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Joint Syllabus…..Fall 2009
 

Honors Core Seminar: Ethics and Introduction to Global Studies

Holly Graff and Richard Stacewicz

 

______________________________________________________________________________________

I.    Course       Course      Course                                            Credit               Lecture Lab

       Prefix        Number     Name

        SSC            201         Introduction to Global Studies           3                         3                   0

        PHL            106         Ethics                                                  3                      3                   0

II.   Course Prerequisite:   None

 

III. Course (Catalogue) Description:

Introduction to Global Studies:

The course focuses on concepts of global interdependence.  The content covers the history of political-economic relations among selected developed and developing nations as well as current problems affecting the global community, including issues of war and peace, environmental sustainability, and human rights.  The multidisciplinary approach acquaints students with perspectives from two or more of the following disciplines: history, economics, sociology, anthropology, psychology and/or political science.

Ethics:

Course studies meaning, value, and moral responsibility in human life. Topics include examination of at least four conflicting theories about what constitutes moral conduct and social justice; application of these theories to individual moral dilemmas and to contemporary social issues such as world hunger or the environmental crisis.

IV.  Learning Objectives: 

            Introduction to Global Studies:

After completing this course, students will: 

A.     Be able to identify the three main phases of imperial expansion over the course of the last 500 years and their impacts on global society, economics, and culture.

B.     Be able to compare and contrast three of the dominant social scientific theories that seek to explain global economic development.

C.     Be able to assess the validity of the various theories on economic development by applying the concepts to historical developments in specified regions of the globe.

D.     Be able to describe the social, cultural, economic, and political characteristics of contemporary “globalization”

E.      Be able to distinguish between the dominant theories regarding the impacts of contemporary globalization on the global economy and culture

F.      Be able to identify the dominant schools of thought on United States foreign policy     

H.  Be able to adopt and/or construct and defend their own perspectives on

            economic development and environmental preservation.

G.  Be able to identify and evaluate the efficacy of two dominant                      perspectives on  environmentalism and globalization. 

            Ethics:

A.    Students will develop and understanding of at least four fundamentally different ethical theories and the problems that these theories address.

B.    Students will develop their critical thinking skills.  They will examine criticisms of all the ethical theories they study and will debate the alternative solutions offered by these theories to enduring moral questions.

C.    Students will learn to apply ethical theories to concrete situations on the personal level, on the national level, and on the global level.

D.    Students will adopt positions on contemporary social issues and use the ethical theory with which they agree to defend their positions.

 

V.  Academic Integrity: 

Students and employees at Oakton Community College are required to demonstrate academic integrity and follow Oakton’s Code of Academic Conduct. This code prohibits:

·        cheating,

·        plagiarism (turning in work not written by you, or lacking proper citation),

·        falsification and fabrication (lying or distorting the truth),

·        helping others to cheat,

·        unauthorized changes on official documents,

·        pretending to be someone else or having someone else pretend to be you,

·        making or accepting bribes, special favors, or threats, and

·        any other behavior that violates academic integrity.

There are serious consequences to violations of the academic integrity policy. Oakton’s policies and procedures provide students a fair hearing if a complaint is made against you.  If you are found to have violated the policy, the minimum penalty is failure on the assignment and, a disciplinary record will be established and kept on file in the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs for a period of 3 years. Details of the Code of Academic Conduct can be found in the Student Handbook.
 

VI.  Outline of Topics:

1.      Economic, Social, and Environmental History of Globalization from 1492.

2.      Conflicting Ethical Theories about Land, Property, and Justice…..Locke, Smith, Marx, Native American Thought

3.      Contemporary Global Economy and Environment

4.      The Debate about Distributive Justice….Rawls, Nozick, Schweikart

5.      The Current Economic Crisis of 2008-2009…..Philosophical and Social Scientific Perspectives

      
See the Reading Schedule for more details.  This information will be updated on the class website.
 

VII. Methods of Instruction: 

            Discussion, small group work, group presentations, lectures, and videos.

 

VIII.  Course Practices Required:

1. Attendance and Participation
   1. Since this course is a seminar that relies on student participation and dialogue for its success, each student should come to class prepared to discuss the readings as listed in the schedule.  At this point, each student has an A (85 points) for this segment of the grade.  You are allowed 3 absences without penalty.  Your participation grade will drop by 10 points for each successive absence.  Lateness will count as missing ¼ of the class.
   2. In many instances (particularly in Ethics), students will give very brief presentations on the assigned readings in order to start class discussion.  Students should plan to volunteer on at least three occasions and can receive 1 or 2 points for each presentation.
   3. Each student is also required to attend three events (lectures, films, performances, etc.) at Oakton or in the Chicago area that in some way connect to the topic of globalization and/or ethics. Students are required to hand in a one-page response to the event that they attended.  We will inform you of upcoming events in the area, and students should feel free to suggest events as well.  Attendance at each event is worth 3 points.
   4. There are no excused absences.  However, you may also attend and write up additional outside events to erase absences. We will certainly work with anyone who has to miss class due to illness, personal emergencies, or religious holidays to guarantee that they have ample opportunities to make up for any absence.
   5. For participation, there are 100 total points - 85 for attendance, 9 for outside events, 6 for presentations.
      
       
2. Journal
   Students will also be responsible for keeping a journal in which they will discuss the readings and their reactions to them.  We will be asking you to address specific issues in the journals from time to time, but you should also feel free to comment on any of the readings or discussions we have in class. By the end of the semester, you should have at least thirty double-spaced type-written pages (this covers both courses) in your journals.  We will collect them several times during the course of the semester.  We will collect your journals every two weeks.  Failure to hand in the journal on a scheduled date will result in the loss of five points from the final grade unless you schedule a conference with us to get assistance in which case there will be no reduction in the grade. The journals are worth 100 points or 25% of your grade.
   
    
3. Exams
   In addition to the weekly assignments and journals, you will be required to complete three in-class short answer/essay exams.  If you will be absent for an exam, please inform us before the exam is given.  Students who miss an exam will have one week from the date of the exam to complete it in Oakton’s Testing Center.  If you do not make up the exam within this time period, you will need to take an essay exam at a later date. The first first two exams will each count for 30 points, and the last will count for 40 points.  All exams are cumulative. All three exams will count for 100 points or 25% of your grade.
   
    
4. Project
   Finally, each student is responsible for carrying out research projects with several of your peers during the course of the semester.  Students will be required to focus their research on some region of the globe and to understand the relationship between economic development or underdevelopment and environmental degradation. These are to be case studies of the chosen regions. Furthermore, students will have to develop and defend an ethical position regarding these developments and present their findings and perspectives in some kind of public presentation. We will cover the specific of this assignment in much more detail during the first few weeks of the semester. This activity will account for 25% (100 points) of your final grade for each course. Use of library resources will be required to complete this assignment.
    
5. Portfolio
   We would like students to keep all their work in a portfolio that we can review at the end of the semester.
    

IX.  Instructional Materials: 

Ethics

Classics of Moral and Political Philosophy edited by Cahn

After Capitalism by David Schweikart

Environmental Philosophy edited by Zimmerman
            Photocopies and web articles

Global Studies

 

The Vulnerable Planet by Foster

Colonialism by Jurgen Osterhammel

Making Globalization Work by Joseph Stiglitz

Earth Democracy by Vandana Shiva

Photocopies and web articles. 
 

X.  Methods of Evaluating Student Progress and Grade Distribution for Each Course

            Class Attendance, Engagement:          25 percent (100points)

            Research Projects:                               25 percent (100 points)

            Exams:                                                   25 percent (100 points)

            Journals:                                                25 percent (100 points)

            Total:                                                     100 percent = 400 points

            A=  360 - 400 points, B= 320 - 359, C = 280 - 319, D = 240 -279, F = 239 or below. 

In general, students will receive the same grade for both classes.  However, if it is the case that a student is just missing a grade, then we will give the student the higher grade in one of the two classes.  For example, if a student had 358 points, we will give this student and A in one class and a B in the other class.  However, it is actually our expectation that anyone who does the reading and genuinely engages with the class will earn A’s in both classes.
 

XI.  Other Course Information:

            The Oakton Community College Catalog States:

                        Oakton Community College does not discriminate on the basis of race,

                        color, creed, national origin, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation,

                        or marital status in admission to and participation in its educational

                        programs, activities and services, or employment practices.  The College

                        does not tolerate sexual harassment or sexual assault by or of its students

                        or employees. 

In keeping with this policy of tolerance and nondiscrimination, all of us should listen to each other and carefully consider each others' ideas, especially those that may be different from our own.  We should avoid demeaning others and using offensive terms when talking to each other.

Our goal is to provide you with any assistance you may need.  Please feel free to contact us during office hours, or we can meet at another time if you make an appointment.  Wecan also introduce you to the various support services available on campus if necessary.