Very interesting. Did you or do you know anyone who has attended St John's? Any idea if it's particularly successful in terms of students exiting with an impressive understanding of themselves and the world?
I'm friends with a girl that is currently enrolled.
In a lot of ways it's much like any other college or university in that it can be gamed and you can graduate without putting forth a great deal of effort. They do have interesting mechanisms to weed out those who truly don't belong there (Don Rags, enabling), but if you're willing to read and write you can make it through four years.
It's a great place to get a liberal arts degree if you take on the curriculum with the intention of absorbing the material and building the foundation that they're laying out for you. I've been told that post-graduation it is often necessary to complete undergrad credits elsewhere before most grad schools will look at you - not sure how accurate that is.
It's an extremely romantic idea. I'm satisfied with my current education, but I still find myself envious of the environment they are at least trying to create and what that has to offer.
I think the main filtering mechanism would be the structure of the degree itself. I think most of the people who turn up specifically want that kind of education.
Not much attraction for a kid wanting a job ticket.
A friend of mine went and thought it was very good, but couldn't afford to stay. He took a few years off, saved up, and went back to finish. Very smart guy, always had some really out-there question for you in lieu of hello. Made for really good and atypical convo.
I just had a quick look at the website. On some level it sounds tempting. On another level, paying forty-three thousand dollars a year to sit around reading Homer doesn't sound like that great a use of money and time.
The value isn't in knowing which books to read, but rather is in the Socratic classroom learning environment with 2 teachers per classroom and a 1-8 teacher-student ratio. Assuming the teachers are of good quality (and it sounds like they have the correct focus -- being "tutors" or discovery partners rather than lecturers, and don't have a well defined plan for each day), the amount of serious inquiry and a nearly ideal environment for feedback on your thoughts daily by knowledgeable and hopefully intelligent and wise individuals, would be massively awesome and beneficial for any person ENGAGED and caring to learn.
In the case of a person attending this university just because their parents made them -- I feel very sorry for both the parents and the students for the waste of money and lost hours of amazing opportunity.
It's not for everyone, I agree. But I'd like to go there because it looks like the education of a lifetime, over and above the education of a career or profession.
