St. John's College is a community dedicated to liberal education. Such education seeks to free human beings from prejudice and unexamined opinion, to help them reflect on the nature of things and on the ends and means of human endeavors, to prepare them to meet the known and unknown challenges the future will present, and to enable them to make thoughtful choices in public and private life. Students at St. John's engage in this education by participating in the activities of its community of learning. The central activity is the reading and discussion, in small classes, of the great works of the West. This study is supported by and intertwined with the study of the elements of languages, mathematics, science, and music. In Santa Fe there is also a program that focuses on the great works of the East. Through this singular discussion-based classroom experience, anchored in the rigor of the subject matters, we seek to develop in our students an ability to deal with complex issues through both cooperative inquiry and independent thinking. We hope to open the world to them in such a way that they become excellent citizens, parents, partners, colleagues, and friends.
