To the Editor:Re “Universities, Meet Monasteries,” by Molly Worthen (Opinion guest essay, May 28):Dr. Worthen’s essay resonated deeply with me.
I am a tutor and the incoming dean of St. John’s College, Santa Fe, one of the oldest colleges in America, a college with an enduring commitment to seminar-style discussion and the close reading of the Great Books.
Without fanfare, year after year, St. John’s continues to offer a program of study that requires little more than a great book, a seminar table and the participants around that table.
St. John’s is not a monastery, but it does provide a cloister where devices and the pull of the virtual world have no place.
The education requires the students to be present to their thoughts, to the comments of their classmates, to the beauty of the texts.
Persons:
Molly Worthen, John’s, Worthen
Organizations:
“, John’s, St
Locations:
Santa Fe, America