1. What Do You Need to Know
Before Beginning This Course?
No
previous knowledge of a particular subject matter is assumed in this course,
beyond a very general understanding of Western culture. I will provide
background to each of the subjects we cover and that should be adequate
for any student who is keeping up with the readings. Students will,
however, need to bring to the course a willingness to explore visions of
the world that are new to them.
2. What Will Be Expected of You During this Course?
Since you will regularly be responding to assignments on the web site and doing work during the class period that will contribute directly to your grade, you will need to keep up with the readings and the material on the web site each week. This is not the kind of course in which you can do well by "binge studying" just before a test. You will also have to devote a good deal of thought and rewriting to the three take-home essays and to become actively involved the work and discussions undertaken by your team. Finally, you will be expected to communicate with me in person or by e-mail whenever you find that the material we are studying is unclear. Without such feedback it is difficult for me know where the class is having trouble and where it is unnecessary to keep going over material in class.
3. What Will Be Expected of Me in this Course?
I consider it my responsibility to present you with the materials that you need to think effectively about the major issues covered in course. It is my job to avoid using esoteric terms or concepts (like "esoteric"1) without adequately explaining them, to present as precisely as possible what you are expected to do in this course, and to be available to respond to questions during class, at my office hours, or through e-mail. I consider the issues raised by the course to be important, and I think that it is my responsibility to offer you the opportunity to grapple with some of them, regardless of the richness or poverty of the educational opportunities that you have had in the past.
1. Esoteric -- "Understood by or meant for only a few specially instructed or initiated individuals . . . Funk and Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1966), p.452.