Newman Guide Colleges Receive High Marks on Core Curriculum

"A number of Catholic colleges and universities recommended in The Cardinal Newman Society’s The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College received high rankings from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) last month in their “What Will They Learn? 2015-16” report that rates colleges on having a “solid core curriculum” for general education." continues The Cardinal Newman Society.

Photo: The Cardinal Newman Society

“What Will They Learn?™ rates each college on how many of seven core subjects the institution (or, in many cases, the Arts & Sciences or Liberal Arts divisions) requires,” according to the report’s ratings criteria.

“The subjects are: Composition, Literature, Foreign Language, U.S. Government or History, Economics, Mathematics, and Natural or Physical Science. The grade is based on a detailed examination of the latest publicly-available online course catalogs at the time of review.”

Newman Guide

The Newman Guide recommended Thomas Aquinas College, The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts and University of Dallas received “A” ratings in the report, while Ave Maria University, Belmont Abbey College, Christendom College, Franciscan University of Steubenville, University of St. Thomas, University of Mary and Mount St. Mary's University received “B” ratings.

Only 24 of the 1,108 institutions surveyed received an “A”rating. The report gave 371 colleges and universities a “B” rating...

Authors of the survey said it is “essential” that students:

• be proficient in reading and writing;
• understand enough math, science and economics to be able to function in a modern, 21^st century society;
• be able to communicate in a foreign language since we live in an increasingly interconnected world; 
• have sufficient working knowledge of the history and governing institutions of this country to prepare them for informed citizenship.

“Colleges and universities with poor ratings in the ACTA study are not necessarily ‘failing’ schools, but they are failing the long-term needs of their students by not requiring a broad-based core curriculum,” the What Will They Learn website states.
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Source: The Cardinal Newman Society