A four-year liberal arts college located in Chicago, known for its distinctive “Great Books” curriculum, and total student body of less than 100 students, Shimer College is obviously not for everyone. But for students who like to read, and think, and talk about what they read, then it is heaven on earth. It is a place for people who are challenged by the process of critical thinking through the reading and study of the world’s most celebrated literary classics, a collection known as the “Great Books”.
The Great Books curriculum comprises of the study of works- mainly humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences- that have stood the test of time, and have lasting effects upon society. By the time students graduate Shimer they would have studied math, lab sciences, music and lots of philosophy, history and literature (the backbone of liberal arts education). In the process, they would have read classic works by more than 100 authors whose work span 3000 years of western culture and civilization.
Western civilization stems from the writings of men who have thought, and recorded their thoughts in books that have come to form the foundation of occidental human history. Great thinkers throughout history have distinguished themselves, first and foremost, by the notion that questions are more important than answers to start the process of exploration. The resulting books are, therefore, timeless and timely- they shed light on persisting questions of human existence to change minds, move hearts, and touch the spirit. With that in mind, Shimer students maneuver through a curriculum of masterpieces in literature, science, mathematics, philosophy and dig themselves in the works of Plato, Dante Alighieri, Thomas More, Gustave Flaubert, Blaise Pascal and Sigmund Freud.
Since all ideas and innovations trace their roots to the Greeks , then why not retract, say, philosophy, from its recorded roots (Aristotle and Plutarch), and continue on towards the modern era to Friedrich Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre, amongst others. Therefore Shimer students learn facts and ideas by the process with which they evolved throughout history. The Great Books are read in the chronological order, beginning with ancient Greeks, and culminating in modern time.
There are no textbooks used, and there are no lectures or lecture halls at Shimer College. Books are the teachers (Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, Dostoevsky and others). Discussions are driven by the students, and professors are simply facilitators of Socratic discussions. There are no class lectures; instead, the students meet together with faculty members to explore the books being read. The goal is not to find the “right” answer (as there may never be one), but rather to continue the exploration of ideas, observations, and conflicting opinions. Not knowing the answer is not the problem then, but not wanting to hear the views and opinions of others becomes the problem. Stubborn insistence based on personal beliefs or ideology will not suffice when it comes to a discussion of Charles Darwin and his “The Origin of Species”, or Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”.
Part of the learning process is acknowledging intellectual failings- a rarity nowadays, in our fast-paced, I-know-it-all, take-no-hostages scheme of things. What is necessary is the ability to listen and engage in discussions, to work as a team towards intellectual bliss- that unique place in our society where civility, rationality and opinionated discourse meet, in a room perhaps, to “take off their hats” as they say, and spend quality time as equals, together, around a table to do what distinguishes humans from the rest… think!
The intense 2 or 3 hour-long classes don’t seem to bother students at Shimer College. Computers are relatively rare (so is computer research, multiple choice question exams and grades). There are no majors and no departments, all students follow the same program and get the same degree. Science labs recreate the experiments that have been performed by the founders of science (Rene Descartes, Isaac Newton, Antoine Lavoisier, Michael Faraday and others). Curiosity, reasoning, and the ability to deduct are highly valued, but everything is secondary to the original text or work: of the Greek philosophers, historians and mathematicians- Homer, Sophocles, Euclid; the Renaissance thinkers- Machiavelli, Copernicus; the “Big Three” of French theatre- Moliere, Racine, Corneille; the musical geniuses- Beethoven, Schubert, Bach and Stravinsky; and, finally, the great minds of the 20th Century- George Santayana, Lenin and Albert Einstein. I would imagine that after Einstein nothing seems all that hard to decipher. The beauty of it all is that all Shimer teachers return the next year to do it all over again- Chaucer, Cervantes, Tolstoy, de Tocqueville, Balzac and others. They never age, never tire, and never retire.
By the time Shimer students graduate, they are more articulate, and hopefully, more thoughtful, and less interested in appearing smart than in becoming smart. “ Smart” doesn’t mean being able to devise weapons of destruction and war, or instruments of financial deception, as the ones Wall Street voodoos and bankers concocted not long ago to rob billions of dollars of other people’s hard-earned money. Actually, smart is being able to discern what is good (as good medical cures, good ideas, a good investment, good music etc) and what is not, the meaning of life, the purpose of good government, the blessings of prosperity and the necessity of peace.
It is unfortunate that people of wealth and power rarely recognize that it is the work of the thinkers, writers, and intellectuals that create the very ambiance in societies where their wealth and power is best protected and safeguarded these days. There can be no civil society without thinkers, and a nation without thinkers is bound to insignificance and irrelevance. Gadgets, games and excesses have diminished the value of thought these days. There are simply less people willing to learn, or capable of thinking and writing. I’m of the opinion that, not thinking is, well, unthinkable!
In the final analysis, it all comes down to the mission statement of Shimer College, and other liberal arts colleges around America: Good living is about a deepened capacity for reflective thought, an appreciation of the persisting questions of human existence, an abiding love of serious conversation, and a lasting love of inquiry.
Frankly, as far as I’m concerned, nothing beats a quiet Sunday afternoon with a book by William Wordsworth, and a dab of Mozart in the background. Cheers!
