Education As a Human Being
Harvard Senior 'Flunks for Education
By JOHN WOODFIELD
Associated Press Writer
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Randy
Runyon would have been a Har
vard" senior this year but, he is
not.
He’s a St. John's freshman.
With little more than a year
standing between him and a
Harvard degree, he chose to
start college all over again at
the tiny nonsectarian college
in Annapolis, Md.
He is not the first student to
make this surprising move.
The same thing happens at
the college's new western cam
pus. which snuggles in New
Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Moun
tains.
Linda Carithers. who was a
junior on the dean's list at the
University of New Mexico,
wanted to transfer to the little
college which refuses to accept
transfer students.
Like Randy, she ‘flunked'’
herself into the freshman class.
Why would good students take
this great leap backward'?
Randy Runyon did it because
he says he wanted to go for
ward.
"Backward and forward de
pend on where you want to go,
he says.
“College should give you an
education as well as a degree. I
was getting a degree but not
an education.
"I was getting professional
training, but an education is
something different. Education
should prepare you to deal with
all of life, how to make sense of
what’s going on around you and
how to appreciate what is writ
ten and said about it.
Education Not Trained
“I want to be educated as a
human being, not trained as a
physicist or an historian. That
can come later.”
Randy did not leap blindly.
He thought about it for more
than a year.
"It was a big decision, espe
cially financially. Both my wife.
Diana, and I have National Mer
it scholarships, but mine ex
pires soon. It'll be very hard
going.
“But,” Kandy continued, “it's
worth it.
“The experience at St. John’s
itself is worth it. There is real
intellectual excitement here, a
joy to learning. The students
are here because they want to
be. If a student doesn't enjoy it,
he leaves.
“At Harvard very few peo
ple enjoy their studies. They en
dure them for the sake of a
degree. And Harvard is probably
a lot better than most places."
Each year a substantial num
ber of students in good standing
at the most distinguished col
leges in the country apply for
admission to the freshman class
at St. John’s.
But why does St. John's re
fuse to accept credits earned at
other colleges?
Single Curriculum
“We have a single, all-required
curriculum,” explains President
Richard D. Weigle.
“We are not an educational
cafeteria. We do not have course
offerings. We have a program.
Our program has a beginning
and that is where all students
must begin.
“Like the acts of a play, each
year of the St. John’s program
is built on the one before.
“We refuse to compromise the
integrity of our program even
though we are well aware of the
difficulties which f«cc a student
who wishes to transfer. He must
make a great sacrifice of time
and money. Happily, our scholar
ship funds can help to ease the
financial problems."
The college is as stubborn
about its she as it is about its
program.
Doubled Enrollment
Responding to the pressure to
expand, St. John's doubled its
enrollment without changing its
size.
It started a whole new college
2.000 miles away.
In 1964. a small band of fac
ulty and administrators set out
from Annapolis, where the col
lege has been located since 1696,
and established a colony cam
pus in Santa Fe. In 1965, St.
John's was both the third oldest
and third newest college in the
country.
Some things about St. John's
are very new.
Randy’s classes are a model
of what is called "student-cen
tered school.” Instruction de
pends more on the activity and
initiative of the 10 students
who make up Randy's tutorial
group than on the pronounce
ments of the supervising fac
ulty member.
"He can't do our thinking for
us,” explains Randy. "We learn
by thrashing things out, by find
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ins each other's mistakes. We're
always involved.
"1 didn’t know how it would
be, being in with freshmen
again, hut it's great. Three of us
in my group have been trans
ferred from other colleges, blit
that works to our advantage.
We learn by teaching each oth
er. The more 1 can help some
one else to learn, the more I
can learn myself.”
Other things about St. John's
are very old.
It insists on old-fashioned in
tellectual discipline. There may
r
b«> "joy" ns Randy says, Rut
there is also a lot of hard work.
It is the only nondenominationul
college which requires all stu
dents to study ancient Greek.
It also requires them to study
Einstein’s papers on relativity.
The college has turned to the
classics in order to provide n
thoroughly modern education
which will prepare a student
for the future as well as the
present.
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