“Only Connect” and the Nine Norbertine Precepts

-Shane Doherty

Reflect on the unique nature of SNC as a learning environment.  How do these two documents and our discussion inform your thinking about the values of this place and what they can contribute to your growth as a person?

SNC provides students with opportunities that all students are able to take advantage of. Being a liberal arts college, we as students are able to explore many options that can better curate our future and the desired position we want to be. Personally, I have many opportunities to better learn my path as an education major and will be able to follow a very focused path but also explore other interests I might want to do professionally. The two documents I read, “Only connect” and the 9 precepts of Norbertine faith both represent the SNC environment in multiple forms. These documents reflect on what it means to be a liberally educated person and the values that we as a school should consist of. As a student I believe that this college displays essentially all of the values discussed in the documents but most importantly community, individualism and academia/ learning.

This school is a truly unique experience compared to most schools because it keeps us as students active in our community and it also gives us the resources to be a better student. This is shown in the precept “Communio” and in the article by Cronon and the social aspect is heavily pushed in the document.These two documents go over the reason to be an active member of society and that being part of a community is crucial. One of the ways St. Norbert displays community is the  staff to student ratio in which we are able to communicate with counselors at a more personal level so that they can help us construct our future. The staff to student ratio affects our classes too. This is because our classrooms are more structured to involve students rather than have lecture classes all the time. Many other opportunities are displayed through student involvement with the school. These opportunities are displayed through our extra curriculars. Here we have hundreds of opportunities to be involved whether that be sports or religious outreach. SNC is one of the few places to bring these types of opportunities to students. Community is one of the most important points of this school and is also one of the major points in the documents.

Another interesting aspect of St. Norbert is that everyone has an individual experience at SNC. We might be all within this community however we all have our own experiences. This is a major part of a liberal education and this is said in the document “only connect” with the word “freedom” and the quote “If we speak of education for freedom, then one of the crucial insights of a liberal education must be that the freedom of the individual is possible only in a free community, and vice versa.” This quote and the Norbertine precept Communio connects to SNC’s idea of being part of the community but being your own person with this group. This was made clear in the week of welcome and it was heavily implied that we make our own path here.

Our academia is one of the key factors of our college. It is why we are here, to learn. Learning is a keystone part of these documents shown in almost all the points of Cronon’s document. All these attributes in that document display what a good student and how we should strive to be even as a person part of this school. These values consist of rigor, humility, self reflection, problem solving etc… The Norbertine precepts base around how we as students and educators should practice in the classroom and in public too. Education is the center point of all these documents and these values that it teaches can make us all better students and educators in whole.