St. John's College

Motto	Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque (I make free men from children by means of books and a balance)
Established	1696 as King William's School 1784, Chartered 1937, New Program
Type	Private
Staff	134 total (both campuses)
President	Christopher Nelson, Annapolis, Michael Peters, Santa Fe
Undergraduates	450-475 per campus
Postgraduates	100
Location	Annapolis, Maryland, Santa Fe, New Mexico USA
Campus	Urban
Athletics	Croquet, Fencing, Crew, Intramurals, Search and Rescue
Website	www.stjohnscollege.edu

St. John's College describes itself as one college on two campuses: St. John's College, Annapolis and St. John's College, Santa Fe. As the successor to the King William's School, a grammar school founded in 1696, St. John's College, Annapolis was chartered in 1784, making it one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the U.S. Image File history File links Sjcseal. ... A motto is a phrase or a short list of words meant to formally describe the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. ... The date of establishment or date of founding of an institution is the date on which that institution chooses to claim as its starting point. ... The year 1696 had the earliest equinoxes and solstices for 400 years in the Gregorian calendar, because this year is a leap year and the Gregorian calendar would have behaved like the Julian calendar since March 1500 had it have been in use that long. ... 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Private schools, or independent schools, are schools not administered by local or national government, which retain the right to select their student body and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students tuition rather than with public (state) funds. ... University President is the title of the highest ranking officer within a university, within university systems that prefer that appellation over other variations such as Chancellor or rector. ... Motto: Vixi Liber Et Moriar (I have lived, and I shall die, free) Nickname: Americas Sailing Capital , Naptown, San Diego East, Dogtown Map Political Statistics Founded 1649 Incorporated 1708 Anne Arundel County Mayor Ellen O. Moyer (Dem) Geographic Statistics Area  - Total  - Land  - Water 19. ... Motto: Nickname: Map Political Statistics Founded 1607 Incorporated Santa Fe County Mayor Larry A. Delgado Geographic Statistics Area  - Total  - Land  - Water 96. ... In some educational systems, an undergraduate is a post-secondary student pursuing a Bachelors degree. ... A graduate school or grad school is a school that awards advanced degrees, with the general requirement that students must have earned an undergraduate (bachelors) degree. ... Motto: Vixi Liber Et Moriar (I have lived, and I shall die, free) Nickname: Americas Sailing Capital , Naptown, San Diego East, Dogtown Map Political Statistics Founded 1649 Incorporated 1708 Anne Arundel County Mayor Ellen O. Moyer (Dem) Geographic Statistics Area  - Total  - Land  - Water 19. ... Official language(s) None Capital Annapolis Largest city Baltimore Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 42nd 32,160 km² 145 km 400 km 21 37°53N to 39°43N 75°4W to 79°33W Population  - Total (2000)  - Density Ranked 19th 5,296,486 165... Motto: Nickname: Map Political Statistics Founded 1607 Incorporated Santa Fe County Mayor Larry A. Delgado Geographic Statistics Area  - Total  - Land  - Water 96. ... Official language(s) None; English and Spanish de facto Capital Santa Fe Largest city Albuquerque Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 5th 315,194 km² 550 km 595 km 0. ... Urban area is a term used to define an area where there is an increased density of man-made structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. ... Croquet is a recreational game and, latterly, a competitive sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing arena. ... Russian Ivan Tourchine and American Weston Kelsey fence in the second round of the Olympic Mens Individual Épée event at the Helliniko Fencing Hall on Aug. ... A coxless pair which is a sweep-oar boat. ... In the United States and Canada intramural sports (informally, Intramurals, and more commonly Intramural recreation) refers to games and recreational activities organized within the walls of a school that build upon the skills learned in physical education classes. ... Search and Rescue (acronym SAR) is an operation mounted by emergency services, often well-trained volunteers, to find someone believed to be in distress, lost, sick or injured either in a remote or difficult to access area, such as mountains, desert or forest (Wilderness search and rescue), or at sea... The front page of the English Wikipedia Website. ... Motto: Vixi Liber Et Moriar (I have lived, and I shall die, free) Nickname: Americas Sailing Capital , Naptown, San Diego East, Dogtown Map Political Statistics Founded 1649 Incorporated 1708 Anne Arundel County Mayor Ellen O. Moyer (Dem) Geographic Statistics Area  - Total  - Land  - Water 19. ... Motto: Nickname: Map Political Statistics Founded 1607 Incorporated Santa Fe County Mayor Larry A. Delgado Geographic Statistics Area  - Total  - Land  - Water 96. ... The year 1696 had the earliest equinoxes and solstices for 400 years in the Gregorian calendar, because this year is a leap year and the Gregorian calendar would have behaved like the Julian calendar since March 1500 had it have been in use that long. ... 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Since 1937, the school has followed an unusual curriculum, called The New Program or the Great Books Program, based on discussion of works from the Western philosophic and literary canon. Within St. John's College, the curriculum is often referred to simply as "The Program." The Great Books program was developed at the University of Chicago by Stringfellow Barr, Scott Buchanan, Robert Hutchins, and Mortimer Adler in the mid-1930s as an alternate form of education to the then rapidly changing undergraduate curriculum, but was adopted at St. John's simply as a "survival measure." The Great Books program in use today was heavily influenced by Jacob Klein, who was Dean of the college in the 1940s and 1950s. 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Core Curriculum. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Core Curriculum. ... The University of Chicago is a private university principally located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1890 and opened in 1892. ... Stringfellow Barr is a historian, an author, and a former president of St. ... Scott Buchanan (Scott Milross Buchanan), March 17, 1895-March 25, 1968. ... Robert Hutchins around 1963 Robert Maynard Hutchins (January 17, 1899, Brooklyn, New York – May 17, 1977, Santa Barbara, California) was an educational philosopher, a president (1929-1945) of the University of Chicago and its chancellor (1945-1951). ... Mortimer Adler around 1963 Mortimer Jerome Adler (December 28, 1902 – June 28, 2001) was an American philosopher and author. ...

The four-year program of study, nearly all of which is mandatory, demands that students read and discuss the works of many of Western civilization's most prominent contributors to philosophy, theology, mathematics, science, music, poetry, and literature, such as Aristotle, Shakespeare, Descartes, and Einstein. In line with the views of the program's founders—who complained of "vocational interests" that "clutter" other college's curricula—"Johnnies", as St. John's students style themselves, usually value intellectual pursuits for their own sake, regardless of whether they have practical application. Aristotle (Ancient Greek: AristotelÄ“s 384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, who studied with Plato and taught Alexander the Great. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... For other things named Descartes, see Descartes (disambiguation). ... Albert Einstein, photographed by Oren J. Turner in 1947. ...

Unlike mainstream U.S. colleges, St. John's eschews contemporary textbooks, lectures, and examinations. While grades are given, the culture of the school deemphasizes their importance and students are actively discouraged from even looking at them. Grading is based largely on class participation and papers. Tutors, as faculty members are called at the College, play a non-directive role in the classroom, compared to mainstream colleges. However, at St. John's this does vary somewhat by course and instructor.

Despite its name, St. John's College has no religious affiliation. The school grants only one bachelor's degree. Two master's degrees are currently available, one in Western classics, which is a modified version of the undergraduate curriculm, and a parallel course of studies in Eastern Classics. The Master's in Eastern Classics is unique to St. John's Santa Fe, as no other accredited institution of higher learning in North America offers a similar degree. Both graduate degrees are awarded to graduate students through the college's Graduate Institute.

History

Stringfellow Barr, a co-founder of the new program was a constant supporter.

St. John's College was chartered in 1784 and later began granting bachelor's degrees. The first act of the newly chartered school was the incorporation of King William's School, a defunct grammar school established in 1696. The college took up residence in a building known as Bladen's Folly, which was originally built to be the state govenor's mansion, but was not completed. There was some association with the Freemasons early in the college's history, leading to speculation that it was named after Saint John the Evangelist, the patron saint of Freemasonry. The College's original charter, reflecting the Masonic value of religious tolerance as well as the religious diversity of the founders (they included both Presbyterians and Episcopalians), stated that "youth of all religious denominations shall be freely and liberally admitted." Image File history File links Stringfellow_Barr. ... Image File history File links Stringfellow_Barr. ... Stringfellow Barr is a historian, an author, and a former president of St. ... 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The year 1696 had the earliest equinoxes and solstices for 400 years in the Gregorian calendar, because this year is a leap year and the Gregorian calendar would have behaved like the Julian calendar since March 1500 had it have been in use that long. ... American Square & Compasses Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternal organization. ... Categories: Saints | Ancient Roman Christianity | Christianity-related stubs ... The Masonic Square and Compasses. ...

The College curriculum has taken various forms throughout its history. Although it began with a general program of study in the liberal arts, St. John's was a military school for much of the 19th century. In contrast to Washington and Lee University, a contemporary institution, the College always maintained a small size, generally enrolling fewer than 500 men at a time. Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Rockbridge County, Virginia, located adjacent to Virginia Military Institute. ...

In 1936, the College lost its accreditation.^[1] The Board of Visitors and Governors, faced with dire financial straits caused by the Great Depression, invited educational innovators Stringfellow Barr and Scott Buchanan to make a completely fresh start. They introduced a new program of study, which is essentially the one still in effect as of 2006. Buchanan became dean of the College, while Barr assumed its presidency. 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Dorothea Langes Migrant Mother depicts destitute pea pickers in California, centering on Florence Owens Thompson, a mother of seven children, age 32, in Nipomo, California, March 1936. ... Stringfellow Barr is a historian, an author, and a former president of St. ... Scott Buchanan (Scott Milross Buchanan), March 17, 1895-March 25, 1968. ... 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In the "Cool Colleges" guide, Donald Asher writes that the reason the New Program was implemented was simply to save the college from closing: "Several benefactores convinced the college to reject a watered-down curriculum in favor of becoming a very distinctive academic community. Thus this great institution was reborn as a survival measure."

In 1938, Walter Lippman wrote a column praising liberal arts education as a bulwark against fascism, and said “in the future, men will point to St. John’s College and say that there was the seed-bed of the American renaissance.” ^[2] 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In 1940, national attention was attracted to St. John's by a story in Life Magazine entitled: The Classics: At St. John’s They Come into Their Own Once More. ^[3] 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... A cover of Life Magazine from 1911 Life has been the name of two notable magazines published in the United States. ...

Classic works unavailable in English translation were translated by faculty members, typed, mimeographed, and bound. They were sold to the general public as well as to students, and by 1941 the St. John's College bookshop was famous as the only source for English translations of works such as Copernicus's Revolutions of the Celestial Sphere, St. Augustine's De Musica, and Ptolemy's Almagest. For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... Nicolaus Copernicus (in Latin; Polish Mikołaj Kopernik, German Nikolaus Kopernikus - February 19, 1473 – May 24, 1543) was a Polish astronomer, mathematician and economist who developed a heliocentric (Sun-centered) theory of the solar system in a form detailed enough to make it scientifically useful. ... St. ... Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: ; ca. ...

The wartime years were difficult for the all-male St. John's. Enlistment and the draft all but emptied the college; 15 seniors graduated in 1943, 8 in 1945, and 3 in 1946.^[4]

From 1940 to 1946, St. John's was repeatedly confronted with threats of its land being seized by the Navy for expansion of the Naval Academy. In 1945, James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy, announced plans to seize the St. John's campus for expansion of the U. S. Naval academy. At the time, the New York Times, which had expected a legal battle royal comparable to the Dartmouth case, commented^[5] that "although a small college of fewer than 200 students, St. John's has, because of its experimental liberal arts program, received more publicity and been the center of a greater academic controversy than most other colleges in the land. Its best-books program has been attacked and praised by leading educators of the day." James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was a Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense (September 17, 1947–March 28, 1949). ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

The constant threat of eviction discouraged Stringfellow Barr. In late 1946 Forrestal withdrew the plan, in the face of public opposition and the disapproval of the House Naval Affairs Committee, but Barr and Scott Buchanan were already committed to leaving St. John's and attempting to launch a new, similar college in Stockbridge, Massachusetts; the project eventually failed. 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Liberal Arts, Inc. ... Stockbridge is a town located in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. ...

In 1949, Richard D. Weigle (pronounced "why-gull") became president of St. John's. Following a difficult and chaotic period from 1940 to 1949, Weigle's presidency continued for 31 years during which the college and New Program became well established as continuing institutions. 1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday. ...

In 1951, St. John's became coeducational, admitting women for the first time in its then-254-year history. 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ...

In 1961, the governing board of St. John's approved plans to establish a second college at Santa Fe, New Mexico. According to Western mystery writer Tony Hillerman, the site selection committee originally had expected to locate in Claremont, California, and reluctantly accepted an invitation to inspect a New Mexico site. Hillerman spins a tale of the committeemen: 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... Motto: Nickname: Map Political Statistics Founded 1607 Incorporated Santa Fe County Mayor Larry A. Delgado Geographic Statistics Area  - Total  - Land  - Water 96. ... Tony Hillerman (born May 27, 1925 in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma) is an award-winning contemporary American author of detective novels and non-fiction works. ... Claremont is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, USA, about 45 kilometers (30 miles) east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. ...

made pale from the weak sun of the coastal climate and their scholarly profession, generally urban, generally Eastern, solidly W.A.S.P. They came from a world which was old Anglo-Saxon family, old books, Greek and Latin literacy, prep schools and Blue Point oysters and Ivy League; a world bounded on the north by Boston... and on the south by Virginia.

According to Hillerman, the Eastern scholars became captivated by the Sangre de Cristo range and the presence of mule deer tracks.^[6] Groundbreaking occurred on April 22, 1963, and the first classes held in 1964. April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). ... Template:C20YearInnTopic 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ...

In 1969, Weigle was among 79 college presidents signing an October 9th letter to Richard M. Nixon urging a stepped-up timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam. The letter said they were "speaking as individuals" and described the war as "a denial of so much that is best in their society." 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... October 9 is the 282nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (283rd in Leap years). ... Order: 37th President Vice President: Spiro Agnew (1969–1973), Gerald R. Ford (1973–1974) Term of office: January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974 Preceded by: Lyndon B. Johnson Succeeded by: Gerald R. Ford Date of birth: January 9, 1913 Place of birth: Yorba Linda, California Date of death: April 22...

Annapolis campus

McDowell hall at St. John's is a major landmark in Annapolis.

St. John's is located in the Historic Annapolis district, one block away from the Maryland State Capitol building. Its proximity to the United States Naval Academy has inspired many a comparison to Athens and Sparta. The schools carry on a spirited rivalry seen in the annual croquet match between the two schools on the front lawn of St. John's, which has been called by Gentleman's Quarterly "the purest intercollegiate athletic event in America." St. John's has won 14 out of the last 18 matches. Francis M. McDowell File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Francis M. McDowell File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... City nickname: Americas Sailing Capital Location in the state of Maryland Founded 1649 Mayor Ellen O. Moyer (Dem) Area  - Total  - Water 19. ... The United States Naval Academy (USNA) is an institution for the undergraduate education of officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps and is located in Annapolis, Maryland. ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα Athína IPA ) is the capital of Greece and one of the most famous cities in the world, named after goddess Athena. ... Sparta (Σπάρτη) was a city in ancient Greece, whose territory included, in Classical times, all Laconia and Messenia, and which was the most powerful state of the Peloponnesus. ... Croquet is a recreational game and, latterly, a competitive sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing arena. ... Model Heidi Klum on the cover of GQ. Actor Nicholas Cage on the cover of the March, 1997 issue of GQ (U.S. edition) Gentlemens Quarterly, most often known simply as GQ, is a monthly mens magazine that focuses on mens fashion and style. ...

The center of campus, McDowell Hall, was built in 1734. Its Great Hall has seen many college events, from balls feting Generals Lafayette and Washington to the unique St. John's institutions called waltz parties, which have gradually evolved to consist mostly of swing dancing, though waltz, polka, and even some tango are still played. Events January 8 - Premiere of George Frideric Handels opera Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. ...

Santa Fe campus

Weigle Hall (behind the pond) was named after the president who presided over the construction of the new college in Santa Fe, and eventually became president of both campuses at once. Today each college has its own president.

St. John's is located at the foot of Monte Sol, on the eastern edge of Santa Fe. It was opened in 1964 due to the increase in qualified applicants at the Annapolis campus. The College chose to open a second campus rather than destroy the intimate feel of the Annapolis campus. Image File history File links Weigle. ... Image File history File links Weigle. ... Santa Fe (Spanish for holy faith) or Santa Fé (Portuguese) is the name of a number of places in the world: United States of America: Santa Fe, the state capital of New Mexico Santa Fe, Florida Santa Fe, Missouri Santa Fe, Tennessee Santa Fe, Texas Rancho Santa Fe, California It...

The Santa Fe campus offers students a more secluded atmosphere and better weather than the Annapolis campus, in addition to the vast Pecos Wilderness and Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Almost every institutional and residential building has multiple balconies where students and faculty can enjoy the enormous sky, and breathtaking sunsets each day. The campus also boasts an expansive view of Santa Fe which extends to Los Alamos, nestled in the distant mountains.

The college maintains gear to facilitate student use of the outdoors, such as kayaks, rafts, hiking equipment, and sports equipment. In addition, the college Search and Rescue team is recognized throughout the Southwest, participating in a wide variety of rescue missions in conjuction with the New Mexico State Police and other volunteer teams. Search and Rescue (acronym SAR) is an operation mounted by emergency services, often well-trained volunteers, to find someone believed to be in distress, lost, sick or injured either in a remote or difficult to access area, such as mountains, desert or forest (Wilderness search and rescue), or at sea...

Curriculum overview

The Chair, used at both campuses by all students and tutors, is a somewhat iconic figure at the college.

The program involves: Image File history File links Stjohnschair. ... Image File history File links Stjohnschair. ...

• Four years of literature and philosophy in seminar
• Four years of mathematics
• Three years of laboratory science
• Two years of Ancient Greek
• Two years of French
• Freshman year chorus followed by sophomore year music

The Great Books are not the only texts used at St. John's. Greek and French classes make use of supplemental materials that are more like traditional textbooks. Science laboratory courses and mathematics courses use manuals prepared by faculty members that combine source materials with workbook exercises. For example, the mathematics tutorial combines a 1905 paper by Albert Einstein with exercises that require the student to work through the mathematics used in the paper. Albert Einstein, photographed by Oren J. Turner in 1947. ...

Nevertheless, the emphasis on source materials is strong; all seminar readings are from the book list, and music is studied from scores that are primary sources.

The only elective courses are brief "preceptorials" offered in the winter of the junior and senior years. The options for these classes change each year, and often include courses on topics not covered in the Great Books program, including works by authors beyond the "dead white males" who dominate the Great Books list. Dead white males or DWEM (an acronym standing for Dead White European Male), is a pejorative term used most commonly to refer to a tradition of thought and pedagogy which stresses the importance of individual European males from the past, at the expense of other forces (economic or social, for...

No written tests are given, apart from occasional quizzes in language tutorials. Students are evaluated based on class participation and papers. In the seminar, an oral examination is also given each semester. This examination is a discussion with the tutor or tutors intended to show that the student has read and understood the material covered. In-term written assignments consist of occasional short (less than 10 pages) papers. Longer papers are required for seminars. On the Santa Fe campus students must write seminar papers at the end of each semester. The paper for the spring semester is a longer paper, and is awarded a separate grade on the transcript. Students at the Annapolis campus write a single longer (20 pages) essay at the end of each year. Of particular importance is the sophomore annual essay, which plays a prominent role in the college's formal decision to allow a student to continue into the final two years. In their senior year, students must also write and defend a full-length thesis.

Don Rags

While the school does not release grades to students (except upon direct request), there is an evaluation system. At the end of every semester at St. John's, a student comes together with his tutors to hear what they think of his academic performance.

Don Rags begin with each tutor discussing the student's performance in the third person to his colleagues. The discussion takes place as if the student were not there. After this, the student is asked if he has anything he'd like to add. Once the discussion is over the tutors decide whether or not the student should continue at the college.

A student's last don rag is at the end of the first semester of his junior year.

The term "Don Rag" comes from England, where Professors ("Dons"), would rag on their students.

Ranking and reputation

In 1975, a St. John's graduate gave this description^[7] of how a St. John's degree was received by other institutions:

Bernard M. Davidoff, M. D., a graduate of St. John's in 1969 and of Columbia Medical School... said the medical schools to which he applied reacted to his unconventional preparation in two ways. "Those who had not heard of St. John's were not impressed. Those who knew of the college generally waived requirements." Like most St. John's alumni who enter medical school, he took an undergraduate course in organic chemistry at another college. Dr. Davidoff... cited only one difficulty in adapting to medical school. "I didn't have any interesting people to talk to," he recalled.

Motivational business speaker Zig Ziglar included a chapter on "St. John's: A College That Works" in a 1997 book^[8]. He said St. John's holds fast to the "medieval" notion that all knowledge is one and states that "the books they use are terribly hard." He notes that the school "ranks fifth nationally in the number of graduates earning doctorates in the humanities" and is impressed by the 81% of graduates entering education, engineering, law, medicine, and other professions. He concludes "Sounds like St. John's is onto something. Maybe more schools should take that approach." Zig Ziglar (born Hillary Hinton Ziglar November 6, 1926 in Alabama) is one of Americas preeminent self-help authors and speakers. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII in Roman) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

St. John's runs counter to the usual emphasis on rankings and selectivity. As of 2005, St. John's college has chosen not to participate in any collegiate rankings surveys, has not sent them their requested survey information. However, the school is still included in the influential U.S News college ranking guide. The school ranks in the third tier, perhaps as a result of the school's decision not to send information to U.S News. President Christopher B. Nelson states that "In principle, St. John's is opposed to rankings." He notes that 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... U.S. News & World Report is a weekly newsmagazine. ...

Over the years, St. John's College has been ranked everywhere from third, second, and first tier, to one of the "Top 25" liberal arts colleges. Yet, the curious thing is: We haven't changed. Our mission and our methods have been virtually constant for almost 60 years. So when it comes to the U.S. News and World Report rankings, we would rather be ourselves and have our college speak for itself, than be subjected to fluctuating outside analysis.^[9]

An educational reporter^[10] notes:

Unlike many top-flight liberal arts colleges, St. John's isn't all that hard to get into: The school accepts 75 to 80 percent of applicants, primarily based on three written essays and, to a certain extent, grades. There is no application fee, and standardized tests, like the Scholastic Assessment Test, are optional. About three-quarters of the enrolled students ranked in the top half of their high school class, but only one fifth graduated in the top tenth. School officials said that's because they're less concerned that the applicant show a body of accumulated knowledge than a true desire for attaining it.

Still, the College Board reports that nearly all students submit SAT scores, and those of St. John's students are among the highest in the nation, with the middle 50% of first year students scoring between 660-780 on the SAT Reasoning Verbal and 590-680 on the SAT Reasoning Math. The SAT (pronounced S-A-T) Reasoning Test, formerly called the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, is a type of standardized test frequently used by colleges and universities in the United States to aid in the selection of incoming students. ...

Princeton Review's list of the twenty colleges with the "happiest students" includes both St. John's campuses, the Santa Fe campus ranking seventh and the Annapolis campus ranking seventeenth. The absence of tests and other conventional college work may be a factor in this.

St. John's has a reputation for being politically liberal — in the past it has made several of the liberal lists on the Princeton Review. However, that reputation may not be completely accurate (even in the case of the Santa Fe campus which is often regarded as more liberal than Annapolis) — while the campus is left-leaning politically, one commentator in the Princeton Review warns: "This isn't really a good place for wandering hippie types who subscribe to a pluralist philosophy of absolute tolerance." In particular, the college's ethos does not support students who disagree with the fundamental principles of the Great Books program. Many students become more conservative during their time at the college.^{[citation needed]}

On the topic of political reputation it ought to be noted that at one point the wife of Republican Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld served on the Board of Visitors and Governors at St. John's College, and through this connection a past college president, John Agresto, was selected to oversee the rebuilding of the higher-education system in Iraq. In addition, many famed conservatives, including William F. Buckley, have long been boosters and advocates for the college.

Student body

St. John's student population is not as racially diverse as most American colleges and universities. 92% of students are Caucasian. ^[11]

As of the 2005 class, 35 U.S. states are represented in Annapolis and 32 in Santa Fe; there are also several students from foreign countries. Approximately 65% of students receive financial aid. ^[12]

Notable people associated with St. John's

• James M. Cain, novelist; was professor of journalism at St. John's from 1923 to 1924. Later famous for hard-boiled noir novels such as The Postman Always Rings Twice.
• Elliott Carter, composer, taught courses in physics, mathematics and classical Greek, as well as music, at St. John's from 1939 to 1941.
• Hillary Fields, alumna; romance novelist; won the Pushcart Prize for a short story in 1998.
• Ahmet Ertegun founded Atlantic Records in 1947.
• Jac Holzman founded Elektra Records in 1950 while a student at St. John's.
• Francis Scott Key, alumnus; lyricist of the United States national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.
• Tom G. Palmer, Senior Fellow at Cato Institute.
• Glenn Yarbrough, original lead tenor of The Limeliters.
• Lee David Zlotoff, creator of MacGyver.
• Eva Brann, Tutor; 2005 recipient of the National Humanities Medal.

James Mallahan Cain (July 1, 1892 – October 27, 1977) was an American journalist and crime writer. ... 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1934 novel by James M. Cain that was made into three movies. ... Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... The Pushcart Prize - Best of the small Presses series, published every year since 1976, is the most honored literary project in America. ... The Ertegun brothers, Ahmet Ertegun (1923) and Nesuhi Ertegun (1917–1989) are co-founders of Atlantic Records. ... Atlantic Records (Atlantic Recording Corporation) is a record label founded in 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson, principally as a R&B label. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... Jac Holzman founded Elektra Records in 1950 and Nonesuch Records in 1964. ... Elektra Records was a record label started in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickholt, who both invested $300. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Francis Scott Key Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779–January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer and amateur poet who wrote the United States national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. He is an alumnus of St. ... A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that is formally recognized by a countrys government as their official national song. ... Nicholson took the copy Key gave him to a printer, where it was published as a broadside on September 17 under the title The Defence of Fort McHenry, with an explanatory note explaining the circumstances of its writing. ... Tom Gordon Palmer (born 1956 in Moetsch, Germany) is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and is director of the Institutes educational division, Cato University. ... The Cato Institute is a large libertarian, non-profit public policy research foundation (think tank) headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Institutes stated mission is to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets, and... Glenn Yarbrough (January 12, 1930—) is an American folk singer. ... The Limeliters are a folk music group formed in July, 1959 by Louis Gottlieb (bass), Alex Hassilev (baritone), and Glenn Yarborough (tenor). ... Lee David Zlotoff is a producer, director and screenwriter best known as the creator of MacGyver. ... MacGyver was an American adventure television series about a laid-back, extremely resourceful ex-secret agent named Angus Mac MacGyver, played by Richard Dean Anderson. ... This article contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ...

Curriculum details

The Great Books

The same set of Great Books is the basis of the curriculum at both campuses of St. John's College. As of 2005, it is: 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Freshman year

Homer: Iliad, Odyssey
Aeschylus: Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, The Eumenides
Sophocles: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Philoctetes
Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War
Euripides: Hippolytus, The Bacchae
Herodotus: Histories
Aristophanes: Clouds, Birds
Plato: Meno, Gorgias, Republic, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Symposium, Parmenides, Theaetetus, Sophist, Timaeus, Phaedrus
Aristotle: Poetics, Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, On Generation and Corruption, Politics, Parts of Animals, Generation of Animals
Euclid: Elements
Lucretius: On the Nature of Things
Plutarch: Lycurgus, Solon
Nicomachus: Arithmetic
Antoine Lavoisier: Elements of Chemistry
William Harvey: Motion of the Heart and Blood
Essays by: Archimedes, Blaise Pascal, Gabriel Fahrenheit, Amedeo Avogadro, Joseph Black, John Dalton, Cannizzaro, Virchow, Edme Mariotte, Hans Driesch, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, Hans Spemann, Stears, J.J. Thomson, Dmitri Mendeleev, Berthollet, Joseph Proust Bust of Homer in the British Museum For the fictional character in The Simpsons, see Homer Simpson. ... The Iliad (Ancient Greek: Ιλιάς, Iliás) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i. ... Odysseus and Nausicaä - by Charles Gleyre The Odyssey (Greek: Οδύσσεια, Odússeia) is the second of the two great Greek epic poems ascribed to Homer, the first of which is the Iliad. ... Aeschylus This article is about the ancient Greek playwright. ... The Oresteia is a trilogy of tragedies about the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, written by Aeschylus. ... The Oresteia is a trilogy of tragedies about the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, written by Aeschylus. ... The Oresteia is a trilogy of tragedies about the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, written by Aeschylus. ... A Roman bust. ... Oedipus the King (also known as Oedipus Rex and Oedipus Tyrannos, Oι̉δίπoÏ…Ï‚ τύραννoÏ‚ in Greek) is a Greek tragedy, written by Sophocles around 427 BC. The play was the second of Sophocles three Theban plays to be produced, but comes first in the internal chronology of the plays, followed... Oedipus at Colonus (also Oidipous at Kolonos) is one of the three Theban plays of Sophocles. ... Antigone is a tragedy written in 442 BC by Sophocles. ... The Philoctetes is a play by Sophocles written about 410 BC. Its subject is Philoctetes, the friend of Herakles, who was also a participant in the Trojan War. ... Bust of Thucydides Thucydides (between 460 and 455 BC–circa 400 BC, Greek Θουκυδίδης, Thoukudídês) was an ancient Greek historian, and the author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens. ... Page from tenth-century minuscule manuscript of Thucydides History The History of the Peloponnesian War is an account of the Peloponnesian War in Ancient Greece, fought between the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) and the Delian League (led by Athens). ... A statue of Euripides Euripides (Greek: Ευριπίδης) (c. ... Euripides wrote two tragedies dealing with the myth of Hippolytus, which in ancient times were distinguished as: Hippolytus Veiled, or Hippolytos Kalyptomenos, or Hippolytos with his head covered Hippolytus Bearer of the Garland, or Hippolytos Stephanephoros, or Hippolytus with a garland Only the latter survives. ... The Bacchae (also known as The Bacchantes) is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. ... Bust of Herodotus at Naples Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: , Herodotos) was a historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC-ca. ... The Histories of Herodotus by Herodotus is considered the first work of history in Western literature. ... Bust of Aristophanes Aristophanes (c. ... The Clouds (Nephelai) is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes lampooning the sophists and the intellectual trends of late fifth-century Athens. ... The Birds (Ornithes) is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes in 414 BC, and performed that year for the Festival of Dionysus. ... Plato Plato (Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn) (c. ... Meno is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato. ... Gorgias refers to the last dialogue that Plato wrote before leaving Athens. ... The Republic is an influential dialogue by Plato, written in the first half of the 4th century BC. This Socratic dialogue mainly is about political philosophy and ethics. ... The Apology is Platos version of the speech given by Socrates as he defends himself against the charges of being a man who corrupted the young, did not believe in the gods, and created new deities. ... The Crito (IPA [kriːtɔːn]; in English usually [ˈkɹiːtɘʊː]) is a well-known dialogue by the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, between Socrates and his follower the rich Athenian Crito (or Criton), regarding the source and nature of political obligation. ... The Phaedo (pronounced FEE-doh) is the fourth and last dialogue detailing the final days of Socrates and contains the death scene. ... Symposium is a Socratic dialogue by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, student of Socrates. ... Parmenides is one of the dialogues of Plato. ... Theaetetus ( 417 B.C. – 369 B.C.) was a Greek mathematician of Geometry. ... Sophism was originally a term for the techniques taught by a highly respected group of philosophy and rhetoric teachers in ancient Greece. ... Timaeus is a theoretical treatise of Plato in the form of a Socratic dialogue, written circa 360 B.C. The work puts forward speculation on the nature of the physical world. ... Platos Phaedrus is a dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus. ... Aristotle (Ancient Greek: AristotelÄ“s 384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, who studied with Plato and taught Alexander the Great. ... Aristotles Poetics aims to give an account of poetry. ... A Superconductor demonstrating the Meissner Effect. ... Plato and Aristotle, by Raphael (Sistine Chapel, Rome). ... Nicomachean Ethics (sometimes spelled Nichomachean), is a work by Aristotle on virtue and character and plays a prominent role in defining Aristotelian ethics. ... On Generation and Corruption (or De Generatione et Corruptione) is a text by Aristotle. ... Politics, sometimes defined as the art and science of government. ... On the Parts of Animals (or De Partibus Animalium) is a text by Aristotle. ... On the Generation of Animals (or De Generatione Animalium) is a text by Aristotle. ... Euclid Euclid of Alexandria (Greek: ) (ca. ... Euclids Elements (Greek: ) is a mathematical and geometric treatise, consisting of 13 books, written by the Hellenistic mathematician Euclid in Egypt during the early 3rd century BC. It comprises a collection of definitions, postulates (axioms), propositions (theorems) and proofs thereof. ... Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. ... Not to be confused with The Nature of Things, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television show about natural science. ... Plutarch Mestrius Plutarchus (c. ... Nicomachus (c. ... Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (August 26, 1743 – May 8, 1794) was a French nobleman prominent in the histories of chemistry, finance, biology, and economics. ... William Harvey (April 1, 1578–June 3, 1657) was a medical doctor who is credited with first correctly describing, in exact detail, the properties of blood being pumped around the body by the heart. ... Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus, (An Anatomical Exercise on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals) is the best-known work of the physician William Harvey. ... Archimedes of Syracuse. ... Blaise Pascal (June 19, 1623–August 19, 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. ... Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (born May 24, 1686, Danzig (GdaÅ„sk); died September 16, 1736, The Hague, Netherlands) was a German physicist and engineer, born into a German-speaking family, who worked most of his life in the Netherlands. ... Amedeo Avogadro Count Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro di Quaregna e Cerreto (August 9, 1776–July 9, 1856) was an Italian scientist, most noted for his contributions to the theory of molarity and molecular weight. ... Joseph Black Joseph Black (16 April 1728 - 10 November 1799) was a Scottish physicist and chemist. ... John Dalton John Dalton (September 6, 1766 – July 27, 1844) was a British chemist and physicist, born at Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth in Cumberland. ... Stanislao Cannizzaro (July 13, 1826 - May 10, 1910) was an Italian chemist. ... Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow (1821–1902). ... Edme Mariotte (c. ... Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch (October 28, 1867 - April 16, 1941) was a German biologist and philosopher. ... Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac. ... Hans Spemann (June 27, 1869 - September 12, 1941) was a German embryologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1935 for his discovery of the effect now known as embryonic induction, the influence exercised by various parts of the embryo that directs the development of groups... Sir Joseph John Thomson, OM , FRS (December 18, 1756 – August 30, 1940) often known as J. J. Thomson, was an English physicist, the discoverer of the electron. ... Portrait of Dmitri Mendeleev by Ilya Repin Dmitri Mendeleev (Russian: , Dmitriy Ivanovich Mendeleyev (help· info)) (8 February [O.S. 27 January] 1834 in Tobolsk – 2 February [O.S. 20 January] 1907 in Saint Petersburg), was a Russian chemist. ... Claude Louis Berthollet Claude Louis Berthollet (December 9, 1748 – November 6, 1822) was a French chemist. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ...

Sophomore year

The Bible
Aristotle: De Anima, On Interpretation, Prior Analytics, Categories
Apollonius: Conics
Virgil: Aeneid
Plutarch: Caesar and Cato the Younger
Epictetus: Discourses, Manual
Tacitus: Annals
Ptolemy: Almagest
Plotinus: The Enneads
Augustine of Hippo: Confessions
Anselm of Canterbury: Proslogion
Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologiae, Summa Contra Gentiles
Dante: Divine Comedy
Geoffrey Chaucer: Canterbury Tales
Josquin Des Prez: Mass
Niccolò Machiavelli: The Prince, Discourses on Livy
Nicolaus Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Spheres
Martin Luther: The Freedom of a Christian
François Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli
Michel de Montaigne: Essays
François Viète: Introduction to the Analytical Art
Francis Bacon: Novum Organum
William Shakespeare: Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, The Tempest, As You Like It, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Coriolanus, Sonnets
Poems by: Andrew Marvell, John Donne, and other 16th- and 17th-century poets
René Descartes: Geometry, Discourse on Method
Blaise Pascal: Generation of Conic Sections
Johann Sebastian Bach: St. Matthew Passion, Inventions
Joseph Haydn: Quartets
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Operas
Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonatas
Franz Schubert: Songs
Igor Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Jesus was actually a Sears employee before he got fired and was hired at Wang computers where he was assistant manager for saling Wangs and Wang accesories now but his most famous work is for probly writing the bible and starting up his own company that we now know as... Aristotle (Ancient Greek: Aristotelēs 384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, who studied with Plato and taught Alexander the Great. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... In mathematics, a conic section (or just conic) is a curved locus of points, formed by intersecting a cone with a plane. ... A sculpture of Virgil, probably from the 1st century AD. For other uses, see Virgil (disambiguation). ... The Aeneid is a Latin epic written by Virgil in the 1st century BCE (between 29 and 19 BCE) that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy where he became the ancestor of the Romans. ... Plutarch Mestrius Plutarchus (c. ... Epictetus (c. ... Gaius Cornelius Tacitus Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (c. ... The Annals, or, in Latin, Annales, is a history book by Tacitus covering the reign of the 4 Roman Emperors succeeding to Caesar Augustus. ... Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: ; ca. ... Almagest is the Latin form of the Arabic name (al-kitabu-l-mijisti, i. ... Plotinus Plotinus (Greek: Πλωτίνος)(ca. ... The Six Enneads is a book whose title is sometimes abbreviated to The Enneads or Enneads, and was written by the Neo-Platonist Plotinus; it was edited and compiled by his last student Porphyry, in a short period c. ... St. ... Confessions is the name of a series of thirteen books by St. ... Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033 or 1034 – April 21, 1109), a widely influential medieval philosopher and theologian, held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. ... Saint Thomas Aquinas [Thomas of Aquin, or Aquino] (c. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Summa contra Gentiles (hereafter referred to as SCG) was written by St. ... Dante in a fresco series of famous men by Andrea del Castagno, ca. ... Dante shown holding a copy of The Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the city of Florence, in Michelinos fresco. ... Chaucer: Illustration from Cassells History of England, circa 1902. ... Canterbury Tales Woodcut 1484 The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). ... Josquin Des Prez Josquin Des Prez (diminutive of Joseph; latinized Josquinus Pratensis) (c. ... Machiavelli, c. ... One of the covers of the book The fame of Niccolò Machiavelli rests mainly on his political treatise Il Principe (The Prince), originally called De Principatibus (About Principalities) written around 1513, but not published until 1532, five years after his death. ... Niccolò Machiavelli is primarily known as the author of The Prince. ... Nicolaus Copernicus (February 19, 1473 – May 24, 1543) was an astronomer who provided the first modern formulation of a heliocentric (sun-centered) theory of the solar system in his epochal book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. ... Title page of De revolutionibus De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (English: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, Polish: O obrotach sfer niebieskich) is the seminal work on heliocentric theory and the masterpiece of the great Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. ... Luther at age 46 (Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1529) The Luther seal Martin Luther (November 10, 1483–February 18, 1546) was a German theologian, an Augustinian monk, and an ecclesiastical reformer whose teachings inspired the Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines and culture of the Lutheran and Protestant traditions. ... François Rabelais François Rabelais (c. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (born in Palestrina (Praeneste) near Rome, 1525, latest February 1, 1526 – February 2, 1594 in Rome) was an Italian composer of Renaissance music. ... Michel de Montaigne Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (IPA pronunciation: []) (February 28, 1533 – September 13, 1592) was an influential French Renaissance writer, generally considered to be the inventor of the personal essay. ... François Viète. ... Sir Francis Bacon For other people named Francis Bacon, see Francis Bacon (disambiguation). ... The Novum Organum is a philosophical work by Francis Bacon. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Richard II is a play written by William Shakespeare around 1595 and based on the life of King Richard II of England. ... Henry V is a play by William Shakespeare based on the life of King Henry V of England. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Scene from As you like it, Francis Hayman, c. ... The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare and is one of his best-known and most often quoted plays. ... Othello and Desdemona in Venice by Théodore Chassériau (1819–1856) Othello: The Moor of Venice is a tragedy by Shakespeare written around 1603. ... Scene from Macbeth, depicting the witches conjuring of an apparition in Act IV, Scene I. Painting by William Rimmer This article is on the play Macbeth by Shakespeare. ... King Lear and the Fool in the Storm by William Dyce (1806-1864) King Lear is generally regarded as one of William Shakespeares greatest tragedies. ... Coriolanus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, based on the life of the legendary Roman leader. ... Shakespeares sonnets comprise a collection of 154 poems in sonnet form that deal with such themes as love, beauty, politics, and mortality. ... Andrew Marvell (March 31, 1621 – August 16, 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, and the son of an Anglican clergyman. ... John Donne John Donne (pronounced Dun; 1572 – March 31, 1631) was a Jacobean metaphysical poet. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... For other things named Descartes, see Descartes (disambiguation). ... La Géométrie was published in 1637 and written by René Descartes. ... The Discourse on Method is a philosophical and mathematical treatise published by René Descartes in 1637. ... Blaise Pascal (June 19, 1623–August 19, 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. ... Johann Sebastian Bach (21 March 1685 O.S. – 28 July 1750 N.S.) was a prolific German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together almost all of the strands of the baroque style and brought it to its ultimate maturity. ... Franz Joseph Haydn (March 31 or April 1, 1732 – May 31, 1809) was a leading composer of the Classical period, called the Father of the Symphony and Father of the String Quartet. A life-long resident of Austria, Haydn spent most of his career as a court musician for the... Mozart drawing by Doris Stock, 1789 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart; January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) is among the most significant and enduringly popular composers of European classical music. ... Ludwig van Beethoven by Carl Jäger (Date unknown). ... Franz Schubert. ... Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Russian: ) (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was a Russian-born composer of modern classical music. ...

Junior year

Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote
Galileo Galilei: Dialogues on Two New Sciences
René Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy, Rules for the Direction of the Mind
John Milton: Paradise Lost
François de La Rochefoucauld: Maximes
Jean de La Fontaine: Fables
Blaise Pascal: Pensées
Christiaan Huygens: Treatise on Light, On the Movement of Bodies by Impact
George Eliot: Middlemarch
Baruch Spinoza: Theologico-Political Treatise
John Locke: Second Treatise of Government
Jean Racine: Phèdre
Isaac Newton: Principia Mathematica
Johannes Kepler: Epitome IV
Gottfried Leibniz: Monadology, Discourse on Metaphysics, Essay on Dynamics, Philosophical Essays, Principles of Nature and Grace
Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels
David Hume: A Treatise of Human Nature
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Social Contract, Discourse on Origins of Inequality
Molière: The Misanthrope
Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations
Immanuel Kant: Critique of Pure Reason, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Metaphysics of Morals
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Don Giovanni
Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice
Richard Dedekind: Essay on the Theory of Numbers
Leonhard Euler To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Don Quixote de la Mancha (now usually spelled Don Quijote by Spanish-speakers; Don Quixote is an archaic spelling) (IPA: ) is a novel by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. ... Galileo Galilei. ... The Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences (1638) was Galileos final book and a sort of scientific testament covering much of his work in physics over the preceding thirty years. ... For other things named Descartes, see Descartes (disambiguation). ... Meditations on First Philosophy (subtitled In which the existence of God and the real distinction of mind and body, are demonstrated) is a philosophical treatise written by René Descartes first published in Latin in 1641. ... This article should be transwikied to Wikisource RULES FOR THE DIRECTION OF THE MIND René Descartes (summary) Rule One -The aim of our studies should be to direct the mind with a view to forming true and sound judgements about whatever comes before it. ... John Milton, English poet John Milton (December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674) was an English poet, best-known for his epic poem Paradise Lost. ... Title page of the first edition Paradise Lost (1667) is an epic poem by the 17th century English poet John Milton. ... François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld, le Prince de Marcillac (September 15, 1613 - March 17, 1680), was the greatest maxim writer of France, one of her best memoir writers, and perhaps the most complete and accomplished representative of her ancient nobility. ... Jean de La Fontaine (July 8, 1621 – April 13, 1695) is the most famous French fabulist and probably the most widely read French poet of the 17th century. ... Blaise Pascal (June 19, 1623–August 19, 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. ... The Pensées (literally, thoughts) represented an apology for the Christian religion by Blaise Pascal, the renowned 17th century philosopher and mathematician. ... Christiaan Huygens Christiaan Huygens (pronounced in English (IPA): ; in Dutch: ) (April 14, 1629–July 8, 1695), was a Dutch mathematician and physicist; born in The Hague as the son of Constantijn Huygens. ... George Eliot Mary Ann Evans, better known by the pen name George Eliot (22 November 1819 - 22 December 1880), was an English novelist. ... Middlemarch is a novel by George Eliot, first published in 1871. ... Benedictus de Spinoza (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677), was named Baruch Spinoza by his synagogue elders and known as Bento de Espinosa or Bento dEspiñoza in his native Amsterdam. ... This article is about the treatise published by Baruch Spinoza. ... John Locke (August 29, 1632 – October 28, 1704) was an influential English philosopher and social contract theorist. ... The Second Treatise of Civil Government (sometimes The Second Treatise on Civil Government) was written by the philosopher John Locke and was originally published in the year 1690. ... Jean Racine (December 22, 1639 – April 21, 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the big three of 17th century France (along with Molière and Corneille). ... Phèdre was a 1677 play by Jean Racine, based on both the play Hippolytus by Euripides, and a later Roman play Phaedra by Seneca the Younger. ... Sir Isaac Newton, PRS, (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, inventor, and natural philosopher who is generally regarded as one of the most influential scientists in history. ... Newtons own copy of his Principia, with hand written corrections for the second edition. ... Johannes Kepler Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630), a key figure in the scientific revolution, was a German mathematician, astrologer, astronomer, and an early writer of science fiction stories. ... Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (also von Leibni(t)z) (July 1 (June 21 Old Style) 1646, Leipzig – November 14, 1716, Hanover) was a German polymath, deemed a genius in his day and since. ... Plato and Aristotle, by Raphael (Sistine Chapel, Rome). ... Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (November 30, 1667 – October 19, 1745) was an weiner writer who is famous for works like Gullivers Travels, A Modest Proposal, and A Tale of a Tub. ... Gulliver Gullivers Travels (1726, amended 1735) is a novel by Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the travellers tales literary sub-genre. ... David Hume (April 26, 1711 – August 25, 1776)[1] was a Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian who was one of the most important figures of the Scottish Enlightenment. ... A Treatise of Human Nature is a book by philosopher David Hume, published in 1739–1740. ... Jean-Jacques Rousseau (June 28, 1712 – July 2, 1778) was a Franco-Swiss philosopher of the Enlightenment whose political ideas influenced the French Revolution, the development of socialist theory, and the growth of nationalism. ... Social contract theory (or contractarianism) is a concept used in philosophy, political science and sociology to denote an implicit agreement within a state regarding the rights and responsibilities of the state and its citizens, or more generally a similar concord between a group and its members, or between individuals. ... Jean Jacques Rousseaus Discourse on Inequality, written for the Academy of Dijon in 1754, is an attempt to answer the question What is the origin of inequality among men, and is it authorized by natural law? Rousseau had won a previous competition with his 1st Discourse and was not... Molière, engraved frontispiece to his Works. ... Le Misanthrope is a 17th century comedy of manners written by French playwright Molière. ... Adam Smith, FRSE (baptised June 5, 1723 – July 17, 1790) was a Scottish political economist and moral philosopher. ... An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of Adam Smith, published in 1776. ... Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804), was a German philosopher from Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) in East Prussia. ... This article or section is incomplete and may require cleanup and/or expansion. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... The Metaphysics of Morals (Die Metaphysik der Sitten, 1797) is a major work of moral philosophy by Immanuel Kant. ... Mozart drawing by Doris Stock, 1789 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart; January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) is among the most significant and enduringly popular composers of European classical music. ... Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. ... Jane Austen, in a portrait based on one drawn by her sister Cassandra (click on image for more info). ... Pride and Prejudice book cover Pride and Prejudice is the most famous of Jane Austens novels, and its opening is one of the most famous lines in English literature— Its manuscript was first written between 1796 and 1797, and was initially called First Impressions, but was never published under... Richard Dedekind Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind (October 6, 1831 – February 12, 1916) was a German mathematician who did important work in abstract algebra and the foundations of the real numbers. ... Leonhard was the first to use the term function to describe an expression involving various arguments; i. ...

Senior year

Declaration of Independence
The Constitution
Supreme Court opinions
Hamilton, Jay, and Madison: The Federalist Papers
Charles Darwin: The Origin of Species
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: Phenomenology of Mind, "Logic" (from the Encyclopedia)
Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky: Theory of Parallels
Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy in America
Abraham Lincoln: Selected Speeches
Søren Kierkegaard: Philosophical Fragments, Fear and Trembling
Karl Marx: Capital, Political and Economic Manuscripts of 1844, The German Ideology
Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Brothers Karamazov
Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace
Herman Melville: Benito Cereno
Mark Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Flannery O'Connor: Parker's Back, The Artificial Nigger
Sigmund Freud: General Introduction to Psychoanalysis
Booker T. Washington: Selected Writings
W. E. B. DuBois: The Souls of Black Folk
Martin Heidegger: What is Philosophy?
Werner Heisenberg: The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory
Robert Millikan: The Electron
Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness
U.S. Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence is the document in which the Thirteen Colonies in North America declared themselves independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain and explained their justifications for doing so. ... The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. ... The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the U.S. and leads the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government. ... A portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, 1792. ... John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American politician, statesman, revolutionary, diplomat and jurist. ... James Madison (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was the fourth (1809–1817) President of the United States. ... Title page of an early Federalist compilation. ... In his lifetime Charles Darwin gained international fame as an influential scientist examining controversial topics. ... The title page of the 1859 edition of On the Origin of Species. ... Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel [] (August 27, 1770–November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, Württemberg, in present-day southwest Germany. ... Hegels work Phänomenologie des Geistes (1807) is called The Phenomenology of Spirit or The Phenomenology of Mind in English; the German word Geist has connotations of both spirit and mind in English. ... Hegels work The Science of Logic outlined his vision of logic, quite far removed from the traditional syllogism. ... The Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences (in German: Die Encyclopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften im Grundrisse) (1817) was a work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in three parts. ... Nikolay Ivanovich Lobachevsky Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky (Никола́й Ива́нович Лобаче́вский) (December 1, 1792–February 24, 1856 (N.S.); November 20, 1792–February 12, 1856 (O.S.)) was a Russian mathematician. ... Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville (July 29, 1805–April 16, 1859) was a French political thinker and historian. ... De la démocratie en Amérique (published in two volumes, the first in 1835 and the second in 1840) is a classic French text by Alexis de Tocqueville on the United States in the 1830s and its strengths and weaknesses. ... Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), sometimes called Abe Lincoln and nicknamed Honest Abe, the Rail Splitter, and the Great Emancipator, was the 16th President of the United States (1861 to 1865), and the first president from the Republican Party. ... Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (IPA: ) (5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855), a 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian, is generally recognized as the first existentialist philosopher. ... Philosophical Fragments was a philosophical work written by Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard in 1844 under the pseudonym Johannes Climacus. ... Fear and Trembling Fear and Trembling (original Danish title: Frygt og Bæven) is a philosophical work by Søren Kierkegaard, published in 1843 under the pseudonym Johannes de Silentio. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883 London) was an immensely influential German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary organizer of the International Workingmens Association. ... Das Kapital (Capital) is a very large treatise of political economy written by Karl Marx in German. ... The German Ideology was a book written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels around April or early May 1845. ... Fyodor Dostoevsky. ... Pevear & Volokhonsky Translation of The Brothers Karamazov. ... Leo Tolstoy, pictured late in life Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (help· info) (Russian: Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й; commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy) (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910, N.S.; August 28, 1828 – November 7, 1910, O.S.) was a Russian novelist, social reformer, pacifist, Christian anarchist, vegetarian, moral thinker and... War and Peace (Russian: Война и мир, Vojna i mir; in original orthography: Война и миръ, Vojna i mir) is an epic novel by Leo Tolstoy, first published from 1863 to 1869, which tells the story of Russian society during the Napoleonic Era. ... Herman Melville Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, essayist and poet. ... Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, novelist, writer, and lecturer. ... Huckleberry Finn and Jim Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) is commonly accounted as the first Great American Novel. ... Mary Flannery OConnor (March 25, 1925 – August 3, 1964) was an American author. ... Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud (IPA: []) (May 6, 1856–September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an African-American political leader, educator and author. ... W. E. B. DuBois William Edward Burghardt DuBois (February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an African-American civil rights activist, sociologist, freemason, and scholar. ... This article contains weasel words, which may compromise its neutrality. ... Martin Heidegger (September 26, 1889 – May 26, 1976) was a German philosopher. ... Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg (December 5, 1901 – February 1, 1976) was a celebrated German physicist and Nobel laureate, one of the founders of quantum mechanics. ... Robert Millikan. ... Joseph Conrad NaÅ‚Ä™cz Coat of Arms Warsaw flat once occupied by Conrad. ... A September 2002 printing of Heart of Darkness published by Hesperus Press. ...

Essays by: Michael Faraday, J.J. Thomson, Gregor Mendel, Hermann Minkowski, Ernest Rutherford, Clinton Davisson, Erwin Schrödinger, Niels Bohr, James Clerk Maxwell, Louis-Victor de Broglie, Dreisch, Hans Christian Ørsted, André-Marie Ampère, Theodor Boveri, Walter Sutton, Morgan, Beadle and Tatum, Gerald Jay Sussman, Watson and Crick, Jacob & Monod, G. H. Hardy Michael Faraday Michael Faraday, FRS (September 22, 1791 – August 25, 1867) was a British scientist (a physicist and chemist) who contributed significantly to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. ... Sir Joseph John Thomson, OM , FRS (December 18, 1756 – August 30, 1940) often known as J. J. Thomson, was an English physicist, the discoverer of the electron. ... Gregor Johann Mendel Gregor Johann Mendel (July 20, 1822 – January 6, 1884) was an Austrian monk who is often called the father of genetics for his study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants. ... Hermann Minkowski. ... Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, PC, OM, FRS (August 30, 1871 – October 19, 1937), was a New Zealand nuclear physicist. ... Clinton Joseph Davisson (22 October 1881–1 February 1958), was an American physicist. ... Erwin Schrödinger, as depicted on the former Austrian 1000 Schilling bank note. ... Niels Bohr Niels (Henrik David) Bohr (October 7, 1885 – November 18, 1962) was a Danish physicist who made essential contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics. ... James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematical physicist, born in Edinburgh. ... Louis-Victor-Pierre-Raymond, 7th duc de Broglie, generally known as Louis de Broglie (August 15, 1892–March 19, 1987), was a French physicist and Nobel Prize laureate. ... Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch (October 28, 1867 - April 16, 1941) was a German biologist and philosopher. ... Hans Christian Ørsted (August 14, 1777 – March 9, 1851) was a Danish physicist and chemist, influenced by the thinking of Immanuel Kant. ... André-Marie Ampère (January 20, 1775 – June 10, 1836), was a French physicist who is generally credited as one of the main discoverers of electromagnetism. ... Theodor Boveri (1862 – 1915) was a German biologist whose work with sea urchins showed that it was necessary to have all chromosomes present in order for proper embryonic development to take place. ... Walter Stanborough Sutton (April 5, 1877 - November 10, 1916) was an American biologist whose most significant contribution to present-day biology was his theory that the Mendelian laws of inheritance could be applied to chromosomes at the cellular level. ... Thomas Hunt Morgan Thomas Hunt Morgan (September 25, 1866 - December 4, 1945) worked in natural history, zoology, and macromutation in the fruit fly Drosophila. ... Beadle won a Nobel Prize in 1958 George Wells Beadle (October 22, 1903 – June 9, 1989) was an American scientist in the field of genetics. ... Tatum won the Nobel Prize for his work in genetics Edward Lawrie Tatum (December 14, 1909 – November 5, 1975) was an American geneticist. ... Gerald Jay Sussman is the Matsushita Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). ... James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is one of the discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule. ... Professor Francis Harry Compton Crick, OM FRS (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was a British physicist, molecular biologist and neuroscientist, most noted for being one of the co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953. ... G. H. Hardy Professor Godfrey Harold Hardy FRS (February 7, 1877 – December 1, 1947) was a prominent British mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. ...

Criticism and controversy

St. John's curriculum has drawn criticism and controversy since its inception. It went far beyond the then-existing Columbia University and University of Chicago Great Books programs in making the Great Books the entire curriculum rather than one of many courses of study, and in extending the Great Books approach to the sciences as well as the humanities. Columbia University is a private university in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City and a member of the Ivy League. ... The University of Chicago is a private university principally located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1890 and opened in 1892. ...

Writing in 1938, just after the first group of freshmen completed their first semester under the new curriculum, Stringfellow Barr^[13] insisted that there was nothing radical about the curriculum and that it was

merely carrying out the terms of the eighteenth century charter of St. John's and restoring discipline in the liberal arts and an acquaintance with our intellectual heritage in place of the vocational interests and cafeteria courses that clutter our liberal arts curricula today.

He referred to "opponents of the St. John's program" and said that they consider it "authoritarian and fascist." He said that some "suspect that some sort of Catholic indoctrination is being attempted" because of the inclusion of Aristotle and medieval scholastic works in the curriculum, while "Catholic educators have denounced the list for including Marx and Freud."

In a 1944 essay, Sidney Hook ^[14] was Sidney Hook (December 20, 1902–July 12, 1989) was a prominent American philosopher who championed pragmatism. ...