St. John's College
Description
St. John’s College, with campuses in Annapolis, MD, and Santa Fe, NM, offers the very best in liberal education. There is no other college quite like St. John's. Through sustained engagement with the works of great thinkers and through genuine discussion with peers, students at St. John’s College cultivate habits of mind that last a lifetime.
The interdisciplinary curriculum focuses on the foundational works of philosophy, literature, history, political science, theology, economics, music, mathematics, and the laboratory sciences. Classes are small, with between 14 and 20 students, and are conducted as seminars; the faculty-student ratio is 1:8. Students develop strong critical thinking skills through their close interaction with faculty and as they delve deeply into the most important and influential works of all time. The college also offers a graduate-level program based on these same principles.
The Classes
Everyone at St. John’s takes the following classes:
Four years of language (Ancient Greek and French)
Four years of mathematics
Four years of interdisciplinary study
Three years of laboratory science (biology, physics, chemistry)
One year of music
Two eight-week elective discussions - Preceptorials
A once-a-week lecture for the college as a whole
The Mission of Liberal Education
St. John’s College is a community dedicated to liberal education. Such education seeks to free men and women from the tyrannies of unexamined opinions and inherited prejudices. It also endeavors to enable them to make intelligent, free choices concerning the ends and means of both public and private life.
At St. John’s, freedom is pursued mainly through thoughtful conversation about great books of the Western tradition. The books that are at the heart of learning at St. John's stand among the original sources of our intellectual tradition. They are timeless and timely; they not only illuminate the persisting questions of human existence, but also have great relevance to contemporary problems. They change our minds, move our hearts, and touch our spirits.
The Graduate Institute
In 1967 The Graduate Institute in Liberal Education, based on the principles of the St. John's undergraduate program, was established. The Master of Arts in Liberal Arts Program is offered on both campuses. Since 1994 the Santa Fe campus has offered the Eastern Classics program, a structured reading of literary, philosophical, and theological texts of India, China, and Japan.
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RECENT FACEBOOK POSTS
facebook.com“A thinking person needs to have a critique of technology. That doesn’t mean a rejection. It just means a nuanced and thoughtful sense of what this thing is, so one doesn’t approach it unquestioningly or without reflecting on what it’s about, what it’s for, what it does for us, but also what it does to us.”
“The world will meet you halfway. It’s a pretty wonderful experience if you just venture out. All you have to do is be open and curious.”
Have you checked out The Johnnie Chair student blog lately?
As we prepare for great lectures tonight in Annapolis and Santa Fe, give a listen to tutor Frank Pagano's Sept. 20 lecture from Santa Fe, Lincoln's Eulogy: A Constitution Day Talk.
The Nestor Fund was created by GI alumni to support tutor stipends in Annapolis, and was most recently apportioned to tutor emeritus Will Williamson for the creation of a mathematics manual for the Graduate Institute.
Students are sharing some great information about their summer internships and fellowships at the Summer Experience Fair in Annapolis! Santa Fe will hold its own fair on October 3.
Annapolis President Pano Kanelos is set to speak at the Fannie Lou Hamer Awards this weekend in FSK Auditorium.
Lots of great information on the C-SPAN bus in Annapolis!
The Sept. 15 lecture from Santa Fe featuring tutor David Carl is posted in the Digital Archives. Give it a listen!
“I see it as a service for students all four years they’re here, as well as when they’re alumni.”
“You have to find in yourself the kind of courage in one way, stamina in another, to be constantly confronted with excellence, to begin to recognize the elements of it,” he says, “so when you’re doing your own work, you can strive for it.”
GI 50th Anniversary: “A mere tone can organize the world around itself.”
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