The Ateneo de Manila envisions forming leaders in the areas of character, knowledge and skills who can lead and manage effectively in the new world of greater complexity and interactivity, who are committed and can achieve effective results in both the areas of greater competitiveness for the Philippines with its neighbors and of closing the gap between lower and upper social classes in the country, and who understand and are committed to the longer-term goals of community and sustainability for the country. In the area of character building, we draw in particular from the Christian and Jesuit tradition of formulation and from our understanding today of the growth and development needs of the young. In the area of knowledge and skills, we seek the best balance today between basic or hard core knowledge and skills and a more flexible core and individual specialization.
The Ateneo de Manila aims to contribute institutional leadership in the professional areas of business, government, education, science and technology, communications, health, and leadership and management training.
This institutional leadership will seek to contribute both in the areas of skills and expertise and of values and higher goals.
As a University, the Ateneo de Manila seeks to preserve, to extend and to communicate truth and to apply it to the development of man and preservation of his environment.
As a Filipino University, the Ateneo de Manila seeks to identify and enrich Philippine culture and to make it its own. Through the education of the whole person and through the formation of needed professionals and technologists and through various corporate activities, the University aims to contribute to the development goals of the nation.
As a Catholic University, the Ateneo de Manila seeks to form persons who, following the teachings and examples of Christ, will devote their lives to the service of their fellowmen, and, through the promotion of justice, serve especially those who are most in need of help, the poor and powerless. Loyal to the teachings of the Catholic Church, the University seeks to serve the Faith and to interpret its teachings to modern Filipino society.
As a Jesuit University, the Ateneo de Manila seeks the goals of modern Jesuit liberal education through the harmonious development of moral and intellectual values, imbued with the Ignatian spirit, the University aims to lead its students to see God in all things and to strive for the greater glory of God and the greater service of mankind.
The University seeks all these purposes and aims, as an academic community, through the exercise of the functions proper to a university, that is, through teaching, research and community service.
The Core Curriculum
Old Core Curriculum (15 units) Present Core Curriculum (12 units)Grammar and Composition Composition Writing Rhetoric (+ term paper) Rhetoric (+ term paper and essay) Introduction to Fiction Introduction to Fiction Introduction to Poetry and Drama Introduction to Poetry and Drama Introduction to the Essay
The new curriculum has cut down the number of units of English from 15 to 12. What’s good about this, is that you sort of cut down the fat and just concentrate on the really important stuff. For instance, why take so many English’s when you’re supposed to already have a good grasp of the English language when you get to college? The bad thing about this arrangement is that it makes the 18 unit English requirement for entrance to law school a lot more difficult to meet (they say that you need 18 units of English, I guess I’ll find out next year). With the old curriculum, you’d have to take only one more extra English subject, or, if you believe what they’re saying, none at all, since Filipino 14 was supposed to be considered a Lit class.
The other bad thing about this is, you have less time to teach grammar and the fundamental of English to those who really need it. I’m not kidding. I’ve met some Ateneans who have really bad grammar. I’m not saying that an additional sem of English is enough to teach grammar from ground zero, but maybe an additional sem of English can help to further reinforce fundamentals which have just been learned.
Me, I didn’t like my English 11-14 teacher, although he was supposed to be a doctor already. I really liked my English 26 teacher, the infamous Ms. Karen Cardenas who returns essays like they’re bloodied POWs. After finishing English with her though, I learned to be a real nitpicker about language.
Old Core Curriculum (9 units) Present Core Curriculum (9 units)Introduction to Literature and Introduction to Literature and
Popular Culture Popular Culture
Rhetoric Rhetoric
Survey of Philippine Literature Survey of Philippine Literature
No change in the Filipino requirements. Although there is a juicy rumor behind this. It was said that there was a public forum wherein it was being debated between our department chair, Mr. Rudy Ang, member of the core curriculum committee and Ms. Benilda Santos and Mr. D. M. Reyes about whether or not the Filipino requirement should be decreased. Ma’am Beni was talking in Filipino when Rudy suddenly said something to the effect that she shouldn’t be speaking in Filipino because they were facing a general audience and not everyone was well-versed in Filipino. Ma’am Beni suddenly starting stating her argument in English and Rudy couldn’t say anything to counter those arguments.
I have a friend, an LM major who wanted to double major in Philippine Literature, and it was said that Rudy was really reluctant to allow her to do so. He was said to have told her to double major in any other course, but not Filipino.
In any case, 9 units of Filipino is still pretty okay. The Filipino teachers I had were okay, but my sister seems to be having some bad luck with her Filipino teachers. It’s really weird, because I’ve always considered myself to be better in English, but I get higher grades in Filipino, rather than in English.
Old Core Curriculum (6 units) Present Core Curriculum (3 units) French, German, Italian, Indonesian French, German, Italian, Indonesian
Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish
We of the old core curriculum had 6 units of foreign language. This foreign language requirement is a remnant of that CHED regulation which used to require 6 units of Spanish. When this requirement was removed, students could choose which foreign language to take 6 units of. But then it was cut down to 3 units. This doesn’t make sense at all. Some of my classmates interviewed Rudy for their papers (I didn’t!) and he said that the foreign language is now just an introduction to, no longer a course in that particular foreign language. Everyone has 6 units of free electives, so you can always take more Spanish or Chinese, if you’re interested.
Okay cool, but a sem for an entirely new foreign language? I doubt if anyone will really learn to appreciate a new language in a few months, let alone learn it well enough other than for the purpose of passing the course. Since no one will learn a strange new foreign language in a sem, why have this requirement at all?
The new core curriculum introduces a new concept, wherein core subjects may be inner core subjects, that is, these subjects will be taught to fit especially in the student’s chosen concentration, or they may be outer core subjects, meaning these subjects will be taught in the same manner to all students, regardless of major or concentration. The following fields will have some courses taught as inner subjects, some as outer subjects.
Old Core Curriculum (15 units) Present Core Curriculum (12 units)Natural Sciences: 15 units Natural Sciences: 11 units (three 5-unit courses in any of the Inner: General Science (3 units)
following:) Outer: Two 4-unit courses from Physics, Chemistry, Biology original Nat Sci offerings Environmental Science, Experimental Psychology
Natsci is pretty okay, I mean it’s great to take Natsci in college with all the fancy equipment that is really needed when you teach sciences. I remember my high school’s Physics Lab where all we had was a platform balance. The Ateneo Lab has everything, which is sometimes a drag because we have to do so many more experiments. But otherwise, I thought that having 3 Natsci’s was okay. A “General Science” class is a little bit odd to imagine.
Old Core Curriculum (6/16 units) Present Core Curriculum (6/9/15)Non-Science/Bio Majors: 6 units Non-Science: 6 units
Science/Mgt. Eng: 16 units Eco/Meco/MIS/Bus: 9 units
Science: 15 units
Well I’m luck I didn’t have to catch this revised core. I had 6 units of math, Math 11 and Math 12. Math 11 was called pre-calculus, and since I don’t know what calculus is, I’ll never know for myself. Math 12 had statistics and since we took statistics already in high school, it was a little bit easy for me. But if I were an LM major in this batch, I would have had to take Math 11 and a 6 unit Math 19, which is calculus! I don’t like Math and I know that I don’t need calculus. LM majors don’t even have Math 12 which has some introduction on Linear Programming. You have to do LP all over again in Mgt 63, Operations Management, and I can’t imagine going through OpMan without first going through Math 12!
Old Core Curriculum (12 units) Present Core Curriculum (12 units)Sociology-Anthropology Sociology-Anthropology
Psychology Psychology
Political Science Political Science
Economics Economics
So no changes here. The social sciences are actually pretty okay subjects. I’ve taken all of them and they were all immensely interesting.
Old Core Curriculum (12 units) Present Core Curriculum (9 units) Inner:Rizal and Philippine Nation Rizal and Philippine Nation
Recent Philippine History Recent Philippine History
Western Civilization Outer:
Medieval Civilization or Asian Civilization or
Asian Civilization Western Civilization
All they did here was to remove Western Civilization from the list. Western Civilization of the old core is actually “The Modern World” which talks about Europe. Well, since my History 15 was by Mr. Glenn Garfield Ang, the history dept’s resident expert on Germany, my Hi 15 seemed to be “The History of Germany” rather than “The Modern World”. I can’t say anything about this change. It seems okay. I guess history is a lot of work. And it’s hard to get A’s in them. The history teachers are all pretty okay though, and taking a history subject in the Ateneo is really a revelation of sorts.
Old Core Curriculum (16 units) Present Core Curriculum (12 units)Inner:
Philosophy of Man I Philosophy of the Person I
Philosophy of Man II Philosophy of Religion
Philosophy of Religion Foundation of Moral Value
Foundation of Moral Value Outer:
Philosophy of the Person II
What was done with Philo was that instead of having four hours a week, they’ve become three hours a week subjects. This was supposed to have given students more time for reading, visiting the library and personal reflection. I don’t have any particular gripe about this. Philo is pretty okay for me, I’ve never really done exceptionally well in it (although that might have something to do with the teacher!) but I like the subject. I doubt if it will really make any difference whether you have Philo three hours or four hours a week. A lot really depends on the student and the teacher.
I think Philo isn’t a subject where you’re supposed to memorize stuff. Philo asks a lot of questions and so you have to give a personal response. I look at the readings more of as a guide to one’s personal reflective thought.
Old Core Curriculum (15 units) Present Core Curriculum (12 units)Inner:
Man’s Search for God Introduction to Theology
Church and Sacraments Theology of Sacrament
Marriage (+Family Planning) Theology of Christian Moral
Theology of Liberation Living
Seminar on Contemporary Theology Outer:
Theology of Christian Social
Commitment
Nope, they haven’t gotten rid of the immersion, but I think there are certain factions in the Theo dept who are fighting to make it an optional activity. Well okay, taking Theo in college has been a great experience, since I’ve had the chance to prove my high school religion teachers wrong. But I think Theo raises a lot of questions that I’m not prepared to deal with right now. But then that might be because I’m not a very religious person. The way Theo is taught in Ateneo, is just that God is the answer to all things, and it doesn’t iron out all the kinks. I’ve had particular conflict with Marriage, Th 131, taught by someone whom I think I’ve spoken about in one of my essays.
Old Core Curriculum (6 units) Present Core Curriculum (6 units)
They didn’t touch the free electives.
Well, they haven't gotten rid of what they really should've gotten rid off, ROTC and PE!!! Sometimes, I think that the core curriculum is a really heavy requirement on the students. LM majors in DLSU take so many more law subjects. I think that without the core curriculum, a lot more major subjects could be taught, which is what I think is happening to the sophomores right now (who were the first batch on whom the revised core is being used). Well, that’s that.