Martin Luther King,
Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University
Inquiry II builds on the conceptual, skill, and content base established in Inquiry I and the linked writing and oral communication courses. In Inquiry I the focus was on the construction of the self in the context of human culture. In Inquiry II we turn to an intensive examination of the communities constructed by humans to give their lives order and meaning. After looking at how elephants structure their communities, we will seek to understand how and why humans have constructed political, social, economic and religious institutions. Following this analysis we will look at how individuals relate to these systems. While they give order and meaning to our lives, they also control our behavior. Also individuals and groups often do not fit comfortably into these systems and have to either suffer oppression, protest, or leave the system. We them move to a consideration of the development of morality on the part of individuals. How are our values shaped by the systems and what power do we have to reconstruct the systems? How, for example, do we build a more just, equal or peaceful society?
In the context of these discussions each student, with his or her instructor, will draft a community service contract (a new college requirement). The actual work outlined by the contract must be completed by the junior year. After the completion of Inquiry the director of experiential studies will administer the requirement and monitor its completion. The final weeks of the course will give each student, working in small groups, an opportunity to develop a case study that will be worked on by the entire class. The purpose of a case study is to allow students to think about what makes something a moral dilemma. It is often difficult to determine a resolution to an issue when various groups are working at cross-purposes. The resolution often reveals solutions no one had thought about.
This semester students will also be taking the second part of the writing and oral communication courses that are linked with Inquiry II. As with the first semester, these three courses have been planned together so the skills developed in one course are practiced and reinforced in the others.
In Inquiry II students will continue to sharpen the skills developed in Inquiry I: analysis, comparison, classification and understanding causation.
The skills to be emphasized in Inquiry II are:
The generalizations for the course are listed under each week’s description. These generalizations should be explored and challenged. Students will be asked to explore additional generalizations in these written and oral assignments.
Although only two required plenaries are included at present in this syllabus, others may be added as the semester progresses. Therefore please be sure to keep Thursday mornings from 11:00 to noon free of other commitments for the semester.
As part of Inquiry students will be required to attend at least four campus events designated as "lab experiences." This provides the opportunity to take advantage of special events (such as the Diversity Symposium) on campus that relate to the themes of Inquiry II. These events are or will be scheduled in the afternoons, evenings, or on the weekends. Several approved events are already listed at various places in this syllabus, but others may be added as the semester progresses. Students must attend two events prior to midterm break, and two after. The two events required during the "Experiential Week," March 30-April 3, are in addition to the other four required events.
We will schedule an additional library orientation session this semester to focus in particular on research skills and resources.
Computer and Network Orientation:
We will schedule several sessions in the labs for students who need to refresh their skills, or who feel they are not yet up to speed with the instructor’s expectations. This does not apply to the voluntary laptop sections.
Not everyone arrives at college with the same set of skills. If students feel they are struggling with mastering course material, or they need some help with their writing skills, they should contact the Learning Center immediately. We have added additional professional staff to the Center to deal especially with students in the First Year Program, and they are dedicated to help them to have a successful first year experience.
Students are expected to attend all class meeting and plenary meetings. After three unexcused absences the course final grade may be lowered for each unexcused absence.
Academic integrity is central to the purpose of any academic community. We ask that students read the section in the catalog entitled "Academic Integrity" (p.69), which includes the following definition:
Academic dishonesty is a profound violation of the expected code of behavior. It can take several forms, including, but not limited to, plagiarism, cheating, misrepresentation of facts or experimental results, unauthorized use of or intentional intrusion into another’s computer files and/or programs, intentional damage to a computer system, and unauthorized use of library materials and privileges.
Of special concern, especially for first-year college students, is the issue of plagiarism which is defined as leading your reader or listener to believe that what you have written or said is your own work, when, in fact, it is not. The range of plagiarism includes word-for-word copying of another’s text without quotation marks and appropriate citation, to inappropriate paraphrasing of another’s text, to even the unattributed borrowing of apt phrases or terms. All of these degrees of plagiarism are equally unethical and may be penalized with failure for the assignment, or, in extreme cases, failure for the course.
Students will continue to keep a portfolio for the second semester. These may be used for a variety of assessment purposes at the end of the year, and you are therefore required to keep yours in good order. The items to be added second semester include:
1) Description of your perfect society
The common assignments will be posted here as they come up. They will also be linked to the class schedule. These assignments will be worth a total of 200 points.
Please note that assignments shown in red are to be included in your portfolio.
Assignment #1, due Monday, January 27th: Construct
Graphic Models of your own Community
Assignment #2, due Monday, February 2nd: Write a 4-page (1,000 word minimum)paper describing
your vision of a "perfect community." Try to incorporate references to, and
to show knowledge of, the readings we have done so far this semester.
Assignment #3, (worth 50 points in total) ongoing through the semester: Construct webpage section of
the class syllabus. Your goal is to make it as helpful as possible to your
fellow students. See the e-mail message in the shared folder for more details.
Assignment #4, due Monday, February 16th: Write a 4-5-page (1,000 word minimum)paper
illustrating the conflict between individual autonomy and community authority.
You must incorporate some reference to Adam Smith's theory of free enterprise
and to other elements of our readings. Also try to draw on your own
experiences if possible (for example, a school issue in high school or college).
Assignment #5, due Monday, February 23rd: write a 4 page (1,000 word minimum) paper which looks at cultures we have been studying and discuss
the similarities and differences between two cultures.
Assignment #6, due Friday, February 27th: submit the class notes which you have taken for week 6. These notes must include your responses to Struggles in Steel. They will be graded according to the criteria established by the trial submission you have made in earlier weeks. Make sure you learn from those earlier submissions.
Assignment #7, Bulletin Board discussion of The Color of Fear. You must add at least three original posts, questions or answers, to the Bulletin Board discussion of The Color of Fear by the end of Spring Vacation.
Assignment #8, due Monday, March 23rd. Submit your notes on The Color of Fear. These should include any notes coming out of your discussions on the Bulletin Board.
Assignment #9, due Friday, March 27th: Discuss Swing Kids.
Assignment #10, due Monday, April 6th: a 4 page (1,000 word minimum) paper on the events you have attended. You should attempt to explain the relevance of those events to THREE of the generalizations you have encountered in the course so far.
Assignment #11, due:
Write a 1,000 word (minimum) paper in which,
based on the class texts, you consider the claim that prejudice (either
racial, gender, cultural, or economic) is universally immoral, that is to say,
just plain wrong, rather than wrong for certain people or situations?
Assignment #12, due Friday, April 17th: Your Community Service Contracts should be determined by this time.
Assignment #13, for Wednesday and Friday, April 22nd and 24th: work on the Case Studies.
Assignment #14, due Monday, May 4th: Case Studies and Portfolio are due.
Assignment #15, due: two two-page papers. One each on "What is
the good and how can we attain it?" and on "What should we make our ultimate
concern?"
For the determination of your grade all instructors will weight your
assignments as follows:
Class participation
10%
Portfolio
10%
Papers and Projects
40%
Exams/Quizzes
40%
The custom published text to place in your Inquiry notebook
The Communist Manifesto
(Both are available in the bookstore)
Other articles and books unique to this section.
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Dr. Rennie's Weeks |
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Week: Four |Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten | Eleven | Twelve | Thirteen | Fourteen | Fifteen |
Student-Designed Weeks |
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Weeks Four and Eleven by: Lielah Borycki |
Weeks Five and Fourteen by: Jennifer Naugle Tim Shelenberger |
Kim Bartley Heather Bullers |
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Week Seven and Twelve by:
Sara Lieb |
Week Eight and Fifteen by: Chad Bodgewic Jacob Smith |
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Defining Communities
Animals form communities that show some similarities to human communities.
Communities largely shape how human beings behave, feel, and perceive the world in which they live.
Every cultural system seems logical and sensible to the members of that
culture.
Monday: Martin Luther King, "Letter from Birmingham Jail"(in the writing
text)
Flashback: Black History Month
Martin Luther King,
Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University
The Declaration of Independence
Wednesday: Cynthia Moss, Portraits in the Wild
Friday: Henry David Thoreau, "Why I Went to the Woods," from Walden
Create a graphic model that depicts the communities
to which you belong.
Understanding the characteristics of community
Each community has its own characteristics.
Communities develop leaders and rules to govern behavior.
Monday: Aristotle's Politics
Book I, 1252a and
Book III, 1275b.
(This link is to a different translation from the one in your text. You should compare the two.)
See also this biography
of Aristotle.
Compare Aristotle's thought to Plato's model
of the state. See this biography of Plato.
See these further links on Aristotle
and Plato.
Wednesday: John Winthrop,
(Background), A Model of Christian Charity,
(Text)
A Pious Christian Reading of Winthrop.
An alternative reading of John Winthrop.
The Winthrop Papers.
Friday: Becker, "Moral Entrepreneurs," (see his homepage and his curriculum vitae)
and Ifeanyi Menkiti, "Person and Community in Traditional African Thought." See Kwame Antony Appiah on African Philosophy and these links on African Philosophy.
Students are encouraged to attend the Visa Fair on January 27 (6:00-8:00
p.m.), to help them prepare to write their community service contract later
in the semester.
Write a 4-page (1,000 word minimum) paper describing your vision of a "perfect community."
The creation of political, social and economic systems
Communities develop political, social and economic systems to help them
survive and grow.
Remember that you have to sign up for a library orientation session THIS WEEK!
Wednesday: Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
The Webpage Assignment.
Individual autonomy versus community authority
Loyalties to political, economic, social and religious systems may conflict.
Monday: Plato, Crito. Wednesday: Garrett Hardin, "Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping
the Poor"
Friday: Charles Dickens, "Sowing" and "Murdering the Innocents" from
Hard Times
Sessions will be scheduled in McGill library to assist in developing
research skills. All students are required to attend. Please sign up for
a specific section at the library.
Writing Assignment: Write a 4-5-page (1,000 word minimum) paper illustrating the conflict
between individual autonomy and community authority. Try to draw on your
own experiences if possible (for example, a school issue in high school
or college).
The individual and conflicting loyalties
Cultures, even cultures in conflict, influence each other.
An individual’s membership in different communities may cause conflict.
Monday: James Axtell, "Colonial America Without the Indians"
Wednesday Paula Gunn Allen, "Where I come from looks like this." Friday: Chief Seattle, "Message Addressed to President Pierce, 1854"
Video: The Chosen
(NOTE: Due to the length of this video, it will be shown at various
times on Thursday afternoon or evening)
Paper assignment: Look at cultures we have been studying and discuss
the similarities and differences between two cultures.
Communities in Conflict
Different Communities may be in conflict over resources.
Religious, class, and ethnic differences may increase conflict between
communities.
Amish court case
Herbert J. Gans- "The Poor Pay All"
Selections from Zlata’s Diary
Tuesday, February 24: Diversity Symposium: Struggles in Steel (All students
required to attend)
Expanded examples of specific concepts
Each instructor will pick one special topic for detailed analysis
How do individuals effect change in their cultures?
Monday March 2: First Examination.
Texts
Video: The Color of Fear by Lee Mun Wah.
Bulletin Board discussion of The Color of Fear. You must add at least three original posts, questions or answers, to the Bulletin Board discussion of The Color of Fear by the end of Spring Vacation.
Developing morality
Humans experience change in moral reasoning.
Humans, by their experiences, move through different levels of moral
reasoning.
Monday: selected religious texts
Wednesday: Lutz H.Eckensberger, "Moral Development and Its Measurement
Across Cultures,"
Friday: Ellen Levine, Freedom’s Children and Michael Sandel,
"America’s Search for a New Public Philosophy," Atlantic Monthly
Developing morality
Human moral reasoning develops in a cultural context.
Monday: Jonathan Kozol,"Distancing the Homeless"
Wednesday: Elijah Anderson, "Code of the Streets"
Video: Swing Kids.
Friday: Discuss Swing Kids.
No regular classes scheduled this week.
Students are required to attend two of four major Diversity Symposium
Week events. Professor may schedule informal discussion sessions in connection
with these events.
The four events are:
Armor and Sturtevant, Original and Traditional Folk Music and Stories. An evening with Holocaust Survivor, Ernie Light--Tuesday, March 31, 6:30-8 p.m., Beeghly Understanding the Amish: Personal and Academic Perspectives
The text is available at the above link, but see also this introduction.
Assignments #3
Week 4 (February 9-13)
Topic
Generalizations
Texts
What has this reading to do with our questions of autonomy vs. authority?
Compare Crito, 49a to Exodus 1:15 or Genesis 12:10.
Compare Crito 49c to Leviticus 24:19 and Matthew 5:38.
What authority is at work here?
Library Orientation
Assignment #4
Week 5 (February 16-20)
Topic
Generalizations
Texts
A Video of "The Native Americans" will be shown in clas a 8:20.
Plenary
Week 6 (February 23-27)
Topic
Generalizations
Texts
Lab Experience:
Assignment #6
Week 7 (March 2-6)
Topic
Generalizations
Assignment #7
Midterm/Spring Vacation March 7-15
Week 8 (March 16-20)
Topic
Generalizations
Texts
Plenary: Thursday, March 19, 11:00 a.m. Panel Discussion on
Community Service Opportunities
Students are also urged to attend the Job Fair in the Afternoon
Assignment #8, due Monday, March 23rd. Submit your notes on The Color of Fear. These should include any notes coming out of your discussions on the Bulletin Board.
Week 9 (March 23-27)
Topic
Generalizations
Texts
Plenary
Assignment #9
Week 10 (March 30-April 3) Experiential Week
Monday, March 30, 4 p.m. & 8 p.m., Walton-Mayne Union Lounge.
For the past five years Armor and Sturtevant have been playing a hybrid of
East African traditional, American old-timey, and their own original music on
a plethora of instruments at folk festivals, concerts, coffeehouses, churches,
and schools. They come by their unique sound honestly. Kelly Armor studied
flute and composition at Yale before spending 2 years in Kenya and Tanzania.
There she lived with native people and collected their songs, folklore, and
instruments. David Sturtevant grew up listening to and accompanying the
fiddle playing of his father. Dave's songs reflect his old-time roots and his
lifetime of living along the Great Lakes. His songs have been covered by
other nationally-touring folk artists.
T.J. Leyden, An ex-Neo-Nazi who now decries his experience and speaks of tolerance -- Friday, April 3, 6:30 p.m., Beeghly Theater
Assignment #10: Write a paper on the events you attended. You should attempt to explain the relevance of those events to THREE of the generalizations you have encountered in the course so far.
Communities develop moral norms
Social institutions are used by cultures to develop morality.
Wednesday: Marian Wright Edelman, The Measure of Our Success and
William J. Chambliss, "The Saints and the Roughnecks"
Write a 1,000 word (minimum) paper in which,
based on the class texts, you consider the claim that prejudice (either
racial, gender, cultural, or economic) is universally immoral, that is to say,
just plain wrong, rather than wrong for certain people or situations?
Human moral reasoning
Human moral reasoning develops in cultural context.
Moral reasoning does not necessarily lead to moral action.
Wednesday: Religious texts that establish moral standards.
Friday: Swift, "A Modest Proposal" and Philip Meyer, "If Hitler Asked
You to Electrocute a Stranger . . ."
Community Service Contract due
Case study groups assigned
Resolving moral dilemmas
Real-life moral dilemmas are difficult to resolve.
Monday: Rigoberta Menchu, "Things Have Happened to Me as in a Movie,"
Angelou - "Graduation Story," I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man, Chapter One.
Discuss these texts on the class Bulletin Board. You must make at least one significant posting, comment, question, or answer, on each of the readings by the end of the semester.
Introduce Case Studies: Work on these in class on Wednesday and Friday
Are there any remaining questions about the computers? Should we look at writing HTML? How do you do animated graphics in PowerPoint? Merge fields for mass mailings in Word? Send any such questions to me by the end of the week and we can discuss them in class.
Translating your own moral reasoning into action
Conflict resolution is an important skill to help put moral reasoning
into action.
A visit by an instructor experienced in conflict resolution.
Performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
Prepare for the Final Examination and the Submission of your Portfolio
What makes a moral person?
What should we make our ultimate concern?
All humans must decide what the good is, and determine what he or she
will make his/her ultimate concern.
Re-consider all the texts of the Inquiry Course.
