Academics

We are a work college.

We are a liberal arts college.
We are a leadership college.

Monticello College has combined the ethics of a work college (or manual arts) with a liberal arts education. This means that while books are very important (you will read about 30 a year) a good pair of boots, a warm beanie, a ferrous rod, and a sharp knife are also important elements of an MC education.

We stand on the belief that the original American Founder leadership was the product of a particular educational system, known to the great leaders of the past, but mostly lost to modern academia.

It is a principle-centered process grounded in the belief in God and immutable moral law, framed on the classics, and crowned in the discipline of real-work and self-reliance under the guidance of committed and caring mentors.

Subjects covered in our undergraduate degree of liber education:

  • History
  • Political Science
  • Political Economy
  • Fine Arts/Performing Arts
  • Debate/Public Speaking
  • Comparative Religious Studies
  • Constitutional Law
  • Current Events
  • Philosophy
  • Literature
  • Science
  • Foreign Language
  • Mathematics
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Permaculture
  • Biodynamics
  • Manual Arts
  • Construction Science
  • Animal Science
  • Wilderness Survival

Trek, overnight mountain hiking adventures at over 10,000 feet elevation, is a vital part of an MC degree.

Our on-campus studies are one-of-a-kind, combining a classical liberal arts curriculum, world-class mentors, real day-to-day farm work and a natural mountain setting rivaled by none. This is a four-seasons campus. At 7,400 feet above sea level, the natural setting has an unparalleled beauty, nestled as we are in eastern foothills of our beloved Blue Mountains.

We begin our studies at Monticello College in the Spring. At our elevation, we are still covered in snow in April, a post-winter wonderland that encourages intense study. Perfect for wrapping up in a blanket, holding a steaming mug of hot chocolate, and settling down for a long day with Newton or Mill or Euclid.

With on campus studies beginning in April and ending in November, our students spend the entire academic year watching nature grow and develop—as they do. By June much of our classroom discussions and lectures are being held out-of-doors in uniquely designed “natural classrooms.” Students excel in this environment.

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Bachelors Degree in Liber Education

Our program is simple but intense, essentially it is comprised of 4 elements:

  1. Reading (average 20-25 hours a week)
  2. Discussion or colloquium (6-9 hours a week)
  3. Writing Lab (takes the place of regular classes and can last for several days)
  4. Work (10-15 hours a week)

Interspersed are oral and written examinations, wilderness hikes, field trips, and service projects.

Academics-Basement

1st Year Reading List

  • Lowenfels: Teaming with Microbes
  • DeMille: Thomas Jefferson Education
  • Brooks: AMERICAN: Killing the American Dream
  • Gonzales: Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies and Why
  • Hutchins: The Great Conversation*
  • Plato: Apology, Crito*
  • Plutarch: Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans (selections)*
  • Machiavelli: The Prince*
  • Locke: Second Treatise on Civil Government*
  • Ebenstein: Great Political Thinkers (5th Ed.) Chapters: 1, 2, 6, 7, & 8
  • Moses: Deuteronomy, Ten Commandments
  • Various Authors: Magna Charta
  • Various Authors: Mayflower Compact
  • Forstchen: One Second After
  • Skousen: The Making of America
  • Various Authors: The Declaration of Independence*
  • McCullough: 1776
  • Madison, et al: The Federalist Papers: 51, 31, 1, 2*, and Anti-Fed paper 5
  • Madison, et al: The Federalist Papers: 84, 47, and 48*
  • Madison, et al: The Federalist Papers: 39, 45, 46*, and Anti-Fed 39, 40 44, 45, and 47
  • Skousen: The 5,000 Year Leap
  • Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice – Reader’s Theater*
  • Bastiat: The Law
  • Marx-Engels: Manifesto of the Communist Party*
  • Jung Chang: Wild Swans
  • Euclid: Elements (Axioms, Definitions, Propositions) *
  • Sessions: Universal Model: A New Millennial Science
  • Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics*
  • Various Authors: The Syntopicon – God*
  • Various authors: Syntopicon – Mathematics *
  • Various Authors: The Syntopicon – Custom and Convention*
  • Various Authors: The Syntopicon – Democracy*
  • Various Authors: The Syntopicon – Justice*
  • Various Authors: The Syntopicon – Happiness *
  • Various Authors: The Syntopicon – Tyranny *
  • Wister: The Virginian
  • Orwell: Animal Farm
  • Lewis: The Weight of Glory
  • Lansing: Endurance
  • DeMille & Brooks: Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens
  • Koppel: Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath
  • Mann: 1491 – New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
  • Tocqueville: Democracy in America Vol. 2 Part 1 – Chapters 1-2, 5, 9-11, 13-14, 16-17, 19, and 21
  • Tocqueville: Democracy in America Vol. 2 Pt. 2 – Ch. 1-2, 4-6, 8, 10, 13-15, and 18-20
  • Johnson: History of the American People
  • Meyer: Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design

*Found in the Great Books of the Western World – 1st edition. List is subject to change.