Spring Break
The Daily OrangeBTH | Shimer College
An experience that relies more on books than professors
By Melissa Romero
Posted: 11/13/07, 10:03 PM EST Section: News
At Shimer College, there are no lecture halls or multiple-choice tests. And there is no minimum GPA or SAT score to gain admission.
The accredited four-year, liberal arts college in Chicago, Ill., is not like many other colleges. Not only is it one of the few great-books colleges in the nation, but it is one of the smallest college institutions as well, with an undergraduate enrollment of 70 students.
"Everybody knows you, and you know everybody," said Stuart Patterson, Shimer student life coordinator.
A Great Books Program refers to when a curriculum consists of mostly primary sources. The program is the result of discussions led by professor John Erskine of Columbia University. The discussion's intention was to figure out a way to improve higher education by incorporating liberal arts tradition with broad cross-disciplinary learning.
While the typical Syracuse University student attends lectures with at least 100 peers, Shimer cuts off its class enrollment at 12 students. Any more than 12 people in a classroom would hinder the class's ability to have a "great conversation," Patterson said.
"Twelve people feels big, actually. The size of the class matters. It's helpful to be small. … It's even necessary," Patterson said.
Shimer's curriculum is based off the Hutchins Plan, which involves reading a set of books by different authors, scientists and artists, and using them as tools to answer questions about society and "good life," Patterson said.
Noah Kippley-Ogman, 2007 Shimer alumnus, described the classes as engaging and interesting.
"There's not a lot of sitting around, writing down every word that comes out of a professor's mouth," he said.
Another major difference at Shimer, and one that attracts students to the school, is that students are able to design their own college education within three available majors - humanities, natural sciences and social sciences.
James Donovan, director of the Hutchins Plan graduate program at Shimer, explained that while most students struggle to get through their calculus homework, a typical Shimer student takes it a step further by learning and analyzing from the original papers of Isaac Newton.
"This kid is braver than I am. Here's a student who not only can solve calculus problems, but knows what calculus is," Donovan said.
Patterson explained that contrary to most great-books colleges, Shimer's curriculum tends to include more modern works in addition to the classics. Students also study paintings by artists such as Michelangelo, and listen to musical masterpieces from Mozart to jazz musician John Coltrane.
"We want to keep one foot in the current," Patterson said.
Students typically have 15 hours of reading for each class per week. But Kippley-Ogman claimed that by junior and senior years, students are reading 30-80 hours per week.
"There are still classes that I haven't finished the reading for. The reading was so good that I couldn't bear to read it quickly enough to get it done for next class," Kippley-Ogman said. "That's the excitement in reading so much."
Syracuse junior Joonas Niiholm thinks Shimer is appealing, but would not consider going to a great-books college.
"I don't think it's good to base an entire college on it because you're just restricting yourself. But maybe to have that created as some branch to other colleges - I think that'd be a great idea," the public relations and economics major said.
SU sophomore Karen Fensterstock said it would be interesting to take a class like those at Shimer, but in such a small college, people miss out on the college experience.
"I'd rather have a curriculum more focused on my career path, which I have here (at Syracuse), and also I think that there are more opportunities coming from a university like this," the advertising major said.
But Shimer alumnus Kippley-Ogman said students can miss out on networking opportunities at any college or university. Other opportunities that students at Shimer may miss out on, like sports or greek life, are "negligible."
And with such a small student population, some may think the school lacks diversity. However, Donovan said there is a wide range of different students.
"We've got everything from Marxists to libertarians. … Demographically, we're fairly mixed in terms of racially and ethnically," he said.
Kippley-Ogman stressed the importance of diversity at a great-books college, where different views and opinions are strongly encouraged and beneficial.
"At Shimer, the diversity is really put to use. … It really forces you to grow out of the cliquey and stifled surrounding of social setups that we often put ourselves into in the working world," Kippley-Ogman said.
John Meech, director of advancement, said Shimer alumni have taken a number of different career paths. Students have graduated to become business owners, teachers and doctors. A majority of Shimer graduates also attend graduate school.
"The thing about great-books education, in general, is that it prepares you for sort of everything and nothing," Patterson said. "Just about anything you can do without particular professional training is what you're prepared for with a Shimer education."
Other universities which use the great-books education system are Gutenberg College, St. John's College, Thomas Aquinas College and Harrison Middleton University.
The accredited four-year, liberal arts college in Chicago, Ill., is not like many other colleges. Not only is it one of the few great-books colleges in the nation, but it is one of the smallest college institutions as well, with an undergraduate enrollment of 70 students.
"Everybody knows you, and you know everybody," said Stuart Patterson, Shimer student life coordinator.
A Great Books Program refers to when a curriculum consists of mostly primary sources. The program is the result of discussions led by professor John Erskine of Columbia University. The discussion's intention was to figure out a way to improve higher education by incorporating liberal arts tradition with broad cross-disciplinary learning.
While the typical Syracuse University student attends lectures with at least 100 peers, Shimer cuts off its class enrollment at 12 students. Any more than 12 people in a classroom would hinder the class's ability to have a "great conversation," Patterson said.
"Twelve people feels big, actually. The size of the class matters. It's helpful to be small. … It's even necessary," Patterson said.
Shimer's curriculum is based off the Hutchins Plan, which involves reading a set of books by different authors, scientists and artists, and using them as tools to answer questions about society and "good life," Patterson said.
Noah Kippley-Ogman, 2007 Shimer alumnus, described the classes as engaging and interesting.
"There's not a lot of sitting around, writing down every word that comes out of a professor's mouth," he said.
Another major difference at Shimer, and one that attracts students to the school, is that students are able to design their own college education within three available majors - humanities, natural sciences and social sciences.
James Donovan, director of the Hutchins Plan graduate program at Shimer, explained that while most students struggle to get through their calculus homework, a typical Shimer student takes it a step further by learning and analyzing from the original papers of Isaac Newton.
"This kid is braver than I am. Here's a student who not only can solve calculus problems, but knows what calculus is," Donovan said.
Patterson explained that contrary to most great-books colleges, Shimer's curriculum tends to include more modern works in addition to the classics. Students also study paintings by artists such as Michelangelo, and listen to musical masterpieces from Mozart to jazz musician John Coltrane.
"We want to keep one foot in the current," Patterson said.
Students typically have 15 hours of reading for each class per week. But Kippley-Ogman claimed that by junior and senior years, students are reading 30-80 hours per week.
"There are still classes that I haven't finished the reading for. The reading was so good that I couldn't bear to read it quickly enough to get it done for next class," Kippley-Ogman said. "That's the excitement in reading so much."
Syracuse junior Joonas Niiholm thinks Shimer is appealing, but would not consider going to a great-books college.
"I don't think it's good to base an entire college on it because you're just restricting yourself. But maybe to have that created as some branch to other colleges - I think that'd be a great idea," the public relations and economics major said.
SU sophomore Karen Fensterstock said it would be interesting to take a class like those at Shimer, but in such a small college, people miss out on the college experience.
"I'd rather have a curriculum more focused on my career path, which I have here (at Syracuse), and also I think that there are more opportunities coming from a university like this," the advertising major said.
But Shimer alumnus Kippley-Ogman said students can miss out on networking opportunities at any college or university. Other opportunities that students at Shimer may miss out on, like sports or greek life, are "negligible."
And with such a small student population, some may think the school lacks diversity. However, Donovan said there is a wide range of different students.
"We've got everything from Marxists to libertarians. … Demographically, we're fairly mixed in terms of racially and ethnically," he said.
Kippley-Ogman stressed the importance of diversity at a great-books college, where different views and opinions are strongly encouraged and beneficial.
"At Shimer, the diversity is really put to use. … It really forces you to grow out of the cliquey and stifled surrounding of social setups that we often put ourselves into in the working world," Kippley-Ogman said.
John Meech, director of advancement, said Shimer alumni have taken a number of different career paths. Students have graduated to become business owners, teachers and doctors. A majority of Shimer graduates also attend graduate school.
"The thing about great-books education, in general, is that it prepares you for sort of everything and nothing," Patterson said. "Just about anything you can do without particular professional training is what you're prepared for with a Shimer education."
Other universities which use the great-books education system are Gutenberg College, St. John's College, Thomas Aquinas College and Harrison Middleton University.
Be the first to comment on this story