This post was last updated on June 24th, 2017 at 09:49 am
Imagine a school that makes students take the same courses at the same times as everyone else. Also, this school uses little or no technology. This school does not utilize contemporary texts and in fact, does not even aspire to contextualize these ancient texts to the modern world. You’ve probably dismissed this school as irrelevant and without much understanding of the real world.
You’re probably wrong.
St. John’s College seems to be offering much of what many educational reformers are trying to reform. They unabashedly hold on to traditional methods like the Socratic approach and offer no computing classes, no contemporary studies and have no minors and majors. Everyone graduates with the same degree. So much for personalized learning.
This article shares the details of what they refer to as “The Program”. Let me share the highlights and things that struck me:
Fixed curriculum:
Starting with the Greeks and working through the 20th century including some “recent” science readings from the 1950s and 1960s, the curriculum is rarely altered.
It seems like they’ve determined which works best foster deep thinking and discourse and simply stick with … Read the rest