Way too many |
Colorado College, Carleton, Grinnell |
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I think many of the small liberal arts colleges fit into the category of schools where there are many students who are interested in learning for the sake of learning.
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Deep Springs.
There really is no comparison to anything else. |
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Deep Springs and St John’s are truly niche (maybe lifestyle) schools. They are both schools where you’d probably have to love learning to be happy, but lots of kids who love learning would be miserable in either place. I know I would have been. Maybe it’s the difference between intensive and extensive reading. You can learn from a limited number of texts read very closely or from the interplay of a wider variety of texts, some of which are worth more time/attention than others.
May also depend on field. Neither is a great place for STEM (which is not to say a student couldn’t go on to do STEM elsewhere). Not sure either is a great fit for students interested in comparative and/or contemporary social/cultural issues either. Great Books curricula (and the faculty who teach them) tend to offer a narrow lens on the world. That said, Deep Springs is two years and could be time very well spent for the right kid. |
Was going to post this. Kids who don’t like the idea of reading Plato, St. Augustine, Montaigne and many more just don’t apply. It’s true that some students just try to survive the core. But many are grateful, if after the fact. |
I take it you’re a conservative who’s butthurt about recent protests. (I have zero connection to Middlebury.) |
I can easily make the exact opposite argument. Schools with no core requirements appeal to students who are willing to take responsibility for what they learn. Some of them will just drift, but the motivated ones will pursue the things they love. |
+1 |
And 2 things can be true at the same time. Depends on the student. |
Friends at William and Mary like it... they are interested learners, but not elbows flying competitive. Same with Mount Holyoke, which offers « one of the best undergraduate experiences. » wish I knew of a co-Ed Mount Holyoke. Kalamazoo was suggested for that, but I don’t know if it had the same caliber of students. Have heard repeatedly that K has really nice kids, lots of study abroad and enthusiastic « do-ers. » |
NP- not conservative and wouldn’t not have kid apply to Midd on the basis of referenced events. Am concerned about increasingly viewing everything as for or against, right or wrong, especially in academia. What’s now on Facebook has been in academia for the last 8 plus years. It’s a terrifyingly closed mindset. |
Yeah, but I wonder if there's such a thing as being "too intellectual?" Agree with U. of Chicago, Columbia, Swarthmore, Carleton and a few of the other names. |
| Haverford I believe fits with these. Hopkins? |
The sweet irony of you complaining about being close-minded. Too rich. |