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Everyone likes a good story. For centuries,children have sat curled up in bed with wideeyes, listening to fairy tales and nursery rhymes.Today, if “Humpty Dumpty” is mentioned, mostadults can recite it verbatim, conjuring up imagesfrom their own childhood:“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.All the king’s horses,And all the king’s men,Couldn’t put Humpty together again.”2 / Tartan Summer 2009 Belhaven CollegeBut what if parents and school teachersbegan telling this classic rhyme in new ways?What if they kept the same elements, but“Humpty Dumpty” was retold in whateverorder the reader chose? It might soundsomething like this:“All the king’s horses,Humpty Dumpty sat on a wallAnd all the king’s menHumpty Dumpty had a great fall.Couldn’t put Humpty together again.”Ridiculous? Yes, but this incoherent rhymeis a good metaphor for the fragmentedlandscape of education today, whichstresses the parts over the whole. Take themodern liberal arts core curriculum, forexample. Students take their foundationalclasses in any order, studying ancient Greekcivilization side by side with Renaissanceliterature and 20th century Modern Art.To add to the incoherency, they are oftentaught from varying worldview perspectivesin each of these classes. Like poor HumptyDumpty, the pieces are scattered with littlehope of ever creating a coherent whole.A decade ago, concern for studentsto grasp a biblical, holistic view ofthe world prompted Belhaven tocreate its own core curriculum. ThisAugust, Belhaven celebrates the 10thbirthday of the innovative WorldviewCurriculum (WVC), a core curriculumthat focuses on the grand narrative ofhistory, with the humanities woventogether and taught chronologicallyfrom a Christian perspective.Provost Dr. Dan Fredericks knewthat the former approach to educationwould not prepare Belhaven studentsas well as a cohesive, interdisciplinaryapproach could. However, he didn’tsee any schools setting an example forBelhaven to follow. He says that, “Atbest, there is a silo approach amongmany Christian institutions—eachindividual department does its best torepresent their own discipline from abiblical perspective. This is admirable,but it is not enough.” So, he rolled uphis sleeves and went to work designinga core curriculum that harmonized thehumanities into a chronological studythat hinged on a biblical worldview.As Belhaven prepared to leave thetraditionally accepted path of generaleducation, tough questions awaited:Could a core curriculum have meaningbeyond disparate survey courses?Could faculty members work togetherfrom across disciplinary lines to form acohesive, contextual, and chronologicalcurriculum that is centered on theChristian Worldview? In other words could Humpty Dumpty be put backtogether again?After searching the educationallandscape and much deliberation withthe faculty, Dr. Fredericks knew thatBelhaven would need to start fromscratch. With a single sheet of paperand pen in hand, he drew 4 columnsand placed history, art, literature,and philosophy side by side, so thatthe story of the world was told frombeginning to end. This simple sheetof paper marks the humble beginningof Belhaven’s unique WorldviewCurriculum.The Birth of the WVCMove-in day of August 1999 didn’tlook any different from the past—scores of freshmen unpacked in thelast hot breath of summer heat, parentslearned how to take bunk beds apartonly to put them back together again,and almost everyone took at least onetrip to Wal-Mart for snacks and storagebins. Many of the freshmen of ’99were clueless about the counterculturalcurriculum that would challenge andinspire their freshmen class.Annie (Roberts) Gundy ’03,Nathan McNeill ’03, and MattQuarterman ’03 were all freshmen in1999. They dutifully registered forthe cryptic “WVC” classes that hadnames like Form and Meaning (artand music), Christian Perspective(philosophy), and of course, thefamiliar subjects of literatureand history.As Matt Quarterman, an Englishmajor, puts it, “It was a really excitingtime in the life of the college [ ]We knew we were the first batch ofstudents to go through [the WorldviewCurriculum], so I think it made us allmore critical in examining what wewere taught and how, but also moreopen-minded because it was such a bigexperiment.” Everyone was intrigued tosee how this cutting-edge curriculumwould affect their college experience,and as the guinea pig class, everyoneexpected some bumps and surprisesalong the way.One such surprise was the way theWVC brought the freshman class together across the typical dividing linesof major, athletics team, or hometown.Since every incomingfreshman is required totake the WVC until theclose of their sophomoreyear, students get to knowa more diverse group ofpeople. Reminiscing aboutone of his favorite memories of the WVC, MattQuarterman remarks:Annie Gundy“I love remembering theconversation I had in thedorm at 1 a.m. with afullback, arguing whetherOedipus’ fate was his ownfault or the gods’. That’sthe kind of thing you justdon’t get outside of WVC,exposing the wholespectrum of the studentbody to the same highNathan McNeilloctane stuff.”The WVC alsocontrasted with the generaleducation requirementsof peers at other institutions. Annie Gundy, alsoan English major, describesher surprise when, “at thesame time I was experiencing the WVC at Belhaven,my sister was experiencing a Matt Quartermanvery different education at a large publicuniversity. When we would have conversations, she was in awe of the knowledgethat I had obtained in such a smallperiod of time. Over the course of thetwo years of WVC, I learned more thanshe did in all four years of her education—more than just book knowledge.”Belhaven College Tartan Summer 2009 / 3

One of the strong points of theWVC is the way it puts everything intoclose proximity. Nathan McNeill, aphilosophy major, reflects, “The WVCdoesn’t contextualize your educationfor you—you still have to be payingattention to get value—but what it doesdo is put the ideas, events, and artifactsof history in close enough proximityto each other to make the relationshipsplain. Unless you see two things side byside, you may never recognize that theyare the same.”When Annie, Matt, and Nathanlook at how taking part in the inauguralclass of the WVC has influenced theway they think today, each of themoffers a unique perspective. McNeill,who works in Product Strategy atBomgar corporation, says, “Mostof the facts, dates, and names aregone, but the thought processes thatthe WVC encouraged have beenvery instrumental in my work andin my family. For instance, at thecompany I work for, we see our workas service to the Lord and service to“.as Christian educators,we are working to developcourses and curriculathat encourage studentsto see their world notas a disparate pile ofdisconnected factoids, butas a marvelous, integratedpart of a beautiful tapestrywoven by Christ himself.”our employees. We recognize that eventhough we work in the marketplace,the marketplace has a context. Theearth is the Lord’s, and ALL (includingour business) it contains. This is thesame principle that the WVCtaught, just usinghistory and art ratherthan spreadsheets andwebsites.”For Gundy, a fulltime mother of two,it’s about everydayliving: “It’s fun to seethat knowledge [fromthe WVC] come out when Iexperience even small things likelistening to music on the radiowith my kids, or in my smallgroup at church when wetalk about the theology ofdifferent time periods.”All would agreethat the WVC gavethem a foundationto view life withthe lens of theChristianworldview.As Quarterman, an Apple Store trainerwho also completed a 2nd degree insongwriting, says, “It strengthened mysense that looking at things throughthis unified lens—making theseconnections—is a legitimate andnecessary way to view our own cultureand history.”With its synchronized scheduleacross the humanities, The WVC isnot an easy curriculum to implement,but professors are passionate aboutit. All of the professors within thehumanities are involved, and manyhave been involved since its inception.Regular WVC faculty meetings meanthat professors dialogue about whatthey are covering in class. As Dr.Edwin McAllister, Associate Professorof English, says, “I get to find outwhat Dr. Hause is teaching, howDr. Kenyon is testing, and when Dr.Hubele is covering the romantics. Theprocess improves the overall quality ofthe WVC by ensuring not only that ourschedules are synchronized, but alsothat we are emphasizing many of thesame themes and historical processes.”Dr. Melissa Hause, AssociateProfessor of Art History and Deanof the Honors College, is passionateabout teaching students to look forconnections. She sees the WVC as “anopportunity to help students graspwhat I believe is the most importantthing about history: that people inprevious historical periods who wrotebooks, set up political and religioussystems, built cities, created artifacts,fought wars, settled new territories,etc. were just that: people, humanbeings made in the image of God whowere faced with the same inescapablequestions about the meaning of life thatevery one of us has to face.”Dr. Hause emphasizes that thepurpose of the WVC is to “enablestudents to really grasp that thingsdon’t happen in isolation—humansdon’t do things in isolation. Politicalsystems, artistic styles, works ofThe ultimate survivor: Matt and Erin Quartermancreated t-shirts for the first graduating class of theWorldview Curriculum.4 / Tartan Summer 2009 Belhaven Collegeliterature, family structures, andorganizations of society are allinterconnected. All of these things arebound up together and fundamentallyshaped by basic beliefs about the natureof the world.”The WVC is about more than justthe core curriculum, though. It affectsthe entire campus. Dr. McAllisterdescribes the WVC as an importantfoundation to the much larger pictureat Belhaven: “As Christians, webelieve that every area of life shouldbe under the lordship of Christ; asChristian educators, we are workingto develop courses and curricula thatencourage students to see their worldnot as a disparate pile of disconnectedfactoids, but as a marvelous, integratedpart of a beautiful tapestry woven byChrist himself. So if the WVC affectsstudents’ lives, and I think it does, itdoes so as part of a larger design atwork at Belhaven.”GrowthAs with any new program, there arealways knots to untie and bumps tosmooth out. The WVC has been ina perpetual state of evaluation andreform since its inception. The facultymembers meet several times a semesterto review all of the works to see howthey are fitting together. Each year hasseen changes in the structure or syllabiin order to improve the way WVC istaught and structured.Some aspects of the WVC havepresented challenges from the verybeginning. In order to synchronizethe classes chronologically, most ofthe WVC classes have been 1 or 2hour credits. So, for 6 hours of credita student might have to take 4 classes.This often led to harried students whofelt like their workload was too heavyfor a 1 or 2 hour credit class. Because ofthe credit structure, students also havehad difficulty transferring their creditsto other institutions.The course structure has also beena challenge for scheduling students,particularly

Apr 04, 2009 · service of Dedication & Dessert Reception Day and evening Classes Begin Men’s Soccer vs. tennessee temple university ht newell field 1:00 p.m. Women’s Soccer vs. texas College ht newell field 3:00 p.m. Belhaven football vs. Bethel College ht newell field 6:30 p.m. Community