Thomas Aquinas College Spotlighted in Christopher Derrick's
Escape from Scepticism: Liberal Education as if Truth Mattered
– Forward
by Father George Rutler
(October 15, 2001)
 Ignatius
Press has recently re-published Christopher Derrick's penetrating
and disturbing analysis of modern education. Written with
the brilliant wit and clarity of expression characteristic
of Mr. Derrick's many articles and books, Escape from Scepticism
was occasioned by a visit to Thomas Aquinas College for a
firsthand look at a radical departure from the status quo
education-as-if-truth-didn't-matter in America.
What British author and journalist Derrick met six and a
half thousand miles away from home at Thomas Aquinas College
- what struck him, as he put it - were young men and women
conspicuously different from their counterparts at colleges
and universities in America and England: they were happy,
confident, and hopeful. Taking a fresh look at what "liberal
education" ought to mean, and re-examining ideas even
more fundamental to life and learning, Derrick states the
matter very simply: "A genuinely liberal education will
be one based upon the objective and final truth of the Catholic
Faith and upon an uncompromising application of that Faith
to every question that arises with the educational process."
Far from illiberal or confining, as the nervous guardians
of “academic freedom” fear, such an education is
intellectually and spiritually liberating. But it also generates
happiness, which is what Mr. Derrick, with a father's anxiety,
found so encouraging about the young people he met during
his visit to Thomas Aquinas College.
Father George William Rutler's Forward embellishes Escape
from Scepticism and, if anything could, makes the slim
volume an even more valuable "manual for the reform of
higher education today", as Paul Hallet described it
in The National Catholic Register.
Copies of the book can be obtained from Thomas Aquinas College
or from Ignatius Press by phone, 800-651-1531, or directly
from their website, www.ignatius.com.
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