The Bachelor of Arts in Humanities for Teaching
The ideal degree for a future teacher
This course of study was designed at the invitation of Seattle University’s graduate College of Education. Matteo Ricci College was chosen for this honor because of its longstanding excellence in teaching and its broader interest in issues in education and leadership.
The Bachelor of Arts in Humanities for Teaching (BAHT) prepares students as very strong and broadly educated candidates for admission to the nation’s top graduate schools for future teachers, where these students then receive advanced training in curriculum and instruction, their masters’ degrees, and their state teaching credentials. Young teachers who follow this path commonly earn, in their first positions, over $ 7,000 more than their counterparts who have only a bachelor’s degree in education. This difference has widened in recent years and persists well past the first decade of employment.
First year students work in public schools settings almost immediately
The BAHT is very different from most undergraduate teacher preparation. Matteo Ricci College places its future teachers in public school settings within the first few days of the beginning of the freshman year, for a year-long exposure to the simplest educational setting: tutoring. As the student becomes familiar with the setting, often the responsible master teacher will extend the student’s role. Then in the winter quarter of the sophomore year, students undertake a full immersion, all morning of every day, in a carefully selected classroom. These students are then also taught, guided, and supported by one of the star professors from the graduate school. In the third and fourth years, these now more accomplished students find that many other opportunities are available (for more information please see our Degree Requirements and Curriculum page). When our BAHT students apply to graduate school, they already have tested and proven, including to themselves, that teaching is their true vocation.
Excellent teaching requires self-confidence and love 
BAHT Students
The BAHT is different in other ways also. We don’t believe that teachers should undertake their first full responsibilities with only a brief exposure to higher learning. We believe that teaching well requires much knowledge and a thoughtful and reflective mind. We believe that deep education takes time, that it requires small classes and open dialogue with learned professors. We believe that excellent teaching requires self-confidence and love. It requires an understanding of the large issues facing the schools, but more it requires an ability to focus closely on particular children and how to help them. We know that teaching is wonderfully fun, but only if you do it well.
Students become proficient in those skills which distinguish us as humans
The foundation of the BAHT is a colorful and rigorous curriculum in the wisdoms of the past and the present, from the ancient Greeks to modern philosophies of education. Thinkers are studied directly, in their own writings; the arts, likewise directly. With experienced guidance, students learn to enlighten each other with their insights. Meanwhile students are growing in real proficiency in those skills which most distinguish us as humans: reading, listening, writing, speaking, and collaborating. The power of the humanities rests on expertise in these skills, so that one can fuel the minds and fire the imaginations of other people, be they children or adults. Discernment, too, plays an important role. Students learn to think carefully about what might be best, for themselves and for others.
The specialized curriculum in the BAHT is individualized to correspond to the grade level(s) and subject(s) that a student might want to teach. Emphasis is placed on developing a rich store of teachable knowledge alongside a mature personality suited to the classroom. Upper division courses include “Education and the Polity” and “The Teacher as Leader”. Electives include, for example, “Acting for Future Teachers” and “Cartooning for Future Teachers”. We encourage every student to take advantage of the wide range of courses available across the University, and we maintain close advising relationships to be sure that each student is undertaking the best possible and most appropriate path to achieve his or her personal goals.
Cohort learning creates strong bonds among students
Finally, the Bachelor of Arts in Humanities for Teaching is a “cohort program”, meaning that students enter only as freshmen and proceed together through many of the steps toward graduation. This creates a strong bond among students and a helpful support group. Each student is treated as an individual, but sharing knowledge and feelings can be an important help to success. If, on the other hand, a student decides, for whatever reason, to leave the program, the foundational courses in Matteo Ricci College can be counted as fulfillment of most of the University’s “Core requirements”, so that students who might choose to transfer out of Matteo Ricci College will find that they have lost relatively little time in progressing toward some other degree.