Thou Shalt Respect Your Fellow Classmates During Discussions. We will be discussing some difficult material and everyone should feel comfortable contributing to the discussion. If you didn't understand something but are afraid of looking stupid, you can be confident that half the class is feeling the exact same thing. Everyone should come to class prepared to discuss the assigned readings. This is a discussion class, not a lecture.
Attendance is important missing more than four classes is grounds for being dropped from the class.
Equally important is recognizing that passive observation is a not viable classroom strategy for this course. These are straightforward assignments that will ask you to discuss one of two proposed questions. The questions will be distributed a week before the essay is due, and linked on-line to this syllabus. Essays are due in class, on the dates indicated below on the schedule. Two brief writing assignments of a less traditional format.