Chapter 4: The Orthodoxy of Thomas Aquinas College

Presented by: Cyril CamachoAssignment 10

There Are No Doubters Here

Thomas Aquinas College is located on 131 secluded acres just 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles in the city of Santa Paula, California adjacent to the Los Padres National Forest.

Who is Thomas Aquinas College (TAC)?

Founded in 1971, Thomas Aquinas College is a private four-year liberal arts college affiliated with with Roman Catholic Church (90% of the students are Catholic).

And is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and the American Academy for Liberal Education.

Thomas Aquinas College has an average enrollment of 358 students (49% men, 51% women) with a faculty-student ratio of 1:11.

All single students are required to live on campus in any of the six residence halls.

The school Motto:

Verum Bonum Pulchrum

Which means…

The TrueThe Good

The Beautiful

1) TAC’s CURRICULUM• TAC draws on the “Great Book” Curriculum.• There are no textbooks at TAC.• Instead their choice of literature are the literary works of

“great teachers and thinkers of Western Civilization”. Such as…• T.S. Eliot• Euclid• Plato• Homer• Ecclesiastes• The Insect World of J. Henri Fabre• And others

Why Do Students Choose TAC?

1) TAC’s CURRICULUM con’t• There are no “professors” to “teach” the class. Instead

there are “tutors” who are viewed as “slightly more advanced students who can help the students read the books” (Riley, 2005).

• Also, “All students go through the same curriculum” The benefit of this approach is that “underclassmen can ask upperclassmen for help understanding their reading” (Riley, 2005).

Why Do Students Choose TAC?

2) APPROACH TO TEACHING• TAC employs the Socratic Method• Teaching is employed through discussions

which are lead by the students using study material found in the Great Book Curriculum.

• This teaching method not only encourages the student to “understand the material but be ableto explain it” (Riley, 2005).

• Tutors are there to help facilitate and lead discussion. They do not givelectures.

Why Do Students Choose TAC?

3) TO STRENGTHEN THEIR CATHOLIC BELIEFS & TEACHINGS• “90% of the student who enter Thomas Aquinas are

Catholic, and half of the remaining one covert during their time there” (Riley, 2005).

• Students choose TAC are serious about their Catholic beliefs and are looking to understand “a deeper Catholicism” to pursue “reason in the light of faith”.

• As one student noted, “Whether you gointo math class or science class you can’t get past that. When you hold your highestnotion of truth to be God and the teachings of the Catholic Church, you want to look at everything else in light of that” (Riley, 2005).

Why Do Students Choose TAC?

3) TO STRENGTHEN THEIR CATHOLIC BELIEFS & TEACHINGS con’t• To reinforce the Catholic Culture TAC holds Mass (their church

service) four times daily and confession is available before and after each mass according to the school’s website (www.thomasaquinas.edu). As Fr. Borden noted, “At TAC it’s not unusual to find fifty students at mass duringthe day, whereas at Notre Dame studentsusually only go to the basilica onSundays” (Riley, 2005).

• Nicole Gingras, a TAC student, shared, “[it is] easier to go here and talk aboutCatholicism freely” (Riley, 2005).

Why Do Students Choose TAC?

1) MentoringOne of the important relationships at TAC that students need in order to succeed is the relationship between the “tutor” and the “student”. This mentoring relationship is one of Daniel J. Levinson concepts of adult development. In this concept, the “mentor [usually seven to twenty years older] takes an active interest in the life and dream of the younger adult” (Fowler, 2000). Fowler adds, “this involves [receiving] practical help in getting started or advancing in the field of interest they share, and it means a privileged relationship in which they engage in mutual teaching and sharing” (Fowler, 2000).

Developmental Theories Identified through This Chapter

2) CommunityAnother important relationship that I identified in this chapter is the relationship between student andcommunity. Community is huge in the life of astudent at TAC, especially in the life of a Catholic inthis environment. Fowler notes in his book, Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian, that community is where those involved have a shared story and experience. In this case it is the Catholic faith and the life they share as students all experiencing the same curriculum, the same beliefs, same culture, same practice of worship, and the same everyday routines.

Developmental Theories Identified through This Chapter

3) Stage 3.5 (Stunted Development)Unfortunately, it is being in this community that holds back many from experiencing what they should be experiencing as young adults. According to Fowler’s theory, as young adultsthe students at TAC should be entering the fourth stage of Fowler’s faith development, Individuative-Reflective. In this stage a person should be able to “objectify, examine and make critical choices about the defining elements of their identity and faith” (pg. 49, 2000). But this is not the case, as students of TAC are exhibiting stage three of Fowler’s faith development, Synthetic-Conventional. At stage 3, which is early adolescence, individuals are struggling to compose a story of faith that is of their own (Fowler, 2000). Instead, they continue to embrace the story and the identity from the “membership in [their] circle of face-to-face relations” which in this case is those in authority (the Catholic church and their tutors) and their community, which happens to be 90% Catholic.

Developmental Theories Identified through This Chapter

3) Stage 3.5 (Stunted Development) con’tIn the Chapter Riley enters a dialogue with two students about struggling with one’s faith and how having “doubt” in one’s faith can bring “serious intellectual strength to their faith (pg. 89, 2005). In response to this, one of the student’s replied, “There are no doubters here”. I thought that was interesting. As a believer, doubt played a huge role in my life in coming to true faith in Christ. I think their response was more of a defensive response than a response that was intellectual, deep, and honest.

Developmental Theories Identified through This Chapter

REFERENCES:

Fowler, J.W. (2000). Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Riley, N.S. (2005). God on the Quad: How Religious Colleges and the Missionary Generation are Changing America.

Chicago: Ivan R. Dee.

Information about Thomas Aquinas College retrieved fromhttp://www.thomasaquinas.edu