The Role of Science in Liberal Education

THE ROLE OF SCIENCE IN LIBERAL EDUCATION T HE dominance of scientific progress in our age of satellites and space ships is forcing modem educators to reconsider some of their basic tenets. Modem school children grow up in a world whose headlines, literature and even toys are couched in the technicalities of this advance. It is clear that science must become a more integral part of our educational system. While federal legislation and scientific organizations are providing the impetus for this change, educators , in particular liberal educators, are questioning the consequence . Progress would seem to demand a highly specialized science curriculum, but history warns against an inbreeding that would lead to barren technology. Modem society certainly requires engineers, technologists and specialists, but we must not forget that the primary end of education is to enable the individual to lead a full life as a human being. Considering the modern trend, educators are asking, What will the curriculum of the future be like? Will it lead to a greater disparity between the hu,manities and scientific studies? Many fear the potential of this present trend to divide all human knowledge into ' science ' and ' non-science,' pitting the objective and real against the subjective and imaginary. In particular, what will be the consequences for Catholic Education ? Here the traditional strain between the arts and sciences has always been more intensely felt. In Catholic Education science has been somewhat of a step-child, constantly upsetting the schedule by demanding additional time, and the budget by insisting on additional· equipment. Perhaps-to express one attitude, science is too expensive in time and equipment, and consequently, ought to be deleted from our program at least at the level of higher education. 622 THE ROLE OF SCIENCE IN LIBERAL EDUCATION 623 Can Catholic Education be truly Catholic and at the same time non-scientific? Or must a curriculum based on Catholic philosophy make the natural sciences an integral part of the curriculum, and not just an appendage attached because everyone else has them? In an allocution to scientists, philosophers and educators, Pope Pius XII expressed his conviction that a knowledge of science is fundamental to education. Speaking to the Fourth International Thomistic Congress, he said: You know how advantageous and necessary it is for a philosopher to deepen his own understanding of scientific progress. . . . Each of the branches of knowledge has its own characteristics and must operate independently of the others, but that does not mean that they should be ignorant of one another. It is only by means of mutual understanding and cooperation that there can arise a great edifice of human knowledge that will be in harmony with the higher light of divine wisdom. (Sept. 14, 1955) Addressing the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that same year, Pius XII pointed to the dangers which have arisen from the separation of science and philosophy, and he insisted that science itself has need of a sound philosophy. SciENCE Is LIBERAL EDucATION A solution to the problem is found within the tradition of Thomistic realism. An educational system orientated to the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas places natural science in its proper context and revitalizes its integral connections with all other intellectual disciplines. The Angelic Doctor never feared man's fascination for the three-dimensional world of physical reality. Instead he realized that investigation of this world was the beginning of all knowledge. Within such a frame of reference , natural science is not another branch of learning whose present expansion may cause it to replace the trunk. It is rather the root. It is the means of transporting experiences, facts and first principles from the physically sensible world to all other fields of knowledge. And a tree's growth is not im- 624 SISTER M. OLIVIA paired but is enhanced by a vigorous expansion of its root system. If development of the intellectual life is the essential objective of the school, then the acquisition of the habit of science becomes the epitome of this growth. Man is most human when he is the reasoning animal; and science taken in a general sense, including theology, social science, mathematics and natural science, is that habit which allows him to operate...