Something of an Adventure

That hallmark of intellectual intensity is thanks in large part to the Honors Program.

Whether you took Honors or not, Swarthmore’s Honors Program had an enormous impact on liberal arts education across the country and contributed to creating what is quintessentially Swarthmore.

Yes, as surprising as it sounds, Swarthmore was an academically mediocre school. But it had potential. The Quaker Board of Managers was open-minded, and the College was financially sound. Aydelotte decided Swarthmore would be the perfect place to test a new American experiment in education: Honors.

What he wanted to offer instead was intellectual rigor and freedom of study, a place where students would be challenged and live up to their potential. “The academic system as ordinarily administered is, for these better and more ambitious students, a kind of lockstep: It holds them back, wastes their time, and blunts their interests by submitting them to exercises they do not need,” stated Aydelotte.

He wanted what he’d experienced at the University of Oxford in England where he studied for two years (1905-1907) as a Rhodes Scholar and encountered the centuries-old tutorial system.

At Oxford, students met one-on-one with a tutor. Sometimes there were small groups of two or three, but the focus was always intense and individual. Students wrote weekly essays and explored ideas and opinions in energetic debates. There was no grading and students were free to exchange ideas supported by a mentor in a stirring atmosphere.

Sean Decatur ’90, college and museum president

But would this work at Swarthmore?

Aydelotte decided to introduce a similar level of intellectual independence and mentorship. He did not set out to duplicate the British system. Honors would be Oxford-inspired, with an American twist. Instead of one-on-one tutorials, small seminars would be held. He added external examiners to change the dynamic between professor and student, so the focus became the subject, not the teacher.

“The two become allies in meeting an ordeal which is to some extent a test of both,” Aydelotte wrote. He thought students ought to “study subjects rather than merely to take courses, to lay emphasis upon thought rather than upon information, which is, after all, the secret of education.”

By 1922, the first Honors seminars had begun. “A decidedly new and progressive addition to the Swarthmore curriculum,” reported the student newspaper The Phoenix. The first year attracted 11 Honors students. Four years later, there were 72. In the next few decades, approximately 30-35% of students chose Honors. Its popularity exceeded even Aydelotte’s expectations.

Seminars lie at the heart of the program. Instead of four a semester, Honors students typically take one or two in-depth seminars. Seminar size is small, often capped at eight or 10 students, with weekly papers and presentations by each member. Seminars are filled with vigorous debate and deep collaboration between professor and students. Honors takes place during junior and senior year. At the end of two years, outside examiners from other institutions evaluate Honors students through written and oral exams.

“It’s a unique capstone experience for the end of your college career,” says Ledbetter. “It’s a lot more education in a very short time. It’s like getting an extra year’s education at the end of your senior year, because you grow so much from it. It’s extremely high-impact teaching.”

And it’s intense.

“It’s incredible, intense immersion in a field, akin to being in graduate school,” says Tara Zahra ’98, a professor of East European history at the University of Chicago and a MacArthur Fellow. “It’s mastery of an entire subject and making connections between fields.”

Zoé Whitley Richmond ’01, art curator

“For Phil Weinstein’s Modernism seminar, we read more than a thousand pages of Proust in three weeks,” says Batten, an assistant professor of English literature at the University of Pennsylvania. “We tackled all of Ulysses in the same amount of time, immediately afterwards … [I was] devouring books out of a combination of enthusiasm, nervous intensity, and sheer necessity.”

Preparing for outside examiners typically puts Honors students into a frenzy of study. They’re expected to synthesize all the concepts and material of their last two years. The exams can be grueling — and exhilarating.

“It gives you all the confidence in the world to feel you can speak on a topic in a coherent and intelligent way,” says Wood. “Students are often surprised by how easy and graceful it is,” says Craig Williamson, professor of English literature, and former director of the program. “This is a dialogue! If you can get your exam to feel like two people talking about matters that are interesting to them both, you forget that it’s an Honors exam. Then it’s working perfectly.”

Tara Zahra ’98, professor

“We had a lot of pranks and high jinks,” recalls Zahra. “You form a very close bond. It’s a social experience as well as an intellectual experience.” Batten describes the delight felt by simply being in seminars with kindred spirits.

“Snack break conversation was unparalleled: We sat on the floor of Nora’s [Professor of English Literature Nora Johnson] classroom in LPAC eating chips and yelling about Macbeth, or on Phil’s [Phil Weinstein] living room couch complaining about Kierkegaard. … There was so much value to the enthusiasm and the joy.”

Seminars often last three to four hours, and can go longer when everyone is keyed up and engaged. “You forget time,” says Williamson. “You forget you’re the teacher. You become part of the intellectual quest.” He quotes Chaucer: “Gladly would he learn and gladly teach.” At the end of term, professors typically host a seminar dinner.

Another highlight is when the 100 examiners arrive on campus in May. Professors enjoy the chance to host colleagues and exchange ideas.

“Usually they stay in my house and they come down for breakfast in their pajamas and we talk about Beowulf,” says Williamson, one of the hosts.

“It’s a wonderful professional exchange,” agrees Ledbetter, explaining that the examiners themselves become ambassadors for the College. “They always rave about the program. ‘I can’t believe you do this! I want my kid to go to Swarthmore.’”

Caroline Batten ’14, professor

“The culture of the seminar has really carried over to the whole College,” says Ledbetter. “Honors is what started it, and continues to give Swarthmore a reputation for intellectual rigor which eventually caught on to the whole school. It’s not just small classes, it’s the idea of independent work. Swarthmore has a reputation for very active learners.”

When Aydelotte created Honors, other colleges were watching. “The experiment is one of more than local importance,” wrote Aydelotte, who published prolifically about education.

Christopher Bourne ’17, Ph.D. student

At 100, Honors is now more flexible and open. It’s no longer reserved for the higest-acheiving students. Honors offers students a unique capstone to their Swarthmore years, and promotes confidence and leadership.

Jed Rakoff ’64 H ’03 federal judge

These changes contribute to the robust and flexible nature of the program. Students still were required to declare a major and a minor, preserving Honors’ interdisciplinary nature and encouraging students to draw connections between fields. Enrollment shot back up to 30% again. “The ‘Reform to Four’ was really good,” says Zahra. “It made [Honors] more accessible and more compatible with study abroad or writing a thesis.” Notably, Honors students received grades. Why? Graduate schools were demanding it.

“No grades is a great system,” laments Ledbetter. “It allows for more learning. It allows you to make mistakes. But we have to compromise with the way the world is.”

Swarthmore today is a far cry from the culture of 1922. No one calls it a mediocre school anymore. Honors has left its stamp on the entire academic nature of the College, offering every student an intellectual challenge. Today, Swarthmore is Swarthmore because of 100 years of Honors.