When I stepped onto the campus of the University of Notre Dame for the first time in the Fall of 2017, I was unsure of what I wanted to study and what I wanted to do with my life. My first semester schedule was characterized by University Requirements: a part of our university's First Year of Studies program in an effort to help students discern what they want to study before officially declaring their a College of choice their sophomore year. One of requirements I had to take was God and the Good Life, an introductory philosophy class led by Professor Meghan Sullivan; after attending just one lecture, I knew I picked a good class. Grappling with worldly questions, exploring societal wonders, and developing personal inquiries was routinely challenging, both intellectually and personally, and required me to question and explore the nature of my beliefs. One aspect I particularly enjoyed about the class was its emphasis of using philosophy to help students decide how they want to live a better life. Socrates was famously cited as "bringing philosophy down from the heavens", and I believe this class will one day be cited as bringing philosophy down from the ivory towers from which it has been so often categorized in higher education.
To me, it all started with the way the class is uniquely structured. Student-led dialogue groups is a key component in which fellow undergraduate students who have previously taken the class leads peer-driven discussion about relevant philosophical issues. This is in sharp contrast to the classic seminar-type format in which a graduate student teaches and lectures to a small group of students. In Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire criticizes the latter structure as one that feeds into a system of exploitation and oppression where instead of a radicalization of students, which he posits as the only successful educational model, it is a system that strives on maintaining the status quo both during and after university years. By discussing philosophy with fellow peers, students are able to think for themselves, defend, and develop a critical apparatus which may extend to other disciplines in their schooling and beyond.
In my own life, I have decided to pursue a major in Philosophy, a decision that I can largely credit to my participation in this class during my first semester. However, I believe that regardless of the student, their plan of study, and what future plans they might currently desire, taking this class will be enriching and preparatory for their greater livelihood as they learn what, for them, constitutes living a good life.