Have you ever seen a Math major answer a cold call in History class? Or worse, a Comparative Literature major trying to posit the merits of various global warming reports in Geography class? This is not to dispel the merits of the system of the liberal-arts curriculum, but to posit that students enter Dartmouth as relatively well-rounded academics and four years later they graduate with such streamlined career interests that they might as well have abandoned the liberal arts entirely. As the College moves in the direction of a research university and starts to more closely resemble its “peer institutions,” I wish to explain the logic and integrity that goes into the seemingly anachronistic decision to major in Religion.
At Dartmouth, choosing your major is a process that requires time, thorough exploration of the various offerings of the College, and ignorance. Yes, ignorance. In this instance, ignorance of the self. If we were all to sit down and truly reflect upon what interests us and would aid us in achieving true personal fulfillment, I am so bold as to say the number of humanities majors would dramatically increase. If only there were a greater number of Dartmouth students immersing themselves in foundational philosophies, holistic histories, and intimate classroom discussion. Instead, many students will graduate from Dartmouth with one, or perhaps two, courses with fewer than 20 students, with every other class on their transcript a large lecture-style course. The median, not personal interest or the pursuit of knowledge, is what governs most of their course elections.
The official process of declaring your major involves filling out a timeline of what classes you would take within the department, which is wishful thinking more than it is a plan you can actually expect to follow. By the time one graduates with an bachelor’s degree in Religion, what one really has is a degree in the history of religion and a minor in the theory of religion. Try as you might, a TDX ’23 will take your spot in Religions of Southeast Asia for the “guaranteed” A, and, regardless of what you might have gleaned from the course, you are stuck in a class completely unrelated to your interests. Thank you, registrar.
This is not to say that popular introductory courses and sparsely populated advanced classes are purely the fault of the department. After all, the Religion Department is exactly what you make of it. If students wished, they could fill out their Major Worksheet with classes that have seemingly no intersection, and, when meeting with the department chair, explain that they plan to write their final paper for their Religion Senior Colloquium on something like “The Diversity of Tradition in North America.” There is purpose and organization to be found within the course offerings, but you do have to look quite hard. Blessedly, the Religion major has no prerequisites. This does, of course, contribute to the major’s status as a “layup.” However, once you enter into the realm beyond introductory courses, the subject matter of the courses undoubtedly becomes more difficult to grapple with. Delving further into religions unfamiliar to you is something that requires unparalleled empathy and incredibly thick skin.
You see, telling the general public that you are majoring in Religion is something of a mixed bag. While some people see religion as a useful tool for understanding the social and historical backgrounds of others, there are many more people who have asked me about my plans to attend seminary after graduation. Let the record show, there are no such plans. Within the Religion Department, course offerings range from meetings of fewer than ten people discussing the complexities of Jesus Christ’s Jewish identity to lecture halls full of students (often, predominantly athletes) who signed up for the class “What is Value?” after hearing that the course work was light and the median was an A. To be honest, most Religion classes boast an A median, yet they command meager respect compared to History classes which are viewed—at times—as rigorous in their own right, despite often possessing an A median as well. I believe that the reputation of the Religion major is a fault of the slimy, slothful students who wish to breeze through their distribs and cherry pick the classes they think will satisfy their poor work ethics and easy grading expectations. We should feel free to take classes analyzing the Qur’an, surveying the historical timeline of Hinduism, and meditating in the tradition of Buddha, with no shame.
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