# Name of Small Liberal Arts College? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2014, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220 "2014-11-10T06:15:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/1 "2014-11-10T06:15:16Z")
I’m trying to recall the name of a small liberal arts college that sent me an enrollment brochure while I was in high school. By liberal arts, I mean all the students study the same thing, mainly a focus on reading of classics, latin, and greek with maybe some history, and if I recall correctly, the grading was non-standard or non-existent. I thought it would be interesting, but opted for another college due to finances. I think this college is located in the southwest US, California or Arizona. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/2 "2014-11-10T06:40:46Z")
[St. John’s College](http://www.sjc.edu/), Santa Fe, New Mexico (also has a campus in Maryland) ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/3 "2014-11-10T07:14:27Z")
I’m not sure that it was St. Johns. I don’t recall it being named after a saint or offering any science classes. It could be though. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/4 "2014-11-10T08:03:41Z")
Sounds a lot like [Reed College](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_College), but that’s in the Northwest (Oregon). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/5 "2014-11-10T08:37:51Z")
Other than the two St. John’s College campuses, I don’t think anyplace exactly fits your description: > **[St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John's_College_(Annapolis/Santa_Fe))** > > St. John's College is a private liberal arts college with campuses in Annapolis, Maryland, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. As the successor institution of King William's School, a preparatory school founded in 1696, St. John's is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the United States; the current institution received a collegiate charter in 1784. In 1937, St. John's adopted a Great Books curriculum based on discussion of works from the Western canon of philosophical, religious, The coll... Another college vaguely fitting your description, although it’s not quite the same, is Deep Springs College: > **[Liberal Arts at Deep Springs | Deep Springs College](https://www.deepsprings.edu/academics/)** > > Courses at Deep Springs are intensive and interactive. Classes are very small, and instruction emphasizes student participation. Perhaps some of the colleges listed in the following article could be it, although I’m not sure how close any of them are: > **[Narrative evaluation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_evaluation)** > > In education, narrative evaluation is a form of performance measurement and feedback which can be used as an alternative or supplement to grading. Narrative evaluations generally consist of several paragraphs of written text about a student's individual performance and course work. The style and form of narrative evaluations vary significantly among the educational institutions using them, and they are sometimes combined with other performance metrics, including letter and number grades and pass... In particular, there’s my alma mater, New College, although it doesn’t really fit your description either: > **[New College of Florida](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_College_of_Florida)** > > New College of Florida is a public liberal arts college in Sarasota, Florida. It was founded in 1960 as a private institution known simply as New College, spent several years merged into the University of South Florida, and in 2001 became an autonomous college, the eleventh independent school of the State University System of Florida as the honors college for the state system. Upon achieving independence, the school adopted its current name: New College of Florida. > As an honors college, the coll... ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/6 "2014-11-10T09:22:22Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Perhaps some of the colleges listed in the following article could be it, although I’m not sure how close any of them are: > > [Narrative evaluation - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_evaluation) I remember getting brochures from several of them including Reed College and Evergreen State College, but the one I’m thinking of is in the southwest US. It had the most offbeat curriculum of any, and the brochure’s content consisted mainly of a listing of great books. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/7 "2014-11-10T09:41:29Z")
Then you must be thinking of St. John’s College in Santa Fe, because it exactly fits your description. I suspect you’re just misremembering when you say that it wasn’t named after a saint (and, incidentally, St. John’s isn’t a religious college). Also, St. John’s doesn’t do much science in its curriculum. You read some old science books from centuries ago and do some laboratory work. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/8 "2014-11-10T13:30:45Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > By liberal arts, I mean all the students study the same thing, mainly a focus on reading of classics, latin, and greek with maybe some history In case clarification is called for: this is not what “liberal arts” or a [liberal arts college](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_arts_college) means in general. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/9 "2014-11-10T14:36:26Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > I think this college is located in the southwest US, California or Arizona. Except for that, I was thinking [Hampshire College](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampshire_College). ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/10 "2014-11-10T15:42:37Z")
Could you be thinking of [New College](https://www.ncf.edu/) near Tampa FL? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/11 "2014-11-10T16:40:06Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > [St. John’s College](http://www.sjc.edu/), Santa Fe, New Mexico (also has a campus in Maryland) I don’t know a lot about the southwestern campus, but St. John’s College of Annapolis, Maryland has the “Great Books” curriculum. I got a brochure from them in the 1990’s, and one of the things that they mentioned was that although a large number of students go on to work in IT, people were not hacking away at computers all day, they were reading classics. I don’t actually know much about how they grade, but I’ve heard about some schools that use more old-fashioned “narrative” evaluation where you don’t get a letter or numerical grade per se (e.g. “90%”, “A”, or “C+”), you get a long and somewhat winding essay about what you did well, what you didn’t do so well on, and what growth areas you could have. It made for a much more complex transcript, but still left you with one that had _some_ meaning. What was different was that the evaluation was very personalized and couldn’t easily be compared against anyone else’s. Yes, we all have growth areas. But are your growth areas more serious? > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Then you must be thinking of St. John’s College in Santa Fe, because it exactly fits your description. I suspect you’re just misremembering when you say that it wasn’t named after a saint (and, incidentally, St. John’s isn’t a religious college). Also, St. John’s doesn’t do much science in its curriculum. You read some old science books from centuries ago and do some laboratory work. St. John’s of Annapolis was originally called “King William’s School”, and apparently changed its name 200+ years ago when the idea of having a royally-sponsored institution become quite unpopular. There was such ire that people became violent in their wishes not to have a king at all. You might have heard of that incident. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/12 "2014-11-10T17:02:18Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Another college vaguely fitting your description, although it’s not quite the same, is Deep Springs College: Just the one I was thinking of, since I got brochures from them, but I suspect the OP would remember Deep Springs’ connection with a cattle ranch in addition to remembering its academic priorities. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/13 "2014-11-10T17:09:23Z")
OP, roughly what year did you receive this brochure? Back in the 1960s or within the last 10 years… If it was a long time ago it might have been an educational experiment which has changed greatly. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/14 "2014-11-10T17:12:59Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > I remember getting brochures from several of them including Reed College and Evergreen State College, but the one I’m thinking of is in the southwest US. It had the most offbeat curriculum of any, and the brochure’s content consisted mainly of a listing of great books. Evergreen State College, btw, is the alma mater of Matt Groening, creator of _The Simpsons_. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/15 "2014-11-10T17:38:51Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Just the one I was thinking of, since I got brochures from them, but I suspect the OP would remember Deep Springs’ connection with a cattle ranch in addition to remembering its academic priorities. Plus that it’s free and only a two-year school. It’s often included in lists of “unusual” colleges. ---
**Author:** ![beandog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beandog/32/7604_2.png) [@beandog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beandog)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/16 "2014-11-10T17:40:58Z")
Are you thinking of [Prescott College](http://www.prescott.edu/) in Prescott, Arizona? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/17 "2014-11-10T18:17:22Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Plus that it’s free and only a two-year school. It’s often included in lists of “unusual” colleges. I remembered the free part - but had forgotten the 2-year part (I got the brochure in 1981 or 1982 after all). ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/18 "2014-11-10T20:11:52Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Then you must be thinking of St. John’s College in Santa Fe, because it exactly fits your description. I suspect you’re just misremembering when you say that it wasn’t named after a saint (and, incidentally, St. John’s isn’t a religious college). Also, St. John’s doesn’t do much science in its curriculum. You read some old science books from centuries ago and do some laboratory work. Though I could well just not remember correctly, I still don’t think it’s St. John’s. It was a tiny college, maybe 1500 students, somewhere I think in S. Cal. ---
**Author:** ![SuperAbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@SuperAbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperAbe)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/19 "2014-11-10T22:08:16Z")
[Thomas Aquinas college](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas_College)? [ul] [li]Small (~350 students)[/li][li]one degree only (B.A. in liberal arts)[/li][li]“Great Books” oriented ([The college replaces textbooks with original sources, the seminal works in all the major disciplines](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas_College#Curriculum)")[/li][li]in Southern California[/li][/ul] Only misses on the grading issue (which is [unusual in tone but not in practice](http://thomasaquinas.edu/a-liberating-education/assessment)). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220/20 "2014-11-11T00:39:54Z")
Thomas Aquinas is also a saint, so if we’re going to go be whether it fits that part of GreenElf’s description, it couldn’t be that either. However, just like the two St. John’s, their curriculum is based on the Great Books. In the article is a list of colleges that in some sense use the Great Books: > **[Classic book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books)** > > A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Classics?" and "What Is a Classic?" have been essayed by authors from different genres and eras (including Calvino, T. S. Eliot, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve). The ability of a classic book to be reinterpreted, to seemingly be renewed in the interests of gen... [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-small-liberal-arts-college/704220.md?page=2)