<p>Are there any colleges out there that still require all liberal arts majors to do a series of core courses to learn the big foundational ideas and read the great and lasting books? I'm not talking about "distribution requirements" or courses on "any civilization" but a required curriculum that gives all members of the college community a common foundation, no matter their ultimate major. I know about St. John's, which is a special case, and I'm not talking about that. Does Columbia still have its famous freshman Great Books course, for example? Anyone else? </p>
<p>There’s a guidebook called Choosing the Right College that examines this question (among other issues). University of Chicago has a famous core curriculum. I believe Pepperdine offers a Western Heritage core and a Great Books sequence. Saint Olaf has a similar program called the Great Conversation, but it is not required. Others that come to mind are University of Dallas and Hillsdale College.</p>
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<p>Columbia still has their core that requires reading a lot of phenomenal books, and all majors need to take the entire core, typically at the same time (with the exception of engineering majors who are exempt from taking one of the classes). I second the UChicago comment, they still have a core but it’s more reminiscent of a distribution requirement now. </p>
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<p>Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA: " Thomas Aquinas College is a Roman Catholic liberal arts college offering a single integrated academic program. . It offers a unique education with courses based on the Great Books and seminar method."</p>
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<p>Providence College in Rhode Island has a core curriculum in Western Civilization. Like Thomas Aquinas, PC is Catholic. In fact, a whole bunch of Catholic colleges and universities have significant core requirements. Take a look at the University of Dallas (yes, Catholic) and also Baylor (Baptist). The truth is that other than St. John’s (not Catholic, despite the name) most of the rigorous liberal arts core curricula are at colleges which take religion seriously. </p>
<p>See this on Wikipedia:
<a href=“Classic book - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_books</a></p>
<p>In addition to listing “Great Books” programs, it mentions Boston University and Columbia College (not the whole university) as still having a rigorous common core. Neither of these is required of all students.</p>
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<p>The extent of the “great books” curriculum does vary. At St. John’s College, the “great books” curriculum is the entire curriculum, while at Shimer College, it is about two thirds of the curriculum.</p>
<p>There are other colleges that have core curricula that are not necessarily “great books”. For example, Harvey Mudd has a fairly extensive core curriculum consisting of writing, core lab, biology, chemistry (4 courses), computer science, engineering, humanities/social-studies/arts introduction, math (6 courses), and physics (4 courses). In addition, more humanities/social-studies/arts (10 courses) and physical education (3 courses) are also required. See <a href=“https://www.hmc.edu/academics/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2013/11/hmc-catalogue-13-14.pdf”>https://www.hmc.edu/academics/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2013/11/hmc-catalogue-13-14.pdf</a> starting at page 26.</p>
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<p>If you find a school that permits you to create your own major, you might be able to cobble together a “Great Books-like” curriculum for yourself. Schools have various limits on how they permit self-designed majors, but you might be a good candidate for one. </p>
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<p>I am a graduate of Shimer College, and Shimer’s curriculum is about 80% “Great Books” based according to the Great Books canon of Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer J. Adler. The remaining books supplement Shimer’s extensive Great Books program. For example, books outside of the traditional canon may be required for certain courses, such as Statistics. Every year the reading lists change minimally for the core classes according to college and facilitator preference. Shimer also uses “modern classics” that are not usually read by St. John’s. Each Great Books college/program has its own focus and ethos. In becoming familiar with colleges and universities that offer a Great Books program, I would suggest that you contrast/compare a few to see which would best meet your needs. In my case, Shimer surpassed all of my expectations. I chose to write my senior thesis on the development of the current Shimer curriculum. </p>
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