St. John's College was founded in 1696WilliamKing's CollegeAt that time, it was still a preparatory school.In 1784, the college was officially approved to become an undergraduate college.Since 1937, the school has been using a unique teaching system, called the "Great Books" system.This system stipulates that school teaching must be based onPhilosophyAnd literary works.In 1964, St. John's College Santa Fe Campus was officially established.
Chinese name
St. John's College
Foreign name
St. John’s College
Time of establishment
1696
Current leaders
Mark RooseveltPresident
School motto
Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque
Address
60 College AvenueAnnapolis, MD 21401[2](Annapolis Campus) 1160 Camino de Cruz BlancaSanta Fe, NM 87505[3](Santa Fe Campus)
The teaching system of Great Books was first established byUniversity of ChicagoStringfellow Barr, Scott Buchanan, Robert Hutchins, Mortimer Adler and others developed in the mid-1930s.This system was regarded as an alternative system to the undergraduate teaching system that was undergoing drastic changes at that time.In 1937, St. John's College adopted this system in the face of possible financial and teaching failures.Today's' masterpiece 'system is largely influenced by the school principal Jacob Klein in the 1940s and 1950s.
This four-year university system forces students to read and explore the original works of many scholars who have had a significant impact on Western civilization.It covers philosophy, theology, mathematics, natural science, music, poetry and literature.These scholars includeAristotle、Shakespeare、Descartes andEinsteinwait.And the freshman course is from Homer's epic《Eliat》Started.At that time, the founders of this learning system were disgusted with the "career interest" oriented teaching in college education.Like these founders, the students of St. John today (they prefer to call themselves' Johnnies') are more willing to study simply for the pursuit of truth.All Tutorial classes in school teaching, such as math, language and music classes, as well as seminar and laboratory classes, are centered on discussion.In the math tutorial class, the students will demonstrate the theorems summarized by mathematicians in various periods.Students will practice language translation in language tutoring class (learning ancient Greek in the first two years and French in the next two years).Tutorial courses, seminars and experimental courses form the whole course.
Unlike most American universities, St. John has no modern textbooks, no teachers to teach, or even no examinations.Although the traditional A to F scoring method is still used, the school does not attach importance to academic grades, and academic grades will only be announced when students request.Grade assessment is largely based on classroom participation and research papers.The instructor, the name of St. John's professor, does not play the role of 'speaker' in the classroom as most universities do, but assists in the classroom discussion.However, the situation may vary depending on the course and the instructor.
Curriculum
Announce
edit
Courses include:
1. Four year seminar on literature, philosophy and political science;
2. Four years of mathematics
3. Three year laboratory course
4. Four year language (ancient Greek, middle/early English, French)
5. Choir in the first year of college and music study in the second year
The classic works of the East and the West are not the only teaching materials for St. John.Greek and French classes still use traditional textbooks as supplementary materials for teaching.In science experiments and math classes, teachers' manuscripts are used as teaching materials, includingsourceAnd after class exercises.For example, the math tutor will combine Albert Einstein's 1905 paper with exercise questions and ask students to operate the mathematical process in the paper.Nevertheless, the primary data is still the top priority.All the reading materials in the seminar are from the classics of the East and the West;Music lessons use music scores to learn the main creations of composers.
The only optional course in the course is a short course called 'Perceptorials' in the winter of the third or fourth year.The content of this course changes every year, generally including topics not covered in the 'masterpiece' system and works of authors not included in the 'masterpiece' list, such as《One hundred years of loneliness》AuthorGabriel Garcia MarquezAnd the poet Wallace Stevens.
canteen
(A corner of the canteen)
Except for occasional language test, algebra test that must be passed at the end of sophomore year, and French test at the end of junior year, there are no other written tests in daily study.Students will be assessed through class discussion, participation and papers.In the seminar, each semester has an oral test. The test method is that the student discusses with one or more teachers, which has proved that he has read and understood the contents of this semester's book list comprehensively.Writing assignments during the semester include shortThesis writing(Generally no more than 10 pages).The seminar requires students to write long papers.Santa Fe students are required to write papers on the seminar at the end of each semester.The papers in the spring semester will be longer and will be scored separately on the transcript;Students at Annapolis must write a long paper (20-30 pages) at the end of each school year.The papers of tutoring classes and seminars should not be research papers, but should focus on students' own analysis of a work or a theory.The sophomore thesis is particularly important in the thesis, because the university will judge whether a student is qualified to continue the study in the next two years after the undergraduate course.During the senior year, students must write a large paper, and they must defend this paper with three professors.
Classics
Announce
edit
classroom
At Santa Fe, there is a school called MA. E.C (Master of Arts in Eastern Classics) provides students with Oriental ClassicsBachelor of Arts。This project is three semesters long and must be completed in 12 months.The reason for the establishment of this project is that the school realized that the inclusion of three major oriental academic representatives (India, China and Japan) in a large group of western scholars could not meet the original purpose of "masterpiece" teaching.Therefore, in this Oriental Classics project, students will be required to read complete sets of philosophical, religious and literary works from India, China and Japan.Therefore, students should not only read Confucius, Laozi andZhuangziAnd Mencius, Xunzi, Han Feizi andMoziSimilarly, Sima Qian's Historical Records and Zuo Zhuan, later Neo Confucianism, Zhu Xi, classical novels such as Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and poems by Li Bai, Du Fu, and Wang Wei.However, these are only one third of the whole list, and the rest include the main doctrines and branch doctrines of Hinduism,Southern Buddhism 、mahayanaAnd the development of Zen Buddhism, and Mahabharata《Shagong Daruo》The Tale of Genji《Austrian Path》Such a literary masterpiece.At the same time, students should choose a language from Sanskrit and classical Chinese to learn.
Ptolemaic stone
Announce
edit
St. John's College has one in each of its two campuses“Ptolemy Stone is an astronomical observation device invented by Ptolemy, an astronomer.This device is used to observe the height of celestial bodies (especially the sun).St. John's Ptolemaic Stone is a rectangular prism outsideFrustumWith a movable sundial.This instrument isSextantThe predecessor of.The freshmen and sophomores will use this device to calculate the movement of the sun on the ecliptic in math class.The school's Ptolemaic Stone has strengthened the connection between mathematics and experimental science and reality, as well as the experience of students' hands-on research on nature.
St. John's College Annapolis CampusLocated in a historic cityAnnapolis, leavingMarylandThe state capital is only a block away.School andUS Naval AcademyMany people compare the two to Athena and Sparta respectively.The fierce competition between the two schools can be reflected in the hockey competition between the two schools.The competition was held on the grassland in front of St. John's School, and was called "the purest university sports competition in America" by the famous GQ magazine.St John has won 21 of the last 26 games.
In 1742, Maryland Governor Thomas Brighton began to build the McDowell Hall in the center of St. John's campus.This auditorium has witnessed many important events of the school, from the ball held by General Lafayette and President Washington to St. John's own uniquewaltzball.The waltz has gradually becomea waggle danceThe dance, although there is a waltz at the dance from time to time,Polkaeven to the extent thatTango。Champagne and strawberries will be provided at the dance;Female students also often wear formalEvening dressattend.
St. John's College Santa Fe CampusIt is located at the foot of Mount Sol in the east of Santa Fe.The school is surrounded by the vast Pecos Wilderness and Sangre de Cristo Mountains, so the Santa Fe campus provides a more secluded environment for students than Annapolis.In the school campus, you can also see the scenery of Santa Fe stretching to the westLos Alamos （Los Alamos）。
Santa Fe Campus has abundant resources for students' outdoor activities.Such as canoeing, rafting, mountaineering equipment and various sports facilities.The propaganda film of the school also introduced the 'search and rescue team' composed of all students.This group, in cooperation with the New Mexico Police Department and other volunteer organizations, is well-known in the southwestern United States.The team members are responsible for radio reception and field rescue at ordinary times to prevent students from getting lost or injured in the mountains.Here, outdoor sports are very popular, and some students even go to the mountain to read early while climbing, or sneak to the mountain to kill time between classes.
Ranking reputation
Announce
edit
The motivational speaker Zig Ziglar wrote the chapter 'Saint John: A Useful School' in his book published in 1997.He said that St. John's College firmly believes in the ancient truth that all knowledge is interlinked, and the textbooks used by the school are 'incredibly difficult'.He noted that the number of St. John's undergraduate students who have obtained a doctorate in humanities after graduation ranks fifth in the United States, and an astonishing 81% of the graduates have entered the fields of education, engineering, law, medicine and so on.He concluded: "It seems that St. John has advantages in some aspects. Maybe more universities should adopt their teaching methods."
On campus coffee shop
According to the statistics of the American Higher Education Data Center, from 1992 to 2001, the proportion of St. John's graduates who finally obtained doctorates in humanities and English literature ranked first among all universities in the country, and they also entered the top ten in political science, linguistics, foreign languages, regional and moral research, mathematics and computer science.
St. John's College opposes university rankings.Since 2005, St. John's College has refused to participate in any university ranking survey by stopping providing data to survey agencies, although it is still included in the ranking of American news.School principalChristopher·B. Nelson affirmed that "in principle, St. John's College opposes university rankings".He wrote:
Over the years, St. John's College has been placed in various rankings, from the first, second and third categories to the top 25.However, the strange thing is that we have not changed.Our mission and our approach have remained virtually unchanged for 60 years.So when facing the university rankings of American news, we would rather stick to being ourselves and let our achievements speak for us than follow the pace of external investigation.
Princeton University A survey of universities across the United States《princeton review 》（Princeton Review）The students from the two campuses of St. John were listed as the "happiest students", and Santa Fe ranked seventh,Annapolis17.In the 2005 Princeton survey of "the best 357 universities",St. John's College Santa Fe CampusThe following rankings were obtained:
dorm
1. Teacher affinity: First 2The Best Classroom Discussion: First
3. The best quality of life: Fourth
4. The Best Academic Experience: Fourth
5. The best teacher: the sixth
6. The best dormitory: the sixth (the picture shows a male dormitory)
St. John's College also appeared in Loren Pope's book The University That Changed Life.
In addition, it is precisely because of the special and strict teaching of St. John's College that its doctoral production rate ranks among the best in the United States:
The doctoral output rate of graduates from undergraduate colleges in the United States (1995-2004) ranks among the top 20:
Among them, St. John's College ranks first in the humanities and English literature, third in linguistics, fourth in regional ethnic studies, sixth in foreign language and political science, and ninth in mathematics.
Students
Announce
edit
Among the students enrolled in 2005, Annapolis Campus has students from 35 states;There are 32 campuses in Santa Fe.There are also some international students.About 65% of students receive financial aid.Compared with many schools, the number of students in school is relatively small: the number of students enrolled each year never exceeds 500.On the one hand, it is because of the size of the school, and on the other hand, it is because of the intimate environment that the school tries to create "everyone knows".The school is trying to promote its unique teaching system and provide more community seminars and lectures to the public.
Performance requirements
Announce
edit
St. John's College (two campuses share a set of application system) attaches more importance to high school transcripts for undergraduate applications, and SAT/ACT scores are optional, which has little impact on the application results.International students must submit TOEFL scores, but the College does not set a minimum requirement for TOEFL scores.The undergraduate application of St. John's College adopts a rolling enrollment system, and the application results are generally released one month after the application is submitted.[1]
The graduate application of St. John's College requires submission of documents and letters of recommendation, but the GRE score is optional.The graduate application also adopts the rolling enrollment system.
