HUM 2113: General Humanities One
Instructor: Dr. Steve Benton Office: Horace Mann 316A, ext. 448
E-mail: sbenton@ecok.edu Office Hours: MW 1-2; T/TH 3:15–4:15
and by appointment
Official Course Description:
3 hours-- Study of significant ideas of Western and other cultures as manifest in history, visual arts, architecture, music, literature, and philosophy from prehistoric times to the Renaissance.
Required Texts
The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 B.C. by Josiah Ober and Mark C. Carnes. 3rd Edition. New York: Pearson, 2005. ISBN-10: 0321333039.
The Republic of Plato. Translated by Allan Bloom. 2nd Edition. New York: Basic Books, 1991. ISBN: 0-465-06934-7.
King Richard III by William Shakespeare. Edited by Pat Baldwin and Tom Baldwin. New York: Cambridge UP, 2003. ISBN: 0 521648459.
Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. Edited by Roma Gill; Revised and with a New Introduction by Ros King. London: Methuen, 2008. ISBN: 0-713-67376-1.
I will also be screening two films in class:
Troy. Dir. Wolfgang Petersen. Warner Bros., 2004 (Tuesday, August 23 from 2-5)
300. Dir. Zach Snyder. Warner Bros., 2007 (Tuesday, August 30, from 2-4)
If you cannot attend these screenings from beginning to end (since our class is scheduled to end at 3:15), you will need to make arrangements to rent the DVD and watch it on your own. An extra writing assignment will be given to those who do not see the film in class.
Literacy Understanding Skills and Content Outcomes
Students in this course should:
1. write coherent, organized, and mechanically proficient prose (literacy understanding skills: written communication);
2. identify assumptions and implications in written material and interpret written material (literacy understanding skills: reading);
3. distinguish between fact and inference and criticize supporting evidence (literacy understanding skills: oral or expressive communication)
4. use computers for word processing, spreadsheet, database or electronic communication applications (literacy understanding skills: computer literacy)
5. recognize and analyze the human experience and achievement of past and present cultures (content outcomes)
Attendance Policy
To pass the course, you must attend at least 60% of the classes; to get a C you need to attend at least 70% of the classes; to get a B or an A, you must attend at least 80% of the classes.
Excused Absences?
I always appreciate it when a student lets me know in advance if she or he will not be able to attend a class or turn in an assignment on time. But do not ask me for “permission” to miss a class or turn in an assignment late. It’s not that I don’t think some absences are unavoidable; I just don’t want to have to make spot judgments throughout the course about which absences are unavoidable and which ones are not. I would rather make my judgments at the end of the term with the big picture in view. So at the end of the course, if the number of classes you missed will negatively your grade and you feel that some of those absences were unavoidable, send me an e-mail or write me a letter explaining your case and I will grant “permission” as I feel is appropriate at that time.
If you do miss class, you are responsible for finding out about any new assignments (“I didn’t know about the assignment because I wasn’t here” may be a true statement describing your experience at some point this semester, but it will not warrant a special dispensation.)
Grading Mechanism
Twenty-five percent of your grade will be a measure of your in-class participation. With respect to the participation element of this equation, “A” grades are earned by students who attend at least 90% of the classes, arrive on time, project a positive attitude, stay focused and attentive, listen to others (teacher and students), ask and answer questions in a respectful way; offer fresh insights; contribute oral arguments to public debates; seek help outside of class when it might be useful to you (come to my office!); contribute constructive suggestions and feedback regarding class concerns; do their fair share in group activities and strive to keep their group on task. Students who do not demonstrate these behaviors will earn lower grades
Twenty-five percent of your grade in this class will be a global measure of your performance on a variety of small-scale writing assignments including: quizzes (which will be announced at least one class day in advance), in-class writing assignments and debates, short written homework assignments (typically assigned in one class and due before the next one), online postings, and the final exam. Each of these assignments will be accorded similar value (unless otherwise stipulated).
The remaining fifty percent of your grade will be based on your performance on three formal writing tasks that will be assigned over the course of the semester.
Paper #1 (300-500 words)
Option A: Debate: Should the Elgin Marbles Be Repatriated? (due by midnight on Friday, September 23)
Option B: Who is the Greatest Greek? (due by the start of class on Tuesday, October 4)
Paper #2: (300-500 words)
Address to the Athenian Assembly (each faction must submit at least 2 papers 24 hours in advance of each meeting: tentatively scheduled for October 18, 25, 27 and Nov 1)
Paper #3: (300-500 words)
Option A (Factions): Arguments presented to the Queen’s Privy Council (due by the end of the day on Sunday, November 20)
Option B (Privy Council): Recommendations to the Queen (due by 2 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30)
All of these formal assignments must be submitted to the instructor via e-mail (pasted into the body of the message, not added as an attachment) AND in hard-copy form. They should also include a word count (in parentheses after the text). These assignments should be designed for public consideration. They may be uploaded to course website so that they may be read and commented on by other students (not to mention anybody in the webosphere who comes across it!), so don’t submit work you wouldn’t want any of these people to read.
All writing assignments—both the small-scale assignments and the formal ones—should be coherent, organized, and mechanically proficient. And original (see below).
Plagiarism/Academic Integrity Policy
A student who submits a paper or posts a blog entry which in whole or part has been written by someone else or which contains passages quoted or paraphrased from another's work without proper acknowledgment (quotation marks, citation, etc.) has plagiarized.
Students who are found to have plagiarized work may be subject to various disciplinary actions including a failing grade on the particular assignment, failure of the entire course, and possible expulsion from the University.
Preliminary Class Schedule
Day One (Aug 16): Introduction to Course
Weeks 1 - 7:
Ancient Greece: Who is the Greatest Athenian?
Week One, Day Two (Aug 18th): Pisistratus
Week Two (Aug 23/25): Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy vs. Homer’s Iliad
Week Three (Aug 30/Sep 1): Cleisthenes and Themistocles
Week Four (Sep 6/8): Frank Miller and Zack Snyder’s 300 vs. Cassian Harrison’s The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization
Week Five (Sep 13/15): Pericles and The Parthenon; Guest Speaker: Dr. Taryn Chubb
Week Six (Sep 20/22): Pericles and the Peloponnesian War
Week Seven: (Sep 27/29): A Debate: the Repatriation of the Elgin Marbles and The Conclusion of The Peloponnesian War
Weeks 8 - 12:
Reacting to the Past: The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 B.C.
Week Eight (Oct 4/6): The Republic of Plato
Week Nine (Oct 11/13): The Republic of Plato and Faction Meetings
Week Ten (Oct 18/Fall Break): 1st Meeting of the Athenian Assembly
Week Eleven (Oct 25/27): 2nd and 3rd Meetings of the Athenian Assembly
Week Twelve (Nov 1): Final Meeting of the Athenian Assembly
Weeks 13 - 16:
Reacting to the Past: Marlowe and Shakespeare, 1592
Week Thirteen (Nov 8/10): Sixteenth Century England
Week Fourteen (Nov 15/17): Caucuses
Week Fifteen (Nov 22/Thanksgiving): Disputation
Week Sixteen (Nov 29/Dec 1): Performances and Final Vote
Week Seventeen: Final Exam (Tuesday, December 6 at 3)
University Mission Statement:
East Central University's mission is to foster a learning environment in which students, faculty, staff, and community interact to educate students for life in a rapidly changing and culturally diverse society. Within its service area, East Central University provides leadership for economic development and cultural enhancement.
ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Statement
East Central University is committed to providing equal access to University programs and services for all students. Under University policy and federal and state laws, students with documented disabilities are entitled to reasonable accommodations. If any member of the class has a documented disability requiring academic accommodations, he or she should report to the Office of Disability Services. A student seeking reasonable accommodations originating from a documented disability must register with the Office of Disability Services so that said accommodations may be provided. Contact the Academic Affairs Office if any assistance is needed in this process.
WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum) Statement:
In keeping with the university’s emphasis on writing proficiency, all student-produced writing will be expected to reflect clear content, coherent and organized structure, and adherence to the stylistic and mechanical standards articulated by the professor.
The ECU Writing Center offers free assistance for any student working on any writing task. The trained staff can help you understand an assignment, get started with ideas, develop your thesis, revise your draft, or learn to proofread your own work. The Writing Center is located in Faust Hall 147; you may reach them by phoning 580-559-5312. You can also find many valuable handouts and on-line resources via their web page, www.ecok.edu/writingcenter
