“The American Experiment and the Globalized
World”
Instructor: Bradley Highfield Semester: Fall 2013
Office: Hunter East-Library Room 108 Class Time and Location: TBD
Email: BHighfield.MHS@gmail.com
http://mhshs-2013-14-historyhmwk.blogspot.com
I.
Course
Description
This
course will be exploring the concept of the “American Experiment” in political,
cultural, and societal schemas; while inspecting the role of the United States
in the connective Globalized World.
Reshaping history through a critical lens, we will examine the
foundations of the American Democratic Process, deconstruct the structures of
capitalism, compare and contrast the topics of revolution and reform—while dissecting
the societal frameworks of the American Dream, assimilation, and social power
structures, as well. This course is
designed to study the various ways in which people participate in politics in
the past and today, especially is respect to public opinion, elections,
interest groups, and parties. By the end
of this course, you will have a well-informed opinion of critical issues facing
the United States, as well as other socio-political and economic issues facing
other nations across the globe.
II.
Requirements
You
are required to have a Gmail account to communicate and receive emails with
your teachers. This account will also
allow connection to Google Drive, where homework and lessons can and will be
posted throughout the year. It is also required
that this syllabus and your daily schedule be in your possession while at
school. And a notebook and folder,
specific for this class, is brought everyday as well. Electronic devices are prohibited from
use and therefore should not be visible during class, and must be turned off,
unless directed otherwise by the teacher.
Laptops are also prohibited, unless a necessity is demonstrated, and
will be decided by the teacher on a case by case scenario before class.
A
flash drive is highly recommended, as you will need it to save and transfer
your work to other computers.
III.
Grading
Policy
**This
is subject to change by teacher discretion, and you will be notified in
advance.**
Attendance and Class
Participation: 15%
Tests/Quizzes: 15%
Current Events: 20%
Final Project Assignments: 20%
Final
Project: 30%
IV.
Attendance
Policy
More
than two unexcused absences will result in a reduction of the Attendance Grade.
Two occurrences of lateness will equal one absence (lateness will be defined as
an arrival after the attendance has been taken).
V.
Academic
Integrity Policy
Hunter
College regards acts of academic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism, cheating on
examinations, obtaining unfair advantage, and falsification of records and
official documents) as serious offenses against the values of intellectual
honesty. The College is committed to
enforcing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity and will pursue cases of
academic dishonesty according to the Hunter College Academic Integrity
Procedures.
Students
suspected of a violation of the college policy on academic integrity risk
failure of the assignment, or even failure in the course.
VI.
Accommodation
Office
of AccessABILITY is located in Hunter East Room 1214B, where enhanced
educational needs may be met for students with disabilities.
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/studentservices/access
Office
of Health Services is located in Hunter North Room 307 for any health concerns,
primary care, first aid, and/or disease prevention.
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/studentservices/counseling-and-wellness/wellness
The
Reading/Writing Center is highly recommended for use and is available for all
students, and it can be found the Thomas Hunter building-Room 416 (just past
the ICIT desks in the hallway.
http://rwc.hunter.cuny.edu/index.html
Printing
stations can be found on the Fourth Floor of the library, as well as, any
computer lab on the campus will have printing capabilities.
VII.
Assignments
Assignments
are to be handed in on time at the beginning of the class that they are
due. Lateness will be penalized by point
deductions for every school day they are overdue. There will be a “Current Events” weekly
assignment due at the beginning of the second class of every week. The assignment requirements and template can
be found below.
There
will also be a research paper due at the end of the fall semester, the details
will be provided later.
Current Events (Due on the 2nd class)
Typed, printed, and stapled,
and due at the beginning of class.
Format
Sources: (Total of 4 articles
and 4 CE reports)
1) CNN (select 2 articles)
Site: www.cnn.com
a)
Select one article from the “Politics” Section
b)
Select one article from the “World” Section
2) NY Times (Op-Ed section): (select 1 article)
Site: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html
Click
on the “Columnists” tab on the left side
· Select one article from either Paul Krugman,
David Brooks, Thomas Friedman, or Nicholas
Kristof
(Op-Ed articles are opinion pieces, so
expect their writers to have biases)
3) The Nation (select 1 article)
– MAKE SURE THAT YOU CREATE AN ACCOUNT
Site: www.thenation.com
· Select an article from one of the following
categories: “Home,” “Politics,” “Economy,”
or “Food Issue”
**You need to create an account (which is free) to gain
access to all of their articles.**
*Articles should be recent:
For CNN and The Nation, select articles written
within the last week
For the NY Times Op-Ed
articles, select articles within the last three weeks
Please use the following
template:
1. Title, date, and site web link:
2. Who are the people / places discussed in the
article?
3. What is the main idea of the article?
4. When did the event occur or is it ongoing?
5. Identify at least one question you have
after reading the article? (For example, you might write, “Why is
unemployment so high?”)
Summary in your own words: (A minimum of 6
sentences, but no more than 2 paragraphs)
In your summary answer the
following questions:
Why
did you select the article?
What
are the key points?
Is
the author biased? What are their opinions, judgments, critiques?
Do
you agree or disagree with any of their arguments? What are your
opinions?
Does
it relate to other events?
* * * When you quote
directly from the article, make sure to use quotations marks (“…”.
For example,
Thomas Friedman
suggests that “America’s credit-driven capitalist model has suffered a warning
heart attack and needs a total rethink.”
Below is a good example of student work. This
is quality I expect for every current event analysis and summary.
1. Make sure that you re-read your work, correct spelling and
grammatical errors, and submit college level work.
2. Your summaries should be at least 6-8 sentences, which are
analytical and address specific elements of the article.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The title of the article is: “CNNPoll: Social Security
Needs Changes, But It’s Not a Failure”, which was written on
September 13, 2011 on:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/09/13/cnn.poll.social.security/index.html?iref=allsearch
2. The people discussed in the article include: Rick Perry
(Governor of Texas), Mitt Romney (Former Governor of Massachusetts),and Keating
Holland (Poll Direction for CNN). The issue was taking place withinthe poll
ratings on CNN which led to a heated debate between the two governors.
3. The main idea of the article is: although the social security
issue arises controversy among the people, the younger generation is more prone
to call for a new, more modern system, as they become more alienated from the
traditional American ways.
4. The poll ratings and the debate between Romney and Perry
regarding the Social Security controversy occurred on September 13, 2011.
5. If the Social Security system will be altered, will the
federal government create tax reductions?
Summary
I selected this article because many people are not content with
the idea of additional taxation. The key points of this article are introduced
by Perry, who referred to Social Security as the “Ponzi Scheme” and Romney who
was protecting the program as it is the way for seniors to be protected by the
government. Keating Holland brought up a significant point about our
generation. Because the United States is undergoing rapid industrial changes,
the younger generation is automatically more prone for the changes and creation
of new programs for the future.
The author sticks to the objective side as he is more of a
mediator exposing all sides of the argument. I agree with the opinion that the
Social Security program should be altered so that hard-working middle class
families will not have to pay so many taxes to the federal government. This
directly relates to today’s world, as Democrats and Republicans are in the
midst of the heated debate about taxation and its effect on the lower, middle,
and upper members of the society.
