I used to go to a college where the manditory curriculum were the Great Books. They're read and discussed in roughly chronological order over 4 years.
This is what's mandated by experts on the Great Books, to be read and discussed over the short 4 year college term. [url]http://www.sjcsf.edu/academic/seminar_list_02-03.htm[/url]
I wanted to do this for my college education because in just 5-10 years, the knowledge you get from standard univeristy courses will be expanded on, maybe even made obsolete. They start you in baby steps in undergrad studies, expecting you to get to the cutting edge and serious scholarship in postgrad studies. In big schools, the top experts won't even deign to teach you. They leave that to grad students.
The Great Books program's different, because the tutors in your class consider themselves students too, just very advanced ones. The greatest experts willing to teach go to St. John's, where they're immune from the usual politics and political correctness found in modern academics. They study the same texts as the students alongside them. These books are the pinnacle of Western thought and intellectual achievement. It's not pablum or watered down; they're the original texts written by the brilliant pioneers that have shaped and described our greatest ideas.
I ditched this program because I couldn't afford it, and it was the biggest mistake of my life. I regret nothing in life so much as leaving St. John's College. It is a very special place.