<p>As a current student considering transfer, I can sympathize with a lot of maverick’s opinions, and the overall response to his comments makes me really disappointed with ND supporters’ ability to logically address arguments and form cogent counterarguments. Aristophanes pointed out a few factual inaccuracies in maverick’s responses, but the overall thrust of his argument has yet to be addressed, perhaps because it’s…mostly true.</p>
<p>The imposition of a Catholic worldview upon students through policies like parietals, single-sex dorms, and condemnation of sex and drug use limit the university’s growth potential as a true bastion of free thought and research. Though Jenkins is trying to change the school’s mission to better reflect modern society and allow it to compete with major research universities, closed-minded alumni continue to preclude the possibility of Notre Dame shedding its conservative image, especially through this recent Obama fiasco.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is that ND, through its imposition of morality upon students and commitment to Catholicism, will always be inherently limited in its efforts to become a major research university. Also, the bit about ND being a “glorified extension of high school,” while very misleading, has a ring of truth in that the restrictions imposed upon ND students prevent them from being able to learn to live independently, relying on only their own values and morals for guidance. ND’s relatively desolate location compared to great city schools like U of C and NU also allows this “bubble” atmosphere to be easily maintained, as the outside world is relatively cut off from ND.</p>
<p>I feel that this isolation and existence within a framework of rules and opinions adherent to the Catholic worldview is not the optimal environment for my personal growth, and while I have learned a lot while here, my desire to be in a setting more intertwined with the real world may outweigh the easiness of deciding to stay here for the next three years.</p>
<p>Also, ND people (the older folk that show up on football weekends) can, on occasion, be incredibly obnoxious and ignorant, as their overwhelming commitment to their school can often cloud their ability to discern a fact such as that Northwestern is simply a more academically rigorous school and would better (albeit only slightly) prepare most hardworking, high-achieving students for careers allowing them to live with fewer rules and restrictions and through tougher, less forgiving classes. </p>
<p>ND’s appeal is extremely strong among a certain demographic (namely, committed Catholics who feel irritated and threatened by the presence of non-Catholics who seek Catholicism as a greater context for their entire education), but for those of us seeking to expand our perspectives on the real world and liberate ourselves from the subculture in which we were raised, allowing us to truly sink or swim, depending upon no one but ourselves, I feel that the atmosphere at this school can be stifling and that such students would be better off going elsewhere.</p>