“Have you yet recognized that you are and always have been your own teacher?”
These words have stayed in my mind since 2006, when I first noticed them stretched across a prominent wall inside St. John’s College in Annapolis, the Great Books school and my graduate alma mater. They come from Scott Buchanan, the program co-founder, in his 1958 speech “The Last Don Rag.” It goes on:
Amidst all the noise and furor about education in this country at present, I have yet to hear this question raised. But it is basic. Liberal education has as its end the free mind, and the free mind must be its own teacher.
As I did, many come to study at the Graduate Institute at St. John’s in order to get the liberal arts education they missed as an undergraduate. I believe many enroll not just for the roundtable discussions, but also simply to get time, structure, and credit for being their own teacher.
Read Full Article »
