This college sounds like paradise. They don’t seem to have Spanish, though, so it’s more like a pre-university program. But it’s a damn good one.
NYTimes: The Most Contrarian College in America
Opinions, art, debate
Opinions, art, debate
This college sounds like paradise. They don’t seem to have Spanish, though, so it’s more like a pre-university program. But it’s a damn good one.
Clarissa's Blog 
The US has a couple of these “great books” colleges, but St. Johns is definitely the most famous. I considered going there as an undergraduate.
I’ve always considered St. Johns and similar colleges the best answer to both conservative and liberal canon warriors. Both sides seem to take for granted that a curriculum like St. Johns, so rotten with Western Dead White Males, will somehow make students conservative, but my experience with the St. Johns graduates I’ve known is that they are all pretty left of center.
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“Both sides seem to take for granted that a curriculum like St. Johns, so rotten with Western Dead White Males, will somehow make students conservative, but my experience with the St. Johns graduates I’ve known is that they are all pretty left of center.”
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This is definitely the throwback Liberal Arts College (TM), where students get a formidable education in civics, though I’m not sure how well that works if you have to use a lot of science and math in your intended career.
[For example, how does reading the entirety of Ptolemy’s Amalgest helps with scientific literacy?]
If you want the same education people got in 1960, this is wonderful. [They do read Supreme Court opinions but that could be anything from Marbury v. Madison to Citizen’s United. ]
Otherwise this is bog standard private school curricula, familiar to the characters of A Separate Peace:
Four years of literature, philosophy, and political science in seminar
Four years of mathematics
Three years of laboratory science
Four years of language (Ancient Greek, Middle/Early English, and French)
Freshman year chorus followed by sophomore year music
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Yes, exactly, it’s a high school for the intellectual elite.
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I also looked at St. John’s for undergrad, but it wasn’t affordable. In hindsight, I’m glad I went to my state’s best large public university.
I know someone from grad school who taught at St. John’s for a while. Her departure from there wasn’t a happy one, and I think she holds some ill will towards the place, but I don’t feel like I know her well enough to ask what happened.
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One of my high school teachers recommended I look into this college, and I did and thought it looked great. Of course though, I could never afford it.
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They just lowered their tuition to $35,000 which is still insane for normal people.
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It’s in line with four year private university tuition averages. But something tells me transfer students don’t exist at St. John’s.
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And most people can’t afford to go to private universities.
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True. It’s not that far off from what the official sticker price* was at my alma mater. Or that of a couple of my friends who went to a similar private university. **
*Almost nobody paid the official sticker price. I didn’t. 90% of the student body had some aid. There was no differential between U.S. and international students, which meant that we had a ton of international students in a tiny postage stamp of a town.
** They got a full ride. The cheaper state public university did not give them that deal and thus was far more expensive.
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OT: In other news, mental health is flourishing on American campuses……….. NOT!
https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/shootings/report-las-vegas-professor-shot-himself-in-arm-to-protest-trump/
I guess Trump will think twice about messing around with that guy in the future…
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God, poor dumbass. I suspect he had a very active Twitter life.
I had no idea how unstable many people were before the insanity started spilling out of them about Trump.
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I had no idea how unstable many people were before the insanity started spilling out of them about Trump.
Indeed, I had no idea either. drily
I don’t think many 69 year old professor emirituses (emeritii?) are active on Twitter. Nor do they tip janitors.
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He left a $100 bill and a note to the janitor taped on the bathroom wall, so the idiot was probably trying to blow his brains out but couldn’t find them.
Sociology professor, what do you expect??
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Hi Clarissa. I went to SJU and I’m not sure what you mean by “they don’t have Spanish.” I (And many others I’m sure) are successful spanish majors and also studied abroad in one of the many spanish speaking countries available. It’s a great choice!
https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.js
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Sorry, what I meant is that they don’t have it at my level. Meaning that I can’t go work there. I’m sure it’s fantastic for students but not for scholars like me. But it’s definitely a great school and it’s wonderful you went there.
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