#49: Why Are Students Required to Take General Education (or “Core Curriculum”) Courses?

Why do universities require students to take classes in the humanities during their first few years? Dr. David Horner, who has taught these classes for many years, helps us see the wisdom of requiring these courses, in light of the value they bring to the student who takes them seriously. Dave earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in philosophy at Oxford University, is a professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, and is the author of (among other books) the popular Mind Your Faith: A Student’s Guide to Thinking and Living Well.

In this podcast we discuss:

• • How Dave got interested in studying the humanities

• • How apologetics (defenses of the faith) helped him overcome a crisis of faith in college

• • What the “humanities” are and how they relate to humans, being “humane,” and being a “humanist”

• • Understanding a “College of Liberal Arts,” what a “liberal education” is, and how this relates to the humanities

• • The structure of classical education, on which the “core curriculum” was historically based, and on which contemporary classical Christian education is based

• • The interesting “border-line” cases of law and psychology

• • How the “arts” and the “sciences” differ (it’s not what most people think)

• • Why students should be required to take core courses in the humanities

• • The importance, in all fields, of learning to make good distinctions

• • How to discern whether or not a specific humanities course is worth taking

• • The connections between the humanities and wisdom

• • An argument against the humanities–“They are so “impractical!”

• • The critical distinction between “ends” and “means” in evaluating the value of the humanities

• • The valuable role of the humanities in providing us with “cultural literacy”

• • Why Christians should study non-Christians in literature, philosophy, and the other humanities

• • Other practical benefits of studying the humanities, according to the CEO of a major corporation

• • How to get the most out of your core curriculum courses

• • The role a healthy campus ministry can play in your studies

• • Why you shouldn’t just learn about the humanities, but rather learn to engage in the humanities

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

• • David Horner, Mind Your Faith: A Student’s Guide to Thinking and Living Well

• • Stan Wallace, Have We Lost Our Minds? Neuroscience, Neurotheology, the Soul, and Human Flourishing

• • Dorothy Sayers, The Lost Tools of Learning

• • John Terrill, College Faith Podcast Interview #47, “A Guide to Majoring in the Professions (Business, Law, Medicine, etc.)”

• • Valerie Strauss, Washington Post, “Enough with trashing the liberal arts. Stop being stupid”

• • Edmund Husserl, The Crisis of European Humanities and Transcendental Phenomenology: An Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy

• • E. D. Hirsh, The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know

• • Edgar Bronfman, Insider Ed.com, “Business and the Liberal Arts”

• • George Anders, Forbes.com, “That ‘Useless’ Liberal Arts Degree Has Become Tech’s Hottest Ticket”

• • Kery Murakami, Inside Higher Ed, “Liberal Arts Pay Off in the Long Run: A liberal arts education may not have the highest returns in the short run, but a study finds that after 40 years, liberal arts institutions bring a higher return than most colleges”

• • Gene C. Fant, Jr., The Liberal Arts: A Student’s Guide (Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition)

• • Joseph M. Keegan, Breaking Ground, “Toward the Renewal of Humanistic Education in America”

• • Nathaniel Peters, Public Discourse, “Why Should a Christian Study the Humanities?”

• • Stephanie Dillon, Rolling Stone, “Unlocking The Power: Why You Should Consider Hiring Philosophy Graduates”

• • Wendell Berry, “The Loss of the University,” in Home Economics: Fourteen Essays