THE ROLE OF SCIENCE IN LIBERAL EDUCATION 491 



clear notion of our goal emerged: to construct an education 

 program in which the principles of Thomism are deliberately 

 and determinedly followed. The detailed development of the 

 entire curriculum may be found in several publications.^ This 

 article will be limited to the application of the general prin- 

 ciples of the Saint Xavier Plan to one facet only, the natural 

 sciences. 



The science curriculum of the Saint Xavier Plan conforms 

 to certain basic principles that are the guiding factors for the 

 total program. Schooling at the elementary level is restricted 

 to the pre-liberal arts and pre-scientific studies. Natural sci- 

 ence requires extensive experience, keen application of the arts 

 of logic and mathematics as well as mature judgment. Grade 

 school children have none of these. Consequently, the nature 

 study of the elementary school must concentrate on the acqui- 

 sition of factual knowledge. This preparation for science must 

 continue until the child has a proficiency in the pre-liberal arts 

 of communication and arithmetic and an introduction to the 

 liberal arts, the tools for making order within the mind by 

 means of mental relationships. Mastery of these liberal arts, 

 properly so called, is the proper work of the secondary school. 

 Logic taught within the framework of English, and in the study 

 of algebra and geometry, is perhaps the most distinctive feature 

 of our secondary program. A student graduating from high 

 school is prepared with the habits of logic and mathematics, 

 trained to observe carefully, and equipped with a rich natural 

 history. He is then ready to begin science, which is considered 

 the proper work of the college. 



A science curriculum that is oriented toward wisdom and 

 acknowledges the guiding powers of both philosophy and the- 



^ " The Liberal Education of the Christian Person," The Saint Xavier College 

 Self-Study: A Progress Report (Chicago: Saint Xavier College, 1953) ; Sister M. 

 Muriel, R. S. M., " The Role of Natural Science in the Saint Xavier Plan," The 

 Catholic Educational Review, LVI (1958) , 397-404; O. W. Perlmutter, " A Program 

 for Liberal Education," Commonweal, LIX (1954), 423-426; Sister M. Olivia Barrett, 

 R. S. M., " Challenge Accepted," Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of 

 Science (February, 1957) . 



