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Politics : Polite Political Discussion- is it Possible? An Experiment. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (569)	8/5/2006 12:35:41 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1695

You know, those courses sound fabulous. In the right hands you could explore a lot of important ideas in those courses, and the titles would get students in the door.

To: longnshort who wrote (569)	8/5/2006 12:40:09 PM
From: Rambi	Respond to of 1695

I have always enjoyed Walter Williams. One of my sons graduated from USC, where you are required to take a certain number of courses- both in the sciences and in the field of art and literature- for your degree. These are courses designed for the non-major. What I noticed is how the profs tried for the attention-grabbing title and a hook that would attract students to their course. What we also noticed is that the course itself actually had more meat in it than the students may have bargained on. So I hesitate to criticize too quickly based on a course description. For instance, "the Unbearable whiteness of Barbie" could be a pretty decent hook for discussions on stereotypical marketing techniques, or the commonly held views of beauty and how it might affect those who don't meet the criteria. Also how we did eventually get black Barbies and Asian Barbies and how this reflects the changing views. The value of many courses that sound squirrelly at first glance is that they can wake a student up, move him from the mindset of his formative years. Think. Both my boys experienced this, though because he was an engineering major at Rice, my older son didn't get too much liberal arts time. I think it can be a bit disconcerting for parents, but ultimately I have become a believer in the approach.