The man of science says, "Cut the stalk, and the apple will fall"; but he says it calmly, as if the one idea really led up to the other....In fairyland we avoid the word "law"; but in the land of science they are singularly fond of it....A law implies that we know the nature of the generalisation and enactment; not merely that we have noticed some of the effects....The only words that ever satisfied me as describing Nature are the terms used in the fairy books, "charm," "spell," "enchantment." They express the arbitrariness of the fact and its mystery. A tree grows fruit because it is a magic tree. Water runs downhill because it is bewitched. The sun shines because it is bewitched 
(GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy)

Most Catholic high schools mandate courses in General Science and Biology, and require either Physics or Chemistry.  But not many have thought out why they do this or how these courses integrate with the rest of the curriculum.  Too often students float from the “land of science” to the land of man without seeing any bridge between the two. 

Are science courses required merely to fulfill a state requirement?  Are they to prepare students to become scientists?  Or are they a necessary part of developing the “whole person”?