FYS: Utopian Visions
Professor Carol Reeves, 325B Jordan Hall, creeves@butler.edu
The Educational Philosophy of the Freshman Year Seminar
WHAT THIS CLASS IS NOT:
1. This is not a class in which you must learn a particular knowledge base or subject matter. As you can see, all the freshman seminars are about different topics, so what topic is addressed is not important.
2. This is not a class in which basic grammar and compositional elements will be taught directly. We assume that you come to us with basic skills in those areas.
3. This is not a class in which the teacher will lecture as the main vehicle for imparting knowledge.
WHAT THIS CLASS IS:
1. In this class, you will not learn subject matter as much as how to think, how to discuss ideas, how to write about your own ideas, and how to speak with confidence and power.
2. In this class, you will be helped to raise your writing ability to the college level rather than simply repeat what you did in high school.
3. In this class, you will learn how to be an educated person who is not just going to sit passively and wait for knowledge to be given to you but to engage actively in gaining knowledge on your own and with others.
Course Description:
This Freshmen seminar will explore the dream of a perfect society through reading, writing about and discussing some of the classics in utopian literature. We will also see that such works are actually politically engaged because they indirectly critique the authors’ own societies. Students in this class will improve their speaking, writing, critical thinking and listening abilities.
Fall: Utopias
Spring: Anti-utopias and Apocalyptic warnings Also, we will explore real, present day, “intentional communities” here in the United States.
Texts:
Fall:
Plato, The Republic
Moore, Utopia . Publisher: Hackett Pub Co Inc (January 3, 1999) > 0. ISBN: 087220376X
Gillman, Herland . (Publisher: Dover Publications; New Ed edition (September 2, 1998) > 0. Language: English > 0. ISBN: 0486404293 > 0. > 0. > 0.
Spring: (additional texts to be selected)
Huxley, Brave New World. (Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Reprint edition > (September 1, 1999 > ISBN: 0060929871 > 0. > 0).
Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time. (Publisher: Fawcett; Reissue edition (November 12, 1985) > ISBN: 0449210820 )
Course Requirements:
1. Written Work
Informal writing: 15%
Seven informal “writes” on assigned topics. These informal writes should be about two pages, typed, but can be longer if that allows more thinking. They will be read and assessed by the professor on a 1 to 5 point scale according to 1) effort, 2) thinking and creativity 3) clear writing. 5 = A; 4 = B; 3 = C
Formal Writing………………………………………….………30%
2 essays that should be 3 to 5 pages long
1 essay that should be 6 to 7 pages long
NOTE: The student may decide which essay will be the longer. All formal essays must go through the drafting process, so with each essay, the professor must see a rough draft.
1 summary of an academic article
2. Speaking and Class/community Contributions:
Two mini-research assignments…………………………………10%
Students will research selected topics then present the information orally to the rest of the class. No power point presentations allowed. The class will take notes on every presentation and will be responsible for knowing the information.
Seminar Performance……………………………………………25%
A seminar’s success depends upon the community of individuals in the class as much as on the professor, his or her instruction, and the selected texts. Your presence in class, your engagement, your contributions to class discussion, your ideas and views, your questioning of your peers and your professor are all part of your performance. Missing classes, saying nothing in class, blowing off the reading—these behaviors are not conducive to seminar or personal success. If I feel that you are falling down on your responsibilities to the seminar, I will ask you to drop the course.
TO CHECK KEEP YOU ON YOUR TOES, I WILL CALL ON EACH ONE OF YOU SEVERAL TIMES OVER THE SEMESTER TO ANSWER A READING QUESTION (SEE SYLLABUS), SO YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE ANSWERED THE READING QUESTIONS.
If you have any particular reason why I should not call on you, please email me with an explanation. But if it is simply that you do not want to look stupid before your peers, then make sure you are well prepared for class. And by the way, all of us will make mistakes and have trouble conveying our thoughts, whether in writing or in speaking. The struggle to grow is not painless.
Quizzes……………………………………………………………5%
You will have a quiz after student presentations of historical information. You will also have surprise quizzes over the reading from time to time—just to keep you on your toes.
Mental and Social Health Practices. We will have “Buddy teams” in class, pairs of students who exchange email and phone numbers and who will be class “buddies” for the semester. You will have a different buddy in the spring. You and your buddy will be required to do some type of social activity together during the semester. I will also join two or more buddy pairs to attend an event together. A main requirement of buddies is to help each other, to talk about class, and to alert me about any problems. You must not buddy with someone you already know. There is no grade for this activity.
Classroom Policies:
1. Attendance every day is expected. If you are ill and cannot come to class, let me know. If you have a family emergency that requires your presence, speak to the Dean of Students, Levester Johnson, who will send a release to your professors. More than two absences will affect your grade negatively.
2. All informal writes, drafts, and essays are due in class on the day they are assigned and no later. Generally, if you are well organized, you should be able to turn in those assignments on time, even if you become ill. However, extended illnesses or other unforeseeable events do call for some accommodations.
3. If you have a learning disability, make sure that you speak to me about what is needed for you to be successful in class.
4. If you must miss class due to illness or some other matter, check with your Buddy for what you missed.
5. Be honest. Copying the work of others—which is plagiarism—is absolutely wrong. These are all forms of plagiarism:
Including in your own writing any statement, phrase, paragraph that you found in a source without quotation marks and correct attribution.
Including an idea, specific data or other special information that is not found everywhere in your own writing without correct attribution.
Buying an essay from an internet site.
Using another student’s essay as your own.
Using someone else’s research as your own.
These are the main reasons students plagiarize:
Found something on the internet that they didn’t think they could restate in their own words.
Feel inadequate to the task (the assignment seems overwhelming).
Trying to complete assignments in a rush.
6. If you are struggling with any aspect of this class, please email me and we will talk. You will have two required conferences with me over the semester, but I would love to talk with each of you about your progress at any time. Do not be afraid of letting me or any of your other professors know when you are having trouble.
7. I will call on you. You cannot look down and just hope I don’t call on you. You should get used to being well prepared for class because that is expected at Butler. I will mostly ask you to answer the reading questions over the reading assignment, but from time to time, I may ask you more complex questions.
If you are asked, by me or another student, a question that you can’t answer because you find it too complex to answer on the spot, rather than sit there in stunned silence, you may say any of the following that apply:
1. I’m not sure I can answer that without some time to think.
2. Please ask someone else and come back to me later.
8. I expect you to be curious and to ask questions. So for every class, prepare a question that you would like to ask me and/or the rest of the class. Your questions don’t need to be heavy-duty. These will work just fine:
1. Is anybody else confused about_____.
2. Who likes this book and why?
3. Why are we doing this?
4. Dr. Reeves, can we slow down some?
5. Dr. Reeves, can we quicken the pace, please?
6. Dr. Reeves, why did you pick this book for us to read?
9. I expect you to be looking at anyone who is speaking, to be showing that you are listening by nodding or making other gestures. NO INTERNET BROWSING, TEXTING, OR TALKING BY PHONE IS ALLOWED IN CLASS. IF YOU DO THESE THINGS, I WILL ASK YOU TO LEAVE.
Utopian Thought: Fundamental Issues and Questions: