Megan McIlroy, The Examiner
2007-04-23 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

Annapolis -

At St. John’s College in Annapolis, there’s only one degree. Professors are called tutors and grades are based on class participation.

Classes have fewer than 20 people and teachers don’t lecture, they facilitate discussion.

It’s a liberal arts school in the truest sense of the words. The curriculum is one big reading list, with books by Homer, Plato and Sophocles. The Bible is required reading.

“This is a college that attracts readers,” University President Christopher Nelson said. “If there is one thing that our students have in common here, it’s that they have a hunger for learning and a thirst for reading books.”

Because there aren’t exams at St. John’s, students have to be motivated to really learn, graduates say.

“[The curriculum] really puts a lot on the students,” said Baltimore resident John Woods, who received his master’s degree in classical literature at St. John’s College.

“Because the grades were very subjective, you could get by [without doing all the reading],” said Baltimore City resident Gretchen Stiltner, who graduated in 2002. “But you are only shortchanging yourself.”

As more colleges move toward career preparation — a recent survey commissioned by The Chronicle of Higher Education showed 63 percent of students and parents think colleges should prepare their students for a career — St. John’s fiercely defends the virtue of a liberal arts education.

But can Johnnies get jobs?

“Rarely does anybody from St. John’s say, ‘I’m going to be a salesperson or do advertising,’ ” Stiltner said. She is studying for her master’s in psychology and says many of her friends from St. John’s have gone into teaching, medicine and other “intellectual pursuits.”

Woods manages a restaurant in Annapolis and said his degree has given him flexibility.

“With St. John’s, it leaves you more open to do things,” he said. “A lot of people respect the degree.”

mmcilroy@baltimoreexaminer.com