Shimer Great Books School

School Chairperson: Dr. Stuart Patterson

Mission Statement

The Shimer Great Books School at North Central College provides and preserves education centered on discussion of enduring questions and issues. Here, the pedagogy is anything but conventional. There are no lectures. No textbooks in place of primary texts. No tests. Classes follow the Socratic Method—professors ask questions that challenge students to articulate and support their ideas. Shimer students are voracious readers—they view reading not as a passive activity but as a way of actively engaging the world and understanding themselves.

At the Shimer Great Books School, students immerse themselves in reading, discussion and writing. Learning is a constant dialogue where every opinion, every position is questioned and analyzed. Students discuss ideas in a class with others who push them to think more deeply about fundamental questions than they ever have before. Simply put, the Shimer Great Books School challenges students to delve deeply into the diverse and endlessly fascinating areas of thought and creativity in the company of similarly-inclined students and teachers. With this intensive experience in critical thinking, close reading, writing, communication and application to a wide range of fields and complex problems, students are prepared for graduate study, professional school, creative work and careers in organizations of many kinds.

Degree offered: B.A.

Programs

• Humanities, B.A.
• Liberal Studies, B.A.
• Natural Sciences, B.A.
• Social Sciences, B.A.

Courses

• SGB 111 - Fundamental Concepts of Art and Music
• SGB 112 - Literature of the Ancient World
• SGB 113 - Literature in the Modern World
• SGB 121 - Classical Foundations of Logic and Mathematics
• SGB 122 - Modern Foundations of Logic and Mathematics
• SGB 131 - Premodern Science and the Chemical Revolution
• SGB 132 - Evolution, Classification and Animal Behavior
• SGB 133 - Classical Physics, Motion and Light
• SGB 141 - Society, Culture and Personality
• SGB 142 - The Western Political Tradition
• SGB 143 - Political Development of the United States
• SGB 211 - Religious Reasoning
• SGB 212 - Philosophical Reasoning
• SGB 213 - Critical Assessment in the Humanities
• SGB 231 - Atoms and Electricity
• SGB 232 - Twentieth Century Revolutions in Physics
• SGB 233 - Modern Biology and Genetics
• SGB 241 - Modern Theories of Society, Politics and Economics
• SGB 242 - Social Construction and Social Reality
• SGB 243 - Method and Critique in the Social Sciences
• SGB 451 - Ancient Mesopotamia to Classical Athens
• SGB 452 - Classical Rome to Middle Ages
• SGB 453 - Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment
• SGB 454 - Romanticism to the World Today
• SGB 494 - Thesis Preparation
• SGB 496 - Thesis