Imagine if a typical day at school consisted of sitting on the floor of a crammed classroom with six to eight peers, discussing the works of Nietzsche and Freud under the unobtrusive and quiet observance of a professor. There are no textbooks, and the instructor leaves the floor to students to create dialogue and flush out seemingly unobtainable meanings while challenging one another’s ideas. After the discussion dies out, students are free to leave, but there will be no club events, frat parties or football games to look forward to. Your only extracurricular activity is to further ponder the philosophical concepts you are left with.
This may seem like an otherworldly purist version of the university experience, but it is a reality for the handful of students who attend Shimer College in Chicago, Ill., which was recently ranked the worst college in America because of its forum-like class structure — completely eradicating the typical “lecture” scene — and dismissal of any extracurricular activities. The liberal arts educational institution is solely focused on the act of learning and prohibits any sources that water down the great texts of our history, utilizing only the original copies in an effort to analyze them critically.
The ranking of the school, among others deemed “worst college,” can be found in Washington Monthly and was compiled by Ben Miller, former senior policy advisor from the Department of Education. The criteria is simple, calling out schools which apparently “charge students large amounts of money to receive an education so terrible that most drop out before graduation.”
The ranking of the school is absolutely ridiculous. Shimer College’s method is actually a wholesome pursuit of education and enlightenment that — although untraditional — we should celebrate rather than condemn. Our society has been bred to seek various distractions, and much of our time at school is littered with them. Extracurriculars have their merits, but schools who choose not to rely on them to buffer a student’s educational experience should not fall prey to a ranking system that can undoubtedly negatively impact its funding and future enrollment.
One aspect which makes the school so successful in the eyes of its alums, who came to its defense after the unfair condemnation, is the Socratic teaching methods. There are no lectures, and students essentially run the classroom. Socratic teaching is centered around posing questions and not giving out answers. It is a constant and disciplined state of inquiry, often with no concrete answers. Discussion inevitably generates more discussion and questioning, which can be frustrating for students but ultimately teaches them how to think, not what to think. Personally, class discussions have always been the most enlightening form of education for me, and although I don’t think I could go to a school as rigorous as Shimer College, I do not believe it is deserving of its title.
This ranking could change the future of the school’s existence. Shimer College is undoubtedly not tailored to suit everyone’s needs, but it does serve its purpose from an educational perspective. It does not have a lengthy list of clubs and various social events for the students to busy themselves with and distraction is not encouraged. Every university could benefit from implementing some of these teaching methods and putting more responsibility on the students instead of constantly feeding them pointless powerpoint lectures. As this unfair ranking circulates, Shimer College is quickly being labeled as a miniscule and wildly expensive institution with no real merits. But if you take a closer look, it’s clear that the best and more reputable judges of the school — its own students — feel differently.