숙명여자대학교 로고숙명여자대학교 창의융합연구소창의융합연구소

This paper contains a description and exploration of a radical, ongoing, educational experiment. The New Program of St. John’s College was established in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1937. Almost 90 years later, it continues much as it was developed in the early 20th century and has expanded to a second campus in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is an undergraduate program without departments or academic disciplines, conducted entirely through the discussion of classic texts. All students take the same classes. All students and all faculty members are required to study every subject area, from philosophy and literature to mathematics and the natural sciences. The paper makes the case that this approach is not “interdisciplinary” so much as “pre-disciplinary” – based on an earlier and more wholistic view of knowledge. It combines elements of the older tradition of the liberal arts with the secular orientation and emphasis on the unfettered pursuit of knowledge characteristic of the modern research university. The paper explains how this unique institution fits into the landscape of American higher education, comparing it to other institutions called “liberal arts colleges,” to the well-known core programs at universities like Columbia and the University of Chicago, and to American colleges of the late 19th century. Paradoxically, this approach has rendered the college not anachronistic but (as one commentator described it), “future proof,” as it frees students from preconceptions about the fragmentation of knowledge and encourages collaborative inquiry bringing together technical and humanistic thinking around the most pressing human problems.