In middle or high school, many, perhaps most, students are taught a formula for essay writing. I, for example, was taught that an essay should always have, in this order, an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and then a conclusion. You must, I was told, outline your argument in the introduction, give three supporting points,…
Tag: books
Why so contrarian?
St. John’s College takes great pride in having been described by the New York Times as “the most contrarian college in America.” But it’s a tricky, sticky word, “contrarian.” It carries all sorts of different connotations, depending on the reader, so it may be hard to discern what exactly it is that St. John’s is…
St. John’s: Not Just for Introverts
It takes all kinds to make the world go around! St. John’s thrives on this balance in our close community and small classes. Whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, the college can be a paradise. An important part of the college experience is defining your own identity. No longer are you defined solely by…
Tau Day: Could Pi Be Wrong?
Consider the circle. It is charming, deceptive, in its appearance of simplicity. The idea of the heavens as defined by circles, the so-called “heavenly spheres”, goes back to such cornerstones of the St. John’s curriculum as Plato, Ptolemy, and Copernicus.But what is a circle, really? Mathematicians have, since Euclid, sought to define this shape in…
Mr Venkatesh’s Top Ten Tips on Preceptorial Papers
Recently, Santa Fe tutor Krishnan Venkatesh sent out some advice to his students on writing St. John’s essays, specifically preceptorial papers, but the advice he gave was relevant to just about any essay written during the course of a St. John’s education. The text of what he sent out was as follows: Some Thoughts on…
Our Favorite College Ghost Stories
I’m Petra Schaaf-Grisham, the newest admissions counselor at St. John’s and a member of the Class of 2021. Through extensive research, my friend Ives Williams and I created a ghost tour of the Annapolis campus of St. John’s College. For my first blog post, on Halloween itself, I want to introduce you to some of the scariest parts…
CTCL – Changing my life and yours
This summer as the pandemic promised to wane, the group of colleges know as the CTCL schools (www.ctcl.org) decided to host a series of in-person college fairs for sophomores, juniors, and rising seniors and their families. Virtual college fairs can certainly do in a pinch and provide much need access to students all over the…
2020 Book Collecting Contest Results
Every year in Annapolis, the Greenfield Library holds a contest through which Johnnies can submit a book collection – a series of personally owned books which are organized around a common theme. Students submit and essay and explain what makes each collection so special. This year, we had some great entries and winners. Below are…
Our Favorite Program Ghosts
Halloween season is upon us, and I thought it might be a good time to share some of our office’s favorite ghostly characters in the books we explore on the St. John’s program. While many of the stories that we read are not “ghost stories” in the modern sense, many things that happen in the…
Game of Tomes – what would our favorite characters be reading?
The Admissions staff figured that some of the characters of ‘Game of Thrones’ would be into some of the books on our Program – we take a stab at which ones in the video below!
The Chalkboard 