Instructor-led weekly online sessions
Average course duration
8–12 weeks
Small class size capped at 3 to 5 students
Yale-style assignments and discussions
Sofia (Beijing No. 4 High School, International Campus)
Stefan has done a great job in helping me approach a study area that I wasn't familiar with ... It's a good start in thinking about how to think.
Stefan Jones
(Chief Instructor and Head of Seminar Teaching)
A specialist in European intellectual history and a veteran of Yale's celebrated great books program, I started the seminars at Akros in the belief that a foundation in Western classics remains as important as ever for students wishing to study in Europe or the United States, no matter their eventual major. All of our seminars are designed to fit into busy academic schedules and to include students with different interests and levels experience. My hope is that students will not only get a head start to their university education, but find joy and value in the study of the humanities.
Current and Upcoming Seminars
Great American Novels
A survey of some of the renowned novels of American literature. Titles include: The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, For Whom the Bell Tolls, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, and others. Prerequisites: none. Assignments: weekly readings and reading responses.
Intellectual Life of Europe, Ancient to Modern
An intensive humanities seminar designed to introduce students to key individuals from the whole of the Western intellectual tradition. Authors include Plato, Epicurus, Descartes, Montaigne, Emerson, Freud, Camus, and more. Through reading and discussion, students develop the skills to approach pieces of Western philosophy and literature in their historical context. This course serves as an excellent gateway to any further studies of European humanities and civilization. Prerequisites: none. Assignments: weekly readings and reading responses. Current Syllabus
​
Modern European Philosophers
Designed to complement Intellectual Life of Europe, this course dives into a few of the most important philosophers and philosophies of the modern period. Special attention given to Descartes, Kant, and Nietzsche. Students are also given the opportunity to guide the class by selecting philosophers of their own interest for discussion. Prerequisites: Intellectual Life of Europe, or some prior exposure to Western intellectual history. Assignments: readings and reading responses.
​
War and Peace
In this course, we work through and enjoy Leo Tolstoy's vast masterpiece, War and Peace. Along the way, students cultivate the skill of college-level literary discussion and analysis. Topics include: Tolstoy's philosophy of history, romance, the religion and non-belief, the nature of wisdom, social class, the relation of the political to the personal, and the concept of the modern novel. Prerequisites: none. Assignments: weekly reading and reading responses.
​