JONAH LAGRANGE/THE CREIGHTONIAN

Students take classes in a variety of subjects outside their major as part of the Magis Core curriculum. These classes aim to make students well-rounded and globally-aware citizens.

With registration season upon us, campus has once again become abuzz with underclassmen’s familiar complaints: “I hope this class doesn’t fill up,” “I really don’t want any 8 a.m. classes” and — what I find the most irritating and repetitive of all — “I hate Magis Core.” I understand wanting your dream schedule to work out so, by all means, make those complaints (I certainly have). But I’m tired of my fellow students giving Magis Core a bad rap. 

When we chose to come to Creighton, we chose to get a liberal arts education. We knew this meant we’d be taking multiple classes in various disciplines, taking us out of the comfort zones of our majors. As a journalism major with minors in sustainability and gender and sexuality studies, I wasn’t exactly pumped about taking a math class or sitting through a biology lecture — but I did it, and I’m better off for it. When I committed to Creighton, I knew I was signing myself up for some classes I might not love, but I wanted a liberal arts education.  

I know we hear this all the time, but it really is true that taking classes outside of our niches makes us well-rounded individuals. It’s good for us to know more (or magis, if you will). We’re also improving our soft skills in some of these courses and, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers rank soft skills such as communication and critical thinking as highly desirable. We practice these skills in our various core classes like critical issues, philosophical ideas and oral communications. 

Because we’re at Creighton, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the positive impact that a liberal arts education has on healthcare professionals. Personally, I want the doctors and nurses taking care of me to have an academic background in ethics and philosophy, because I want to trust that they can reason through complex moral scenarios and make thought-out decisions under pressure — skills which are developed these humanities classes. A study conducted by the Society of General Internal Medicine found a positive correlation between exposure to the humanities and traits such as empathy and spatial skills amongst medical students, and that exposure to humanities was even linked to lower burnout. The Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) section on the MCAT also serves as proof that it takes more than just science to thrive in the healthcare field; ideally, what you learn in Magis Core classes should help with CARS.  

On top of making us good candidates for our future jobs (in healthcare and other fields), Magis Core classes help us grow our knowledge and understanding of the world around us. Learning history helps us see how we arrived at today’s political and social landscape and understand what is happening now. Taking an ultimate questions class challenges us to think deeply about complex ideas like suffering and our relationship to the world. Appreciating the fine arts helps to remind us of life’s beauty and teaches us to express our own ideas and emotions in meaningful ways. The courses we take to receive a liberal arts education help us understand each other and to appreciate the world in which we live and grow as individuals. We gain so much from the core courses, even if they aren’t always directly tied to our majors. 

So, as you’re registering for your fall classes, try to appreciate the Magis Core a little bit more. Save your complaints for your early morning classes, professors that don’t give you overrides and courses that fill up too fast instead of dreading a class where you’ll hone a useful skill, gain a new perspective and learn about something outside of your current wheelhouse.