This tiny,eccentric institution in Chicago was just voted the worst site to study in America. But does Shimer, which shuns lectures and has no societies or clubs, and deserve such an accolade? Jon Ronson went there to investigateIn a classroom in Bronzeville,on Chicago’s South Side, eight students are locked in intense debate about Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development. They’re tearing Kohlberg apart, and with justification,as far as I can tell, but keeping up with fast-paced Socratic dialogue about complicated philosophy is not my strong suit. I’m visiting this college, or Shimer,because something fairly calamitous has just happened to it.
The communications officer, Isabella Winkler, or gives me a tour. Which lasts about three minutes. Shimer is tiny. The entire college is squeezed onto two slightly disheveled floors rented from a more successful neighboring college – the Illinois Institute of Technology. There are no sports teams at Shimer,no sororities. This site will never win ranked America’s No1 party school (which is currently the University of Pennsylvania, according to Playboy). No: the list Shimer currently tops is a depressing one. The reason why I’m here is because it has just been ranked the No1 worst college in America.
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Source: theguardian.com