Sample Course Syllabi

Sample course syllabi for semester and quarter courses provides suggested models for structuring one’s course.

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›  Semester

Quarter Syllabus

ALS 273: Race, Class, Gender, and Culture

Professor:

Office:

Office Hours:

Phone:

Course Description: This course is designed as a philosophical analysis of the issues of race, gender, class, and culture. Unlike what my colleagues in ethnic studies or anthropology might examine related to these issues, as a philosopher I am concerned with the epistemological and normative concepts and principles that undergird them.  We can get at these concepts and principles through two methods: first, through the analysis of empirical data and historical records; second, through conceptual reflection.  We will use both methods in this course. This course is taught with the expectation that few if any of you will work as academics in the future.  As such, my hope is that you gain the necessary skills and knowledge-base transferable to whatever it is you one day do as a vocation.  Also, I hope the course provides depth to your thinking and self-reflection, and contributes to your personal interactions with others.

 

Course Objectives:    

  1. Develop, refine, and reinforce critical thinking skills.
  2. Develop, refine, and reinforce the ability to communicate complex, potentially controversial ideas.
  3. Develop, refine, and reinforce independent research and study skills.
  4. Develop, refine, and reinforce the ability to discuss, debate, and explore complex, potentially controversial ideas in a communal context.
  5. Develop, refine, and reinforce the comprehension of the complexity of the issues of race, class, gender, and culture.
  6. Develop, refine, and reinforce the ability to understand, decipher, and read graphs and data points.

 

Text: Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class (7th edition) by Joseph F. Healey

Supplemental Materials: There will be a few Web links placed on Angel during the course, to supplemental and reinforce the readings.  I will also reference graphs, articles, legislation, and legal cases, which I will then place online. Additionally, the class will view a handful of documentary and other genre films, which will be part of the mid-term and final.

Course Format: The course is mostly lecture-based, with the expectation that students will involve themselves in discussions that arise from the lectures.  As the course evolves, students will be expected to demonstrate their understanding of the jargon and statistics essential to analyzing the issues at hand.  It is important that students interrogate the material by asking questions and posing alternative explanations.

 

Course schedule

SESSION & DATE

 

 

#1

Date

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Buy textbook(s)

--

Orientation to the Course

#2

Date

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 1, p. 2-29

Sage Articles Chapter 1

Diversity in the United States

#3

Date

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 2, p. 30-67

Sage Articles Chapter 2

Assimilation and Pluralism

#4

Date

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 3, p.68-97

Sage Articles Chapter 3

Prejudice and Discrimination

#5

Date

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 4, p. 100-122;  Chapter 5, p.124-148

Sage Articles Chapter 4 and 5

Dominant-Minority Group Relations,  Preindustrial America, Dominant-Minority Relations, Industrialization

#6

Date

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

 

*MIDTERM EXAM*

#7

Date

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 6, p.152-183; Chapter 7, p.184-212

Sage Articles Chapter 6 and7

African Americans and Native Americans

#8

Date

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 8, p. 214-249; Chapter 9, p.250-283

Sage Articles Chapter 8 and 9

Hispanic Americans Asian Americans,

#9

Date

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 10, p. 284-315

Sage Articles Chapter 10

New Americans, Immigration, Assimilation, and Old Challenges

#10

Date

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 11, p. 318-347 & Chapter 12, p.348-376

Sage Articles Chapter 11 &12

Gender, Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Americans

#11

Date

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 13, p.378-397 & Chapter 14, p.400-412

Sage Articles Chapter 13 &14

Dominant Minority Relations, Cross-National Perspective, Minority Groups

#12

Date

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

 

*FINAL EXAM*

 

           

Exams: There will be two exams in the course, a mid-term and a final.  They will include all the readings, lectures, discussions, and films up to the point of the exam.  They will be short-answer, essay, and fill-in-the-blank.

Quizzes: Quizzes are very important for this course.  They are used to externally motivate active reading by students.  If students do not read in this course, they cannot achieve the five objectives laid out above.  Quizzes will be multiple choice and start at the beginning of class.  If a student comes late to class, after the quiz has been collected, without a documented excuse, that student receives a zero on that quiz.

Attendance: Attendance is required in this class, especially because it meets but once a week.  Students are allowed one unexcused absence; all other absences must be excused through full documentation.  If an absence is undocumented, it is not excused.  More than one unexcused absence will result in the loss of the full 10% o the attendance portion of the overall grade.

5 Quizzes = 60%

2 Tests = 30% (including the final)

Attendance = 10%

Grading Scale:

100-95 = A 76-73 = C
 94-90 = A- 72-70 = C-
 89-87 = B+ 69-67 = D+
 86-83 = B 66-63 = D
 82-80 = B- 62-60 = D-
 79-77 = C+ 59 & below = E

Late Assignments:

Permission of instructor. Discuss with instructor prior to assignment's due date.

*Please note that students are required to follow the code of academic honesty as detailed in the student handbook. 

One kind reminder:

Conduct that is detrimental to the running of the course will result first in a warning, and then next in an automatic expulsion from the course.  Such conduct includes, but is not limited to, repeated outbursts in class unrelated to, or inappropriate for, the discussion; repeated use of a cell phone; violent or threatening language toward one’s fellow classmates or the professor; repeated conversations with other students that distract the class or the professor; eating or drinking food that causes a distract for students or the professor.

*Disclaimer: this syllabus is not a legal contract.  The professor reserves the right to change this syllabus during the course.

 

 

Semester Syllabus

ALS 273: Race, Class, Gender, and Culture

Professor:

Office:

Office Hours:

Phone:

Course Description: This course is designed as a philosophical analysis of the issues of race, gender, class, and culture. Unlike what my colleagues in ethnic studies or anthropology might examine related to these issues, as a philosopher I am concerned with the epistemological and normative concepts and principles that undergird them.  We can get at these concepts and principles through two methods: first, through the analysis of empirical data and historical records; second, through conceptual reflection.  We will use both methods in this course. This course is taught with the expectation that few if any of you will work as academics in the future.  As such, my hope is that you gain the necessary skills and knowledge-base transferable to whatever it is you one day do as a vocation.  Also, I hope the course provides depth to your thinking and self-reflection, and contributes to your personal interactions with others.

Course Objectives:   

  1. Develop, refine, and reinforce critical thinking skills.
  2. Develop, refine, and reinforce the ability to communicate complex, potentially controversial ideas.
  3. Develop, refine, and reinforce independent research and study skills.
  4. Develop, refine, and reinforce the ability to discuss, debate, and explore complex, potentially controversial ideas in a communal context.
  5. Develop, refine, and reinforce the comprehension of the complexity of the issues of race, class, gender, and culture.
  6. Develop, refine, and reinforce the ability to understand, decipher, and read graphs and data points.

Text: Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class (7th edition) by Joseph F. Healey

Supplemental Materials: There will be a few Web links placed on Angel during the course, to supplemental and reinforce the readings.  I will also reference graphs, articles, legislation, and legal cases, which I will then place online. Additionally, the class will view a handful of documentary and other genre films, which will be part of the mid-term and final.

Course Format: The course is mostly lecture-based, with the expectation that students will involve themselves in discussions that arise from the lectures.  As the course evolves, students will be expected to demonstrate their understanding of the jargon and statistics essential to analyzing the issues at hand.  It is important that students interrogate the material by asking questions and posing alternative explanations.

Course schedule

SESSION & DATE

 

 

 

#1

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Buy textbook(s)

--

Orientation to the Course

 

#2

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 1, p. 2-29

Sage Articles Chapter 1

Diversity in the United States

#3

Date

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 2, p. 30-67

Sage Articles Chapter 2

Assimilation and Pluralism

 

#4

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 3, p.68-97

Sage Articles Chapter 3

Prejudice and Discrimination

 

#5

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 4, p. 100-122

Sage Articles Chapter 4

The Development of Dominant-Minority Group Relations in Preindustrial America

 

#6

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 5, p.124-148

Sage Articles Chapter 5

Industrialization and Dominant-Minority Relations

 

#7

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 6, p.152-183

Sage Articles Chapter 6

African Americans

 

#8

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Study Chapters 1-6

–

*MIDTERM EXAM*

 

 

#9

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 7, p.184-212

Sage Articles Chapter 7

Native Americans

 

#10

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 8, p. 214-249

Sage Articles Chapter 8

Hispanic Americans

 

#11

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 9, p.250-283

Sage Articles Chapter 9

Asian Americans

 

#12

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 10, p. 284-315

Sage Articles Chapter 10

New Americans, Immigration, Assimilation, and Old Challenges

 

#13

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 11, p. 318-347 & Chapter 12, p.348-376

Sage Articles Chapter 11 &12

Gender, Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Americans

 

#14

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 13, p.378-397

Sage Articles Chapter 13

Dominant Minority Relations in Cross-National Perspective

 

#15

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

Chapter 14, p.400-412

Sage Articles Chapter 14

Minority Groups and U.S. Society: Themes, Patterns, and the Future

 

#16

 

preparation:

assignments:

topics:

 

--

*FINAL EXAM*

 

          

Exams: There will be two exams in the course, a mid-term and a final.  They will include all the readings, lectures, discussions, and films up to the point of the exam.  They will be short-answer, essay, and fill-in-the-blank.

Quizzes: Quizzes are very important for this course.  They are used to externally motivate active reading by students.  If students do not read in this course, they cannot achieve the five objectives laid out above.  Quizzes will be multiple choice and start at the beginning of class.  If a student comes late to class, after the quiz has been collected, without a documented excuse, that student receives a zero on that quiz.

Attendance: Attendance is required in this class, especially because it meets but once a week.  Students are allowed one unexcused absence; all other absences must be excused through full documentation.  If an absence is undocumented, it is not excused.  More than one unexcused absence will result in the loss of the full 10% o the attendance portion of the overall grade.

5 Quizzes = 60%

2 Tests = 30% (including the final)

Attendance = 10%

 

Grading Scale:

100-95 = A 76-73 = C

 94-90 = A- 72-70 = C-

 89-87 = B+ 69-67 = D+

 86-83 = B 66-63 = D

 82-80 = B- 62-60 = D-

 79-77 = C+ 59 & below = E

Late Assignments:

Permission of instructor. Discuss with instructor prior to assignment's due date.

*Please note that students are required to follow the code of academic honesty as detailed in the student handbook. 

One kind reminder:

Conduct that is detrimental to the running of the course will result first in a warning, and then next in an automatic expulsion from the course.  Such conduct includes, but is not limited to, repeated outbursts in class unrelated to, or inappropriate for, the discussion; repeated use of a cell phone; violent or threatening language toward one’s fellow classmates or the professor; repeated conversations with other students that distract the class or the professor; eating or drinking food that causes a distract for students or the professor.

*Disclaimer: this syllabus is not a legal contract.  The professor reserves the right to change this syllabus during the course.