This section includes: (i) a list of accreditation requirements that SJC fails to satisfy, (ii) some fun facts and vignettes, and (iii) quotes about SJC by notable intellectuals and SJC students and faculty.
The reader can find the correspondence and refutation here.
(i) List of Accreditation Requirements that SJC Fails to Satisfy. (Note that this list is not exhaustive.) :
North Central Association, an accreditation agency, states the following about the “Preparation and Qualifications” of faculty as postsecondary schools: (RA 50) “Teachers hold a valid certificate for the respective field in which they are teaching.” Now, as The SJC Pogrom page discusses in detail, SJC considers its degree equivalent to “two substantial majors,” one in Philosophy and the other in History of Mathematics and Science, as well as two minors, one in Classical Studies and the other in Comparative Literature. A quick glance at the SJC faculty page, though, reveals that few SJC tutors hold degrees in any of these fields of academic inquiry . Clearly, SJC fails to satisfy this accreditation requirement.
Middle States Commission on Higher Education, an accreditation agency, states the following about the various programs an accreditable institution must offer: (#15) “The degree programs [at the institution] are based on recognized field(s) of study [and] are conducted at levels of quality and rigor appropriate to the degrees offered.” (a) SJC has just the opposite of this, viz., a holistic academic program inspired by anti-specialization sentiment. The SJC program is, therefore, not based on any recognized field(s) of study. And (b) SJC offers a double-major degree in Philosophy and the History of Mathematics and Science, yet few SJC tutors hold degrees in either of these two fields, and none hold degrees in both (although they teach both). Clearly, SJC fails to satisfy this accreditation requirement.
North Central Association states the following about faculty at postsecondary schools: (RA 40) “All professional personnel meet the regular certification or licensure standards of the state, unions, or appropriate trade and industry associations and are assigned to teach in areas for which they are prepared" (italics added). To recapitulate: SJC tutors, regardless of their expertise, are expected to teach every course at SJC. The SJC website states that "members of the faculty are expected to teach across the entire curriculum." Thus, SJC tutors are assigned to teach in areas for which they are not prepared. Clearly, SJC fails to satisfy this accreditation requirement.
North Central Association states the following about teaching methodology: (PS 24) “Teachers use classroom practices and methodology consistent with current research.” As The SJC Pogrom page expatiates in great detail, SJC's program is fundamentally non-didactic. This is, of course, partly because most SJC tutors have no formal academic training in philosophy whatsoever, despite that fact that SJC offers Philosophy degrees. (See above.) The point is that current research advocates classroom practices and teaching methodologies exactly opposite those the SJC program implements. Clearly, SJC fails to satisfy this accreditation requirement.
North Central Association later states (PS 26) that a necessary component of an accreditable academic program is “good instruction” (italics added). I emphasize the word ‘instruction’ because, again, SJC is non-didactic: it offers seminars in which students, often just out of high school, exchange their inevitably uninformed opinions about some of the most abstruse texts rather than lectures in which students acquire through professorial instruction a basic “toolbox of knowledge." (See The SJC Pogrom page for more.) Clearly, SJC fails to satisfy this accreditation requirement.
North Central Association states that following about the use of tests—an objective measuring tool (or at least the most objective available)—for evaluating student performance: (PS 40) “The school uses a variety of measures including classroom and standardized measures, and industry standards leading to credentials to document the success of its students.” To recapitulate once again: SJC is arrantly non-didactic; this is a major feature of its idiosyncratic academic program, discussed on The SJC Pogrom page. Consistent with this, SJC administers no tests. Clearly, SJC fails to satisfy this accreditation requirement.
North Central Association states the following about an accredited institution’s curriculum: “The curriculum provides a balanced program for all students and is flexible enough to permit wide variation in student development” (italics added). (This requirement is reiterated in PS 21.) The SJC program is anything but flexible. Indeed, it offers a rigid four-year program with no electives, no special academic focuses, and so on. Clearly, SJC fails to satisfy this accreditation requirement.
North Central Association states the following about the acceptable rigidity of an academic program: (RA 7) “The instructional program recognizes the wide diversity of student interests and experiences, providing for independent instruction and continuous study in addition to formal classes […]” (italics added). SJC does not offer any "Independent Study" courses, does not permit students to explore any extra-curricular subjects, does not have the resources for students to write Honors theses, and so on. Clearly, SJC fails to satisfy this accreditation requirement.
This is an excellent illustration of how the SJC education completely fails its students, both by (a) failing to teach them good intellectual habits, and (b) instilling in them bad habits: John Agresto, former president of SJC, is overseeing (as of 2005) the rebuilding of the Iraqi university system. Upon arriving in Iraq, Agresto described himself in a Washington Post article entitled "An Educator Learns the Hard Way" as “a neo-conservative who’s been mugged by reality.” The article states that Agresto “knew next to nothing about Iraq’s educational system. Even after he was selected he did not pore through a reading list.” Indeed, in the spirit of SJC's educational philosophy, Agresto stated that he would “much rather learn firsthand than have it filtered […] by an author.” The article then states that Agresto “did a Google search on the internet. The result? “Not much," he said." Apparently, Agresto “assumed [...] that Iraq would feel like a newly liberated East European nation, keen to embrace the West and democratic change. Not until he arrived in Baghdad on Sept. 15, and was assigned to live in a metal trailer with three other CPA staffers, did he realize how complicated his job would be.” Incidentally, Agresto published a 2007 book entitled Mugged by Reality: The Liberation of Iraq and the Failure of Good Intentions. What an opprobrium.
Is SJC opposed to rankings for principled or pragmatic reasons? Let’s take a look at the evidence: The SJC website states: “St. John’s College is opposed in principle to rankings [because they] do a disservice to students and their parents as they search for the best college.” The article from which this quote came from was published after the U.S. News and World Report ranked SJC a Tier 3 liberal arts college. Yet, when the Princeton Review later ranked SJC relatively high in such categories as “best overall quality of life” and “best dorms,” SJC had no scruples against posting a link on its website to the Princeton Review's favorable report. Michael Peters, president of SJC in Santa Fe, sums up SJC’s disingenuous attitude towards academic rankings nicely: “At St. John’s we don’t put much credence in reviews and rankings like those of U.S. News and World Report, but there is one I’d like to share with you that speaks to the excellence of our faculty and their dedication to teaching—The Princeton Review. In the most recent edition, the Santa Fe faculty was rated number one in the country. What is most gratifying about this ranking is that it is based not on abstract, external criteria but on the opinions of the students themselves. My congratulations and thanks to the faculty for their great work.” Of course—what better way to get an accurate gauge of how good the faculty is than ask the students, who are required by the program only to show up to seminars and chat! See The SJC Pogrom page for more.
A mere 69% of the SJC faculty have higher degrees.
Most SJC tutors have no formal academic training in philosophy whatsoever. Most read the “Great Books” for the first time after being hired as SJC tutors.
Only 10% of SJC students earn graduate degrees after SJC.
Anita Kronsberg received her B.A. from SJC in 1980. Four years later, without a higher degree (i.e., a M.A., M.S. or Ph.D.), Kronsberg became a St. John’s tutor. Four years after that she became the Annapolis campus assistant dean. Meteoric ascents up the academic hierarchy like this are virtually unheard of at other institutions.
Tuition at SJC is a whopping $36,260.
According to the Princeton Review, only 1% of the SJC student body is African American, 1% is Native American, 3% is Asian, 3% is Hispanic, and 89% is Caucasian! This is even more striking when one notes that some 95% of the SJC staff (cooks, janitors, etc.) are African American. Consistent with SJC’s paleophilia—its love for things past—its campus exhibits an uncanny apartheid-like social organization.
While SJC trumpets its program as superior to other forms of liberal education, not a single capital-‘g’ “Great” philosopher in the Western canon received a SJC-like education. (See The SJC Pogrom page for details.) How very ironic!
While there are hundreds of books on the SJC reading list, only two were written by women and none were written by minorities (except, maybe, Saint Augustine). It is no surprise, then, that 89% of the student body is white.
Many notable intellectuals have spoken out against the SJC program, including Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Sidney Hook, and Richard Courant.
Despite what St. John’s tutor James Carey states in an interview with National Cross Talk, the word ‘liberal’ does not come from ‘liberty.’ Rather, both words are derived from the same etymon, namely the Latin ‘liber.’
In 2005, George Bush awarded long time SJC tutor Eva Brann with the National Humanities Medal. This is no surprise: SJC is a major advocate—a refuge—for the Anglo-centric, androcentric, "dead white guy" tradition.
Joyce Rumsfeld, Donald Rumsfeld’s wife, served on the St. John’s “Board of Visitors and Governors.”
Despite the propaganda that SJC propagates, the Great Books Program was originally adopted for financial reasons, as a “survival measure,” in the late 1930’s.
Only 82% of SJC freshmen return for the sophomore year.
SJC accepts 81% of its applicants; of these students, though, only 44% enroll in SJC.
(iii) Quotes:
Stringfellow Barr, co-founder of SJC: “American democracy has more to fear from its professors than from Hitler.” Paranoia was apparently built into the SJC program.
Ernest Boyer: "The fixed curriculum of the colonial era is as much an anachronism today as the stocks in the village square."
Albert Einstein: "In my opinion there should be no compulsory reading of classical authors in the field of science. I believe also that the laboratory studies should be selected from a purely pedagogical and not historical point of view. On the other side, I am convinced that lectures concerning the historical development of ideas in different fields are of great value for intelligent students, for such studies are furthering very effectively the independence of judgment and independence from blind belief in temporarily accepted views. I believe that such lectures should be treated as a kind of beautiful luxury and the students should not be bothered with examinations concerning historical facts."
Bertrand Russell: "The subject on which you write is one about which I feel very strongly. I think the 'Best Hundred Books' people are utterly absurd on the scientific side. I was myself brought up on Euclid and Newton and I can see the case for them. But on the whole Euclid is much too slow-moving. Boole is not comparable to his successors. Descartes' geometry is surpassed by every modern textbook of analytical geometry. The broad rule is: historical approach where truth is unattainable, but not in a subject like mathematics or anatomy. (They read Harvey!)"
Richard Courant: "There is no doubt that it is unrealistic to expect a scientific enlightenment of beginners by the study of Euclid, Appolonius or Ptolemy. It will just give them an oblique perspective of what is important and what is not. Studying the more modern works by Descartes, Newton, etc., except for a few single items, would be even more difficult and likewise not lead to a balanced understanding of mathematics."
Mr. White, SJC student: “It is really valuable to be able to understand that gravity is not simply a fact that exists, but is somebody’s idea.”
Ms. Davenport, SJC student: “I remember a conversation I had outside of class about Book 7 of the Elements in which Euclid discusses prime numbers. I remember saying that it seems like the relationships Euclid describes can be applied beyond the world of numbers.”
Ms. Silgals, SJC student: “There are some things that I just can’t explain rationally, like certain feelings or responses, like falling in love.”
Ms. Shaw, SJC student: “I feel that it’s not just that this school makes me want to inquire into lofty topics, but it makes me want to hold onto the things, like virtue, that I know I can’t every truly know, but that I still want to pursue. So it’s not just knowledge that the school gives us, but a means for working out our own beliefs about things. Also, to let us know that you can’t just hold onto ideas, you need to grasp onto them. If I turn my back on them they will flee. So I have to always actively be holding onto my beliefs.”
Mr. Morris, SJC tutor: “At another school, where there are lecture classes, if you simply accept an answer that’s been given to you, it may or may not be the right answer. What you don’t know is how certain you are in the answer.”
Michael Dink, SJC dean: SJC does not “take advantage of [the] particular strengths” of its students.
Stringfellow Barr, co-founder of SJC: “Many observers here and abroad note a kind of higher illiteracy in our college graduates. But we like it that way.”
From an article in The College, a SJC publication:
"However, colleagues at other institutions and other
academics Slakey met over the years were puzzled by how
tutors at St. John’s teach across the curriculum. “Most
academics think it’s crazy,” [Slakey] says. “I was involved in a discussion
with a very great scholar on
Dante, and when he discovered I
was teaching Dante, and I couldn’t
read Italian, he thought I was a
disgrace. Specialists don’t understand
someone like me teaching
math and biology when I knew
nothing about it when I came to
St. John’s.'" And for good reason, I should add! Even the accreditation agencies above concur.