What are Children For? Fall/Winter 04-05

What Are Children For?

Fall 2004

Faculty:

Nancy Koppelman, Lab II, 2255, 867-6383, koppelmn@evergreen.edu

Office hour: Tuesdays, 4:30-5:30

Glenn Landram, Seminar II, D4106, 867-5434, landramg@evergreen.edu

Office hour: Tuesdays, 10:00-11:00

Core Connector: JoAnne Jackson, LIB. 1402, (360) 867-6657; joannej@evergreen.edu

Our Program Website: http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/whatarechildrenfor

Our Program Listserv: children@lists.evergreen.edu

Special Expenses: Up to $40 per quarter for class trips and performances.

*

Every generation of new parents shares common concerns: adjusting routines of daily life to the needs of children, and preparing children for the future. Every generation addresses these concerns differently. Modes of discipline, for example, that were acceptable in the 1600s are virtually unheard of today. The assumption that education is a human right was unknown to our forebears. How do ideas about children, the conditions of child rearing and of childhood, and conventions of education, change over time? Is there a “right” way to think about children? Is education best regarded as an institutionalized, systematized mode of engagement with children, or is it possible, anymore, for children to grow well in other ways?

This two-quarter first-year program will concentrate on the history, economics, philosophy, literature, and sociology of childhood and education, mostly in the United States. Until roughly 200 years ago, most children were necessary: They contributed labor to the maintenance of the family home, dressed in the fashion of adults, and were expected to reproduce the circumstances of their birth. The American Revolution disrupted virtually all social hierarchies, including those within the family. Inspired by Locke and Rousseau, educated people began to view childhood as a stage in life that was qualitatively unique. The relationship between children and adults changed, and came to be characterized by the notion that, in the best circumstances, children should be protected from the world they will eventually inherit.

During fall quarter, we will learn about the many ways the children of North America lived and were viewed by adults from the 16 th century forward, and examine how the meaning of childhood was transformed during the flowering of the range of philosophical ideas, literary forms, and material practices associated with the Enlightenment. We will study the changing meanings of innocence and sin, labor and leisure, usefulness and sacredness, and how those meanings figured in the way children were seen and treated. In the context of that broad history, we'll concentrate our work on two distinct but interrelated themes: The Changing Value of Children (weeks 2-5), and What It's Like to Be a Child (weeks 6-10). Guest speakers will include professionals and private citizens who have a special interest in children. We'll employ our developing understanding in examinations of our own childhoods, reflecting on memories, favorite objects, role models, and important rites of passage.

During winter quarter, the program will concentrate on the history and philosophy of education. The American system of public schooling was invented in the 19 th century to democratize and homogenize a diverse, unpredictable, and often unruly population. The educational system rests its legitimacy on an articulation of the relationship between knowledge and success. How has it done so? How has it been challenged? Writing will focus on group projects: students will create charter schools, present proposals to a student-composed “school board,” and share their completed work with a local school board. Guest speakers will include professionals and concerned citizens in all phases of education. Toward the end of fall quarter, students will be invited to suggest texts for study during winter quarter.

Students are strongly encouraged to take the program for both quarters. We have planned the program as an integrated whole. We hope you'll join us for the full 20 weeks.

Briefly put, our ambitions for the program are:

•  to understand and appreciate the history, sociology, philosophy, and economics of children and childhood, especially in the United States;

•  to understand and appreciate the perpetual challenge of raising children into adulthood;

•  to understand and appreciate how education and theories of child development figure in how adults understand children;

•  to understand and appreciate what it is like to be a child;

•  to develop our abilities to examine our own childhoods, and to respond critically and compassionately to stories of others' childhood experiences;

•  to develop our abilities as readers of humanistic and social scientific works, as writers, and as discussants; that is, to become more effective participants in a community dedicated to humanistic enquiry;

•  to develop our abilities to employ quantitative reasoning skills in our assessments of all of the topics raised above; and

•  to enjoy our common pursuit of these goals.

Please note: If you have a health condition or disability that may require accommodations in order to effectively participate in this class, please do one of the following:

•  Contact either Nancy or Glenn after class

•  Contact Access Services in Library 1407-D, 867-6348, or Linda Pickering, Director of Access Services, at pickeril@evergreen.edu.

Information about a disability or health condition will be regarded as confidential.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

a.m. Faculty Seminar (faculty only)	10-11 Glenn's Office Hour, SEM II, D4106 11:00-1:00 Seminar SEM 2, A2107 and D2107	Reading and Writing Day; NO CLASS	9:00-11:00 Text or Writing Workshop, SEM 2, A1105
Lunch	Lunch		Lunch
1:30-3:30 All-Program Meeting, SEM 2, D1105	2:00-3:30 Lecture or Workshop, SEM 2, D1107		12:30-2:30 Seminar, SEM 2, C2107 and C2109
	3:30-4:30 All-program TEA, SEM 2, D1107 4:30-5:30 Nancy's Office Hour, LAB II, 2255		3:00-4:00 Final All-Program Meeting, SEM 2, C2105

IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES

Seminars

Like good writers, good seminar discussion participants are not born but made. How this happens is a bit of a mystery, for few of us were taught deliberately in high school or college how to engage in serious discussion about important ideas and texts. Although we will not offer a set of lessons to develop this crucial skill, once our seminars convene we will share some general hopes and expectations for seminar discussions.

Seminars will focus closely on program texts. The texts vary among history, sociology, fiction, and memoir. Seminars will be devoted both to learning how to read well, and how to engage in serious, productive, and lively discussions that stretch our knowledge and imaginations, and that encourage broad participation. Some of our seminar time will be structured by faculty, especially early in the quarter. But as time goes on, you will become better able to structure your own time and we will happily let go. Our books, in order, are:

Steven Mintz, Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood

Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson

Viviana Zelizer, Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children

Book about Marketing to Children, title TBA

J. D. Salinger, Nine Stories

Jenny Lauren, Homesick: A Memoir of Family, Food, and Finding Hope

J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes

Lectures

On Monday and Tuesday afternoons, one of the faculty will give a lecture, both faculty will give lectures, or we will hear from a guest lecturer. Lectures are participatory: listen carefully, take useful notes, pay attention to questions or comments that arise in your mind during the lecture, write those questions or comments down, and share your questions and comments following the lecture. Some lectures will be largely informational; others will include explicit arguments. Pay attention to this distinction.

During fall quarter, we will enjoy visits from at least six guest lecturers. Some have traveled a distance to come here; some have been co-sponsored with other programs or offices of the college. There will be ample time for questions following all lectures.

Workshops

Each week, the whole program will participate in two workshops. Some will be devoted to developing writing or quantitative reasoning skills, and others will be devoted to interpreting the texts of the week and working on critical thinking skills. These textual or conceptual workshops have become a characteristic teaching and learning strategy at Evergreen. The program will divide into small groups to work systematically through a set of questions and intellectual exercises, with the help of a guided worksheet. This method enables you to arrive at a greater understanding of texts and concepts. Workshops require active participation, and are just as important to your learning as lectures and seminars.

Program Tea

Each Tuesday afternoon we will have an informal Tea. Faculty will provide black tea each week, and paper cups and snacks during the first week. After the first week, you are encouraged to bring your own cup, snacks, and teas of your choice. This is a time for casual milling about and conversation. During some of our Tuesday Teas, we will be joined by JoAnne Jackson, our Core Connector, who will help continue your orientation to Evergreen.

Field Trips

On Thursday, December 2, we will attend a performance of “Peter Pan” starring Cathy Rigby, at the historic 5 th Avenue Theater in Seattle. Transportation has yet to be arranged. The trip will cost approximately $40, and is a mandatory part of the program. You can pay for your ticket at the Cashier's Office. Field trips during Winter quarter have not yet been scheduled.

WRITING

Seminar Papers

Everyone is required to bring a Seminar Paper to each seminar. Seminar Papers kick things off; they will be the basis of our discussions. Faculty may call on students to read these papers aloud, or, preferably, students may initiate discussions by voluntarily reading what they wrote.

Seminar Papers are not formal, polished essays. Seminar papers are informal. Informal doesn't mean sloppy, casual, or shallow. Think of these papers as thought-pieces, forays into questions you wish to pursue with colleagues, or ideas you'd like to try out in discussion. They may have arguments, hypotheses, questions, or observations. We do not wish to prescribe a form, but rather invite you to use them to make public some of your best thinking. You will not hand in these papers; keep them in a portfolio which faculty will review periodically during the quarter.

Assigned Papers

During Fall quarter, you will write four papers and rewrite one of them. The papers will be essays, some of which will be based, in part, on your personal experience, and all of which draw on the program's texts. You will regularly receive supportive and candid criticism of your writing. You will also learn how to give same to others. “Criticism” here will not mean that others will condemn, denounce, or spurn your writing, or hold it up for ridicule. It means, rather, that your writing will receive evaluative and useful commentary that will help you to express yourself better with the written word. You will work with faculty, with peer tutors from the Writing Center, and with each other. Please note: You will ALWAYS be required to bring in several copies of your papers and drafts of papers to share with colleagues.

Take-Home Exam

During Week 7 of fall quarter, you will work exclusively on a written take-home open-book exam. You will be encouraged to prepare for the exam in study groups. Your best preparation for the exam is to be a consistently devoted and hard-working student in the program.

Portfolios

Maintain a portfolio which should include your seminar papers, your assigned papers, your rewritten papers, responses to your colleagues' papers, colleagues' responses to your papers, your mid-term exam, and any other academic work you choose to include: in other words, ALL the writing you do in connection to the program. These portfolios will be reviewed by your faculty at a midquarter conference and collected at the end of the quarter prior to your evaluation conference. The portfolio should be user-friendly: a loose-leaf notebook, or a GOOD folder that holds paper securely.

Evaluations

At the end of the quarter and before your credit is posted, you will be required to write a self-evaluation and an evaluation of your seminar leader. You will be required to submit your self-evaluation for inclusion in your formal transcript. Your self-evaluation ought to represent your very best work of the quarter and speak honestly about your learning. We will conduct an evaluation writing workshop to help you reflect on your work and write your evaluations.

Credit Equivalencies

Over the two quarters, 32 quarter hours of credit will be awarded in Expository Writing, Research, Quantitative Reasoning and Methods, American History, Sociology of Childhood, Philosophy of Childhood, and Education. Specific credit equivalencies will be determined at the end of each quarter and can be tailored to individual student needs, if necessary.

EXPECTATIONS and PROGRAM COVENANT

A few years ago, Evergreen adopted six expectations of Evergreen graduates:

•  Articulate and assume responsibility for your own work.

•  Participate collaboratively and responsibly in our diverse society.

•  Communicate creatively and effectively.

•  Demonstrate integrative, independent, critical thinking.

•  Apply qualitative, quantitative and creative modes of inquiry appropriately to practical and theoretical problems across disciplines.

•  As a culmination of your education, demonstrate depth, breadth and synthesis of learning and the ability to reflect on the personal and social significance of that learning.

These expectations are quite general and apply to all students. They refer to the outcome of your education when you graduate . You are at the beginning of your education. Outcomes are far in the distance, and yet it's useful to have these six expectations in mind.

In this program, we have expectations that can be useful references points for you now. They will enable you to practice the habits and skills that can foster Evergreen's six expectations for graduates. When you read them below, note that they refer to participation, work habits, and punctuality. These are matters of form. They constitute the bare minimum requirements for credit in the program. Successful study of the program's content depends on abiding by these matters of form.

These expectations are the substance of our program covenant. During the first week of the quarter, you will be asked to sign a document stating that you've read these expectations and agree to work in the manner described here.

We recognize that this is a demanding program, particularly given the other significant responsibilities you may have. Please voice whatever problems or concerns you have early in the quarter so that we may deal with them constructively.

Classes

•  Everyone will arrive on time and stay until class is over.

•  If you miss a class, contact another student to get assignments or handouts, and to get filled in on what happened. Then, if you still have questions, come to one of the program faculty for clarification. We meet only ten weeks, and for only 12 hours per week. Only one absence is permitted. Be sure to contact your seminar leader prior to your absence.

•  Students who have not completed the day's assignment should not attend, and will forfeit their one allowable absence.

•  Everyone is expected to participate fully in all class activities. This will include listening attentively in lectures, taking notes, reading aloud in class, both from your own writing and from the course's texts, participating in all workshops, and coming to class fully prepared to discuss our work in seminar.

Papers

•  Each student will write semiweekly seminar papers, four assigned papers, one rewritten paper, a self-evaluation, and a faculty evaluation. Your ability to do well on these papers depends on your diligent preparation and participation in class as a reader, writer, and discussant. Lack of participation and attendance in class translates into lack of preparedness for the program's work, and constitutes neglect of that work.

•  You must always hand in your work on the due date. It's better to hand in a paper you can't stand than to hand in nothing. Late papers will not be accepted.

•  Read and follow all directions. Reading well is prerequisite to doing well in the program.

•  Full credit will be awarded for full participation ONLY. Reduced credit will occur if:

you are consistently late for class.

you do not write all seminar papers, assigned papers, rewrites, and evaluations.

you are absent more than once.

you do not come to class prepared.

Fun

In this class, you are a member of a community of learners. This is an unusual opportunity. If you give yourself fully to the work, you will have an education that will last you your life. You will also have a lot of fun. Nothing quite compares with doing this particular kind of work with other people like you. Let's work hard and enjoy it.

Special Responsibilities of Faculty

(1) Give prompt and careful responses to student work.

(2) Be available for individual conferences with students.

(3) Prepare final evaluations of students in a timely manner at the end of each quarter.

Academic Honesty

The work you submit must reflect your own ideas. When you are incorporating the views of others, be those published authors or your seminar colleagues, acknowledge your sources. While much of the work in this program will be collaborative and the ensuing ideas will reflect the contributions of more than one person, get into the habit of acknowledging the people and ideas that have influenced you. There will be many times when you will be asked to take an individual position—in an essay or in a seminar discussion—and you must assert your own distinctive interpretation and judgments. The final work you submit must reflect your own judgment and analysis while also recognizing the contributions of people who have influenced your learning.

Failure to make acknowledgments of others' contributions, or to present the work of others as your own, is plagiarism. Any student who plagiarizes material will face strict sanctions, which can include leaving the program or the College. Raise any questions and concerns you may have about citing sources or about a particular instance with the faculty.

Human Subjects Review

If your writing involves interviewing, videotaping, or otherwise treats another person as an object of inquiry, it is important to comply with the Human Subjects Review Policy of the College. Packets can be obtained from the Academic Deans. This policy requires that you gain informed consent from any subject you are interviewing. You must complete the Human Subjects Review form and obtain the approval of a faculty member and the academic dean before you conduct any interviews. If you have questions, talk with a faculty member.

Resolving Conflicts

Academic and personal conflicts are common and to be expected in academic communities. The Social Contract lays out expectations about how we should deal with such conflicts:

Evergreen can thrive only if members respect the rights of others while enjoying their own rights.... All [members of the community] must share alike in prizing academic and interpersonal honesty, in responsibly obtaining and in providing full and accurate information, and in resolving their differences through due process and with a strong will to collaboration. (WAC 174-120-020)

We expect all members of the program to abide by these principles of honest and face-to-face resolution of conflicts. If you do not feel successful in resolving a conflict, bring your concerns to the attention, first, of your seminar leader. If the individual faculty member cannot resolve the problem, he or she will bring it to the attention of the faculty team and they will take steps to resolve the problem. Any conflicts that cannot be resolved by your own efforts or the efforts of your faculty will be referred to our program's Academic Dean. You should not skip steps in this process.