Introduction

St. John’s College is a community dedicated to liberal education. Liberally educated persons, the college believes, 终身致力于对基础知识的追求和对统一思想的探索. 他们聪明而批判地欣赏他们的共同遗产，并意识到他们的社会和道德义务. 他们有能力掌握任何职业的特定技能, 他们拥有成为自由和负责任的公民的手段和意志.

St. 约翰学院相信，真正的博雅教育需要学习伟大的书籍——文字文本, symbols, notes, and pictures—because they are both timeless and timely. These books are the most important teachers. 它们阐明了人类存在的持久问题，并直接影响到我们今天面临的问题. They express most originally, and often most perfectly, 这些观念有意或无意地支配着当代生活. 它们的作者几乎可以像他们第一次说话时一样新鲜地对我们说话, 因为他们要告诉我们的不仅仅是学术问题, nor is it remote from our true interests. 他们改变我们的思想，感动我们的心灵，触动我们的灵魂.

The books speak to us in more than one way. In raising the persisting human questions, 它们可以有不同的解释，揭示出各种独立而又互补的意义. And while seeking the truth, 它们作为艺术作品让我们感到愉悦，因为它们的清晰和美反映了它们内在的可理解性. They are, therefore, properly called great, whether they are epic poems or political treatises, and whether their subject matter is scientific, historical, or philosophical. They are also linked together, for each of them is introduced, supported, or criticized by the others. In that sense they converse with each other, and they draw the readers to take part, within the limits of their abilities, in a large and continuing conversation.

This conversation, however, is unavoidably one-sided. The books can only repeat what they have to say, without furnishing the clarifications that we desire. To overcome this limitation is the goal of the St. John’s seminar. Here a number of students of varied backgrounds, faced with a text that may present unfamiliar thoughts, attempt to discuss it reasonably. 假定学生们愿意就彼此的问题发表自己的意见. 个人的需求和群体的需求是不断相互作用的, 设定界限，使讨论尽可能自由地进行. 讨论可能主要涉及试图确立一首诗的意义或一个论点的有效性. 它可能关注更普遍的问题，也可能关注推动自己前进的非常现代的问题. 学生们把他们从当代世界的经验中得出的假设带到研讨会上. Through discussion they acquire a new perspective, 是什么使他们既能认识到一个反复出现的问题的同一性，又能认识到其历史表现的多样性.

Principally, however, the aim is to ascertain not how things were, 但是事情是怎样的——帮助学生获得理解，并在他们面临的任何情况下做出合理的决定. 这个项目的最终目的是让学生们由此开始的思考和讨论的习惯在他们的一生中继续下去.

Most of the teaching at St. John’s takes the form of a discussion. 研讨会上的对话式方法被延续到其他课程中. As much as possible, the actual instruction in all seminars, tutorials, 实验室的建立取决于学生的主动性和主动性. The tutors function as guides, 更专注于倾听学生，与他们合作，而不是把自己的理解强加给他们.

St. John’s seeks to restore the true meaning of liberal education. 文科的主要功能一直是让人们意识到体现在文字和数字组合中的形式，从而使它们成为理解的手段. Traditionally, the liberal arts were seven in number: grammar, rhetoric, logic—the arts of language; and arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy—the arts of mathematics. In more contemporary terms, 人文学科揭示了在各种话语思维中使用文字和数字所涉及的内容, in analyzing, speaking, and writing; and also in measuring, deducing, and demonstrating.

There are many ways to develop these arts. The curriculum emphasizes six of them: discussion, translation, writing, experimentation, mathematical demonstration, and musical analysis. 他们都服务于同一个目的:邀请学生自由和批判性地思考自己. By these means, students will be able to envisage actual situations, 深思熟虑:通过明确的备选方案进行深思熟虑，以期得出一个适当的选择. 这些智力技能的获得将为那些在一生中都在学习这些技能的学生服务.

知识在进步，人类的基本观点可能在几个世纪后发生变化, 但这些理解的艺术仍以这样或那样的形式不可或缺. 这些艺术使所有人都能认识周围的世界，并在这个世界上认识自己, and to use that knowledge with wisdom. Under the guidance of these arts, 他们可以把自己从偏见的束缚和老路的狭窄中解放出来. 在他们的训练下，他们可以养成听道理的习惯. 一个真正的文科课程不能避免瞄准这些最深远的人类目标.

The aim of the education offered by St. John’s College is the liberation of the human intellect. This is an education for all, regardless of a person’s race, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, religion, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity and expression. 通过阅读伟大的书籍，并与他们提出的基本问题一起努力, 学生和他们的老师从他们的差异中学习，更深刻地发现他们共同的人性. 在这方面和其他方面，多元化的背景和经验丰富了我们的学习社区. Because it offers an education for all, St. 约翰学院一直寻求并将继续寻求使其学习计划为不同背景的人所了解和使用.

Download the full Statement of the Program