ExCo vs. JBU

   This evening I explored the website of Experimental College (ExCo) of Haverford, PA.  This college is unlike any I have ever heard of before.  ExCo is student-taught and student-run and neither offers the students nor pays the teachers.  Their goals are “to connect people who share diverse interests in learning outside the classroom” and “to enrich [their] education by allowing [them] to share [their] knowledge, interests, and skills with each other in a cooperative and relaxed environment”.  At the bottom of their “Teacher Guidelines” page, ExCo encourages the teachers to experiment as much as they want: “ExCo is not just about learning unusual subjects,” they state, “it’s about a different kind of learning, too.”

   Unlike John Brown University (and many other colleges and universities in the U.S.), ExCo gives the students no credit or transcript.  The course catalog consisted of four courses: “Beginner Ceramics”, “Roman Baroque Art”, “The History of Punk Rock and the Role of Punk Rock in Contemporary Western Society”, and “SEPTA and the Real World: Getting Out, Knowing How, and Using the Resources We Have to Take a Break from Haverford”.  This program seems to be a place where one can “learn unusual subjects in a different way”.  Experimental College is just that—an experiment.  I do not understand how attending this place would prepare one for the real world, although I do appreciate their goal to bring different people with diverse interests and backgrounds together in order to learn from each other.  They seem to place more of an emphasis on learning and gaining knowledge than on career training and preparation.  Here at John Brown, the goal is to provide “an academic, spiritual, and professional foundation for world-impacting careers”.  JBU does focus greatly on learning through a Christian worldview (the Gateway Seminar, a required course for all new students, is specifically designed  to teach how to integrate faith into learning) yet also prepares its students for careers and graduate programs, something that ExCo does not seem to do.

   For this reason, as well as others, I do not think that JBU should adopt ExCo’s educational approach.  I do not believe one has to go to college for the mere purpose of learning from others and studying “unusual subjects” (is there any other way to describe that course catalog??)  I am attending college both to gain a strong foundation in the liberal arts and to prepare to serve God in the field(s) to which He has called me.  My other reason for rejecting ExCo’s approach are found within the “Teacher Guidelines”.  One of the questions is, “Somehow I managed to get into one of the top colleges in the country, but it was all a fluke.  I really don’t know enough about anything to teach a class.”  ExCo’s response is, “You don’t have to know everything to teach an ExCo class.  ExCo is about learning together, not necessarily leading or following.”  I personally view my teachers as mentors in their particular subject.  I want a teacher who can answer my questions or help me get started on seeking answers.  Moreover, I want a teacher who can and will tell the truth and point me toward the truth.  That is why I came to JBU—to learn the truth and be guided into the truth.