8/30 Who Am I? Introduction to the course and to each other; Course Outline; One-on one student interviews highlighting family background and heritage, personal values and identity, goals and aspirations.
Reading: Introduction to the First Year Reader
Tropical Fish (start reading)
Student Code of Conduct
9/4 Discussion of Student Code of Conduct; textbook “reconnaissance” and areas of student interest; continue with interview presentations. Preliminary discussion: What do we mean by ‘ethics’ and ‘values’?
Reading: Plato, “Allegory of the Cave”
College Tips, pp. 1-27 (Top Ten Tips) plus Our Eleventh Top
Tip, p.67
Continue reading Tropical Fish
9/6 Discussion of “Allegory of the Cave” including the issue of how to approach an assigned text---understanding context, critical reading, interpretation, articulating key ideas, grasping the overall point and meaning and applying these to personal experience.
Discussion of CollegeTips
Reading: Tropical Fish
College Tips, pp. 28-48
9/11 Continued Discussion of “Allegory of the Cave” and College Tips pp.28-37 on
Values and Personal Identity
Reading: K. Anthony Appiah, “But Would that Still be Me?”
Finish Tropical Fish over the long weekend
9/13 NO CLASS: ROSH HASHANAH
9/18 Discussion of Tropical Fish; College Tips pp. 38-48 on Taking Care of Yourself:
Health and Safety, Friendships and Relationships
Reading: College Tips, pp. 157-182
9/20 Discussion of Appiah essay in conjunction with Tropical Fish, College Tips, pp.
157-182. The themes here will include the nature of identity, types of identity, freedom and choice, expanding personal agency through the college experience. We will also talk about the close analytic reading of conceptual essays.
Reading: College Tips, pp.131-156
Du Bois, “Spiritual Strivings”
Suarez-Orozco, “Remaking Identities”
9/25 Discussion of Appiah, Du Bois, Suarez-Orozco; College Tips, pp.131-156
The class will also break into groups to cover another set of readings. Students will choose from the following selections: Native American Voices and Sherman Alexie, PrimoLevi, Pablo Neruda and Thiich NhatHahn, AmyTan, Sucheng Chan. Each group will be responsible for presenting the main ideas of the readings to the class. We will take some class time on the day of the presentations, 9/27, for groups to meet and craft their brief presentations
Reading: Your chosen author(s) from The Ethics of Engagement reader
ESSAY ON TROPICAL FISH DUE
9/27 Group Presentations; Further discussion of College Tips
10/ 2 Group Presentations, Further discussion of College Tips
Reading: Stephen Jay Gould, The Idea of the Human
10/4 Discussion of the Gould essay on the biological underpinnings of being human.
Reading: Naomi Zack, “Philosophical and Social Implications of Race”
Dee Brown, “War Comes to the Cheyennes”
James Baldwin, “On Being White…And Other Lies”
10/9 Discussion of Identity and Culture: the issue of race using the essays by Zack, Dee Brown, Baldwin. What is race? Race as a social construction. Race and the reality of racism. Race, ethnicity, and issues of “core” identity.
Reading: Barbara Ehrenreich, “Serving in Florida”
bell hooks, Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black
Alia Ganaposki, “Being Poor-A Look Inside”
TROPICAL FISH PAPER DUE !!!
10/11 Discussion of Identity and Culture: the issues of gender and social class using the essays of Ehrenreich, hooks, and Ganaposki
Reading: Mario Puzo, “Choosing a Dream: Italians in Hell’s Kitchen
Claudine O’Hearn, Half and Half: Writers on Growing Up Biracial
and Bicultural
10/16 MIDTERM WEEK
Discussions of the immigrant experience and mixed cultural identities in contemporary America. using the essays of Puzo and O’Hearn. Tensions and resolutions in forging an identity at the interface of cultures.
10/18 MIDTERM WEEK
Catching Up, Summarizing major ideas and themes, Continued discussion and
reflections on these themes. continued discussion of College Tips. Further integration of
College Tips into the framework of the course: Making the right choices for personal growth and development. Preliminary discussion of the role of ethics in creating meaningful identities and relationships.
1ST ANALYTIC ESSAY DUE
Section 2: Elements of Ethical Decision-Making (Oct. 23rd to 30th)
10/23 Discussion of the nature of ethics, ethical approaches and principles through the
“Life-Boat” dilemma; a consequentialist vs. a deontological approach. (This will include a discussion of how to deal with technical language in the liberal arts.)
Reading: College Tips, pp. 183-205
John Stuart Mill, Utilitariansim
Onora O’Neill, “A Simplified Account of Kant’s Ethics”
10/25 Discussion of ethics using Mill and Kant. What makes a choice or action ethical? What do we mean by the terms “right and wrong,” “good and bad?” What is the role of freedom and choice in ethical decision making? Do we have obligations to our families? To larger social groups? To ourselves? Is there any relationship between being ethical and being happy?
Reading: Jonathan Bennett, “The Conscience of Huck Finn”
Carol Gilligan, “Images of Relationship”
10/30 Continuing discussion of ethical issues using Bennett and Gilligan. Where do our ethical values come from? The “nature-nurture” controversy. Feeling vs. reason in ethical decision making. Are there universal standards for ethical judgment? Ethics and gender; cross-cultural perspectives on ethical reasoning.
Reading: College Tips, pp.73-103
Paulo Friere, “The Banking Concept of Education”
John Dewey, “Experience and Education”
Section 3: A Liberal Education (November 1st to 8th)
11/1 Discussion of Old Westbury Mission statement and history. In-class discussion of
Friere and Dewey, Teacher Ed Conceptual Framework, College Tips, pp.73-103
Reading: Thomas Paine, Common Sense
Galileo, From “Letter to Duchess Christina”
College Tips, pp.49-72
11/6 Discussion of critical thinking. Key concepts: opinion vs. argument, recognizing assumptions and biases, evaluating evidence, considering implications of ideas and positions, reason vs. feeling, the power of emotional appeals, stereotyping and generalizing. Discussion of the power of critical thinking for cultural and social change.
Reading: Frederick Douglas, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas
Manning Marable, “Education, Faith and the Promise of Equality”
Elizabeth Minnich, “Teaching Thinking: Moral and Political
Considerations”
11/8 Continued discussion of the power of critical thinking for social transformation and change. The importance of a liberal arts education using Douglas, Marable, Minnich. Discussion of College Tips pp. 73-103
Reading: Aristotle, Selection from Politics
Robert Frost, “Mending Wall”
Ursula Le Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas
Langston Hughes, “Theme for English B, “I, Too Sing America”
College Tips, pp. 104-130
Section 4: Working Towards Community (November 13th to 15th)
11/13 Discussion of the foundations of community, borders and boundaries, “whose in, whose out?” using Aristotle, Frost, LeGuin, Hughes. Discussion of College Tips pp.104-130 on expanding social/cultural horizons.
Reading: Audre Lorde, “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action
Alfredo Jaar, “A Logo for America”
Barbara Kingsolver, “And Our Flag Was Still There”
Nikki Giovanni, “We Are Virginia Tech”
11/15 Discussion of ethical obligations and the Common Good, the relationship of personal choices and social justice using Lorde, Jaar, Kingsolver, Giovanni
Reading: Declaration of Independence
Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience”
Section 5. Social Justice and the American Experience (November 20th to 27th)
11/20 Discussion of founding principles of American democracy, promises vs. realities;
Citizenship, Responsibility and the Common Good using the Declaration of Independence and Thoreau
Reading: Martin Luther King, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
Malcolm X, “Message to the Grassroots”
11/22 NO CLASS: THANKSGIVING RECESS
11/27 Discussion of civil disobedience, law and justice; the ethical foundations of social change, modes of action: violent vs. non-violent resistance using King and Malcolm.
Reading: Gandhi, From Principles of Non-Violence
Nelson Mandela, Statement from the Dock
Section 6: World Citizenship and Human Rights (November 29th to December 4th)
11/29 Discussion of human rights from a global perspective using Gandhi and Mandela.
Reading in class: U.N.Declaration of Human Rights, Beijing Declaration of Women’s Rights, Freedom Charter, Jonah Peretti, “No Sweat, No Slang”
12/4 continued discussion of global human rights
Reading: Michael Dyson on Hurricane Katrina
Aldo Leopold, “The Land Ethic”
Section 7: Sustainability and Social Justice (December 6th)
12/6 Do we have ethical obligations to the environment? Are there underlying structural
patterns between race, class, and environmental issues? Why should issues of the environment and sustainability matter to us? Discussion using Dyson and Leopold.
12/11 Group Presentations
12/13 FINAL EXAM WEEK Group Presentations continue
FINAL ESSAY DUE