Was a little disappointed to see so little from the east in terms of recommended books. The Bhagavad Gita and ZhuangXi made the list, but nothing in terms of other important works by the Buddha, or Yoga or the epics like the Mahabharata. If someone were to read some of the Upanishadic works, it would be really interesting to see their influence on the works of Plotinus, etc.
The monolithic, slow-to-change Great Books list that forms the core of the St John’s undergraduate Reading List is famously and self-consciously concerned primarily and narrowly with the Western intellectual tradition that informed the Founding Fathers, etc. - so as, in the creators’ thinking, to prepare graduates for citizenship in a liberal democracy.
It’s likely no one is more critical of the List than the students and faculty, who argue constantly over omissions, additions, and alterations (there is barely enough time to read all the works on the Program, so for each added, one must often be taken out).
The historical context of the creation of the Reading List accounts for its significant bias towards dead white cis men, as the creators of the list were themselves white cis men at a time when the American education system was not integrated.
(You may be pleased to hear that, for at least the last several decades, the college has admitted people of all colors and genders!)