In this course we discuss issues not usually accessible to undergraduates: the nature of a college curriculum, how it gets chosen; professors, their training and their responsibilities.  We explore the curriculum issue through the lens of the culture wars, which are arguments among academics over core academic values.  However, given the current polarization in American politics that is also often characterized as a culture war, we will explore the relationship between it and its academic expression—the way in which national politics impinges on academic life. We discuss such things as the place of Women’s Studies, and Africana & Puerto Rican/Latino Studies in the curriculum, and the relationship between popular and academic culture.   The training of professors, their Professional Associations and who controls them, the hierarchy among disciplines and within disciplines, all make a huge difference to your current and future life as a student.  We will, as part of our discussion of the professoriate, talk about the publish-or-perish mentality prevalent in America, promotion and tenure, and the very current topic of academic freedom.   This is a W course, so there is considerable writing:  a final term paper of 6-7 pages on assigned topics, and shorter papers throughout the semester.  There are also two one-hour midterm exams and a two-hour final exam. 

The main books for the course are

E. D. Hirsch’s CULTURAL LITERACY.  ISBN 0-394-75843-9 (pbk)  $10.85 new, much much cheaper used.

Gerald Graff’s BEYOND THE CULTURE WARS.  ISBN: 0-393-31113-9.  This is a paperback book.  $11.92 new, much much cheaper used.

These books should be easy to get in many different ways; they will also be sold in class.  There will be much assigned reading on Blackboard as well.