History Tutor Organizes Seminar on Constitution

A Mather House tutor is hosting a weekly study group in his living room in honor of the bicentennial of the Constitution.

Amidst chocolate chips, apple cider and Samuel Adams beer, about five students each week meet with Mather House Tutor Richard John '81 to debate Constitutional issues and Federalist and Anti-Federalist arguments.

The tutor in history and literature assigns weekly readings which he puts on reserve in the Mather House library and the students discuss the readings at their weekly meetings.

"It's important for tutors to show their enthusiasm and interest with students in reading important texts," said John, who is currently a seventh-year graduate student in the History of American Civilization. "I find that I learn a lot and I think that the students enjoy it too."

John, a former resident fellow of the Cambridge Historical Society and a former director of the Lexington Historical Society, has taught in social studies, history and literature, and history. This semester he is the head section leader for History 1653, "Civil War and Reconstruction."

Last semester John headed a study group of approximately five students who read Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" from front to cover and analyzed it, chapter by chapter.

A former professional tour guide, John has provided numerous extracurricular opportunities for Mather residents to learn about history firsthand.

Last year John formed the Mather House Day Trip Society to take students to historic New England sites. Students last year visited Mark Twain's house in Hartford, Sarah Orne Jewett's house in Maine, the Peabody Museum and Salem Custom House in Salem, as well as other places of historical interest.

This year John plans to take students to the Slater Mill in Pawtucket, and Herman Melville's. home in Arrowhead, New York.

"It's valuable for students to get out of Cambridge. Many students come to Cambridge, and their horizons narrow. They never even go to Boston," John said.

"It is extremely important to experience the past and not just to read about it, to walk through people's houses, to visit battlefields, to look at machinery, to hear machinery," said John, who started a Mather House dinner series on "The History of Technology."

"This is how we can make a contribution to the students while also learning from them," John said.

Next semester John is planning to lead a study group on Marx, Weber, and Veblen. Scott Feira '89, who is participating in the Constitution study group, described the planned study group as a "miniature version of Social Studies 10."

Students praised John's extracurricular efforts. "It is wonderful that there are tutors like him to do work with students out of the classrom," said Ronald J. Granieri '89, who has participated in both of John's study groups.