About St. John's College
Teaching at St. John's
The academic program at St. John's College is distinctive, indeed in many ways unique, in its content, organization, and mode of teaching and learning. As a consequence, the role of the teaching faculty is also quite unusual, and in some ways at odds with the norm.
The content consists primarily of classic texts of the western tradition, approached with as little mediation as possible (no lectures, secondary sources, or historical background). The organization is all-required and non-departmental. Classes are divided into Great Books seminars, tutorials in language, mathematics and music, and classes in laboratory science. The mode of teaching and learning is by cooperative discussion in small classes.
These unusual features of the St. John's program are based on fundamental convictions about the character of liberal education. First and foremost, liberal education is education to and for freedom, freedom from the tyranny that thoughtless acceptance or rejection of received opinions exercises over us. While the classic texts, or Great Books, have become sources of our inherited values, we endeavor to approach them not as historical documents but as presenting original, groundbreaking and thought-provoking ideas. We reflect on and question them, argue with and against them, in order to unearth their meaning and their merit and to enlarge our own ways of thinking. Liberal education summons us to partake of this conversation, to weigh the arguments pro and con, and to take some thoughtful and considered stand in relation to the fundamental questions that have been raised in our tradition.
If it is to be done well and responsibly, such radical questioning, requires that we develop our powers of understanding through the practice of the arts that give shape and acuity to those powers, the liberal arts of language, mathematics, scientific inquiry, and music. Thus our program is organized into two parts: 1) Great Books seminars, in which we raise and discuss fundamental questions with the maximum freedom to follow the argument wherever it may lead, and 2) tutorials, in which we focus on the elements of language, mathematics, science and music, and the skills required to deal with them, while also reading and discussing original texts.
Discussion Classes
All classes proceed by discussion, because freedom of mind requires active thought, not passive acceptance of authoritative views. Students are asked to read texts with a minimum of mediation, so that they may grapple with the issues themselves, exercise their own powers of thought, and come to their own conclusions. The cooperative character of class discussion allows other ways of reading and alternative opinions to arise. Students must learn to listen carefully and respectfully to others so that as much as possible the difficult, profound questions under discussion come to sight in their fullest richness.
Teaching across the curriculum
Just as students are required to take all parts of the curriculum, so too the members of the faculty are expected to teach across the entire curriculum. This would be an impossible demand to make of the faculty, if we thought that teaching meant lecturing to students on the basis of the specialized expertise acquired in graduate school and scholarly research. This is not, however, what teaching means at St. John's.
The role of the faculty (called 'tutors') in our classes is to lead, moderate, and facilitate the discussion, not to convey their own expertise. This is not to say that the tutors do not engage with the content of the material. Rather, they do so as model learners, rather than as established experts and authorities. Students and tutors together engage in an attempt to make sense of the material they are studying. Everyone is expected to contribute, and all contributions are both heard with respect and subject to criticism. Tutors with advanced degrees in philosophy and literature will be expected to lead classes in Euclid's Elements and Newton's Principia, while physicists and mathematicians will find themselves conducting classes that are translating Sophocles, Racine, or Baudelaire. Although tutors are not expected to be experts in all the books and subjects studied in our classes, they are expected to be serious lifetime learners, who will deepen their understanding of the books over time.
Leading discussion classes
At St. John's, discussion classes mean that students talk with one another, not just with the tutor. The tutor's role is to initiate discussion by asking probing and provocative questions, to listen carefully to what students are saying, to guide and to facilitate the discussion. Sometimes tough questions need to be asked; at other times students need to be encouraged and drawn out. Tutors may sometimes take a stand or express an opinion, but should expect just as much scrutiny and no more deference than anyone else in the conversation. Tutors must try to discern and follow the contours of the conversation, and even guide it in more fruitful directions, without shaping or steering it to a preconceived conclusion.
Teaching load
The normal teaching load is three classes, one Great Books seminar, which meets twice a week, on Monday and Thursday evenings, and two other classes, chosen from among language and mathematics tutorials and laboratories, each of which meets three times a week. Seminars are co-led by two tutors, one usually more experienced than the other. This both helps to prevent either tutor from becoming a locus of authority and allows the more experienced tutor to serve as a mentor to the less experienced one. All tutors teaching the same tutorial or laboratory (e.g., all Freshman Mathematics tutors) meet once a week to discuss the work in their classes. These meetings are meant both to promote a community of learning among the faculty and to offer assistance to less experienced tutors in understanding the material and adapting to our ways of conducting classes.
In addition to their teaching, tutors attend faculty meetings, serve on committees, administer oral examinations, attend the weekly formal lecture and question period, participate in faculty seminars and study groups, and, of course, confer with students and converse with colleagues.
Salary and Benefits
Salaries are set by a formula, so as to avoid individual negotiations and invidious distinctions. For 2007-2008 the normal starting salary is $52,616, with annual service increments. There are no distinctions of rank among the faculty. There is no allowance for prior service elsewhere, but we can make some adjustment in the entering salary to match a previous salary. Benefits are equivalent to approximately 30% of salary, and include generous medical benefits, TIAA-CREF retirement contributions, and dependent tuition benefits. Sabbaticals are generous -- a full year at full pay. They are, if possible, awarded to all those who are eligible, not competitively, but by length of service since the last one.
Reappointments and Tenure
All appointments are tenure-track. Candidates are reviewed for reappointment in the fall of their first, second, and fourth years, with a tenure decision in the spring of the sixth year. Criteria for reappointment and tenure are, in order of importance: 1) excellence of intellect and imagination; 2) progress in acquiring competence in the St. John's Program; 3) excellence as a teacher in small discussion classes; 4) willingness to teach in all parts of the Program; 5) responsiveness to the needs of the college community.
Each year, scores of candidates apply to be tutors. We can interview only a small number of the many good applicants, and can generally make only a few new appointments. We will pay one-half of the travel expenses of the candidates whom we invite for interviews. Application to the Santa Fe campus should be made separately.
Your application will be complete when we have received the following items:
(i) A statement that presents in detail the current state of your intellectual life, telling us what questions most interest you (these may or may not be related to your scholarly research); the statement should tell us also how your intellectual interests might intersect with the St. John's Program, what you might contribute, and what you might gain, as well as what kind of teaching suits you, and what kind of learning you plan to undertake. Three single-spaced pages would be a good length. This statement is a major factor in our decision.
(ii) A brief piece of writing that exhibits your way of being thoughtful.
(iii) A curriculum vitae.
(iv) Three letters of recommendation from persons who have known you in an academic capacity.
(v) Transcripts of graduate and undergraduate work.
It's best to complete your application as early as possible in the academic year, but late applications will in some circumstances be considered.
Upon reading your completed application, the Instruction Committee, the faculty committee that deals with appointments, will deliberate about whether to invite you for an interview. As soon as a decision has been made, you will be informed.
Visit and Interview
The interview is part of a two-day campus visit. We ask that you arrive in time for dinner with students at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. You will then attend a Monday evening seminar and two or more tutorials on Tuesday. At 3:45 p.m. you will have an interview with the Instruction Committee lasting about an hour.
The interview is your opportunity to engage the members of the committee in the sort of collegial conversation that you would hope to have as a tutor at St. John's. We will want to discuss your impression of the classes you observed and how you see yourself working in that context. We would also like to talk with you about questions, topics or books that are important to you. These may, but need not, be drawn from work you have done in your specialty. We don't expect you to defend a thesis, but to explore a question with us in a way that helps us all to be more thoughtful about the issues involved. Towards the end of the session, we will give you the opportunity to ask questions.
Applications and inquiries may be addressed to:
Dean's Office
dean's.office@sjca.edu
St. John's College
P.O. Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 21404