The True Purpose of a University Education

Part of a university education is the obvious training for a future career; various subjects and tests that all lead to the university degree, which brings career opportunities and higher pay. Knowledge of certain subjects and a college degree are both beneficial to have in terms of a successful future. Great emphasis is placed on this perception of what society considers success. If success is having plenty of money to buy material items, a degree can certainly prepare one for that. If success is measured in terms of the amount of knowledge acquired in certain subjects, a university education can also help one to achieve success. However, a university education goes beyond that. It is more than memorizing books and facts. It is more than a framed certificate on a wall that can be used to impress future employers. We all have identities away from our careers. If the objective of a university education is more than gaining the knowledge necessary to pass tests and get a degree, what is the true purpose of a university education?

John Henry Newman wrote about the purpose and manner in which university education should be administered in his "The Idea of a University." In Discourse 5 of this writing, Newman says that with a university education, "a habit of mind is formed which lasts through life." In view of that, a university education should be designed to last a lifetime, not just through a career. In terms of knowledge and education, they should not be regarded as just a way to get ahead in the world. Also in Discourse 5, Newman says that "any kind of knowledge, if it be really such, is its own reward." So, the pursuit of knowledge should not be looked at in terms of what it is going to do for you in the future. It should be looked at as beneficial in itself. Knowledge is something that you gain that cannot be taken away from you. It is also something that you continue to gain throughout your life.

A university education also enables one to honestly face modern issues in society. Newman says that after attending a university, one will not be "merely dazzled by phenomena, instead of perceiving things as they are." People will have the knowledge and ability to consider issues in a fair and honest way. In his Preface to "The Idea of a University," John Henry Newman writes that without a university education, people "simply do not know what they are talking about...such persons have no difficulty in contradicting themselves." A university education will prevent this from happening. An educated person will know what they are talking about and not go through life looking like an idiot. With an education that encompasses all aspects of knowledge, one will be able to be well-informed in any situation.

The main aspect of Newman's writing in "The Idea of a University" is the need for a Catholic Institution. He says that a university is supposed to:

Teach universal knowledge: Theology is surely a branch of knowledge: how then is it possible for it to profess all branches of knowledge, and yet to exclude from the subjects of its teaching one which, to say the least, is as important and as large as any of them?

A proper university education should incorporate every subject matter. If certain subjects are excluded from a university education, certain students will be excluded as well. Newman points this out when he says in Discourse 2, "if certain branches of knowledge were excluded, those students of course would be excluded also, who desired to pursue them." The exclusion of theology from university education says one of two things. Either there is no true knowledge of theology and God, or the university is not a true university.

A university education does not have to separate the head from the heart. Attending a Catholic university is similar to attending any secular institution in that both prepare students for future career success. In his Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Pope John Paul II details what it is that a Catholic university should do for its students. He says that "a Catholic University is without any doubt one of the best instruments that the Church offers to our age which is searching for certainty and wisdom." A university education is intended to prepare students for the rest of their lives, not just academically, but in a way that will enable them to continually quest for new knowledge. He also says that "a Catholic University will be able to help the Church respond to the problems and needs of this age." This directly coincides with what Newman said about preparing students to be able to face modern problems in society.

It is unfortunate that what John Henry Newman so desperately tried to convey concerning what is necessary in a university education has been abolished in many universities in the United States. John Henry Newman would probably be appalled to know that most universities in the United States emphasize the desire for separation of church and state. The perceived benefits of this separation are widely debated. When Newman wrote "The Idea of a University" he pointed out that in the past faith became more of a feeling or emotion, rather than something known to be true. He says that:

It became fashionable to say that faith was, not an acceptance of revealed doctrine, not an act of the intellect, but a feeling, an emotion, an affection, an appetence; and, as this view of Faith obtained, so was the connexion of Faith with Truth and Knowledge more and more either forgotten or denied.

Newman was afraid that theology would become immanent. As universities persist in only teaching certain subjects to their students and continue to focus on preparation for career success, what Newman wrote about and feared will again be true.

The point of a university education is not academics. It is about the future of the whole person. The education gained at a university allows people to really think. It is about the quality of the mind and what you do with what you have. A university education brings the mind into form. The mind can be a very beautiful thing that a university education can really help develop. The lack of a beautiful mind is a true misfortune.

Apostolic Constitution of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II
On Catholic Universities

The Idea of a University
Preface and Discourses 2 and 5
John Henry Newman