Three Ateneans share their thoughts regarding students who feel some dissonance between their core and major subjects.

You go out into the world — I think that’s the main point of the holistic formation in Ateneo… And we can relate this to the fact that [Ateneo] is a Catholic institution, and Christianity, in its bare essence, is very intentional. It always goes out of itself in order to save the real world. And that’s why I think the major subjects should incorporate properly the values that the liberal arts courses offer, because it is the values [we learn from the liberal arts] that point us to actually be action-oriented.

– Jefferson Chua, IV AB Philo, Samahan sa Pilosopiya President

The key to correcting the dissonance is to find ways to show the students that their formation in their everyday lives really does have an effect on their professional decisions. And how they live in their everyday—that is precisely what the core subjects try to teach us, while our majors take care of our professional competencies. Secondly… the key would be to always remind the students to “keep pushing.” No matter what ideas they learn from their core subjects, they should keep pushing their understanding to find ways for [learnings from these core subjects] to apply in their professional lives.

– Efren Resurreccion, IV BS LM, SJC Magistrate

Ateneans must understand that it really is a choice to make the most out of the education that we have. Maybe they’re just too confined, but ultimately, it is a choice on how open you can be with the idea. There is a certain degree of openness and maturity you should have in order to see the connection.

– Ken Abante, IV BS ME, COA President