is torture.