Course Objectives
The purpose of Europe and the Modern World is to create an understanding of the broad course of Western history and the working acquaintance with the past which every citizen, certainly every educated person, ought to possess. We live in an age increasingly given to regarding the past as irrelevant, or worse, nonexistent. Yet in practical application the terms of this proposition are contradictory: how does one know the past is irrelevant if one does not first study it? Arrive at your own position on this question after you discover what is being discussed and what is at issue. In any case, be assured that you will encounter constant allusions to the past in the normal discourse of educated people. It is worth noting here that while we will be looking at the "great" events of the Europe's history in the context of the modern world and the great cultural creations of this dynamic civilization, we will also examine how normal people have lived, sometimes quite oblivious to contemporary great events, cultural achievements, and the like.
ISBN:
0674766911 (any edition will do)
Tec. Dry Tears. Paperback. Publisher: Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (November 1984)
ISBN: 0195035003
Dickens. Hard Times. Paperback.
Publisher: Bantam Classic and Loveswept; Reissue edition
(January 1991)
ISBN:
0553210165 (This
edition is
recommended for this one, but you can get back with a different edition of the full novel.)
Please acquire these books as early in the semester as possible. You will need them for reading on your own and to bring to class during discussions of them. Much of the course reading will be online. Please see the Schedule for details.
2 Unit Exams @ 15% |
30% |
Final Exam |
30% |
Reading Quiz Average | 25% |
3 Map
Quizzes @ 5% |
15% |
Course Grade 100%
The regular exams will consist of some multiple choice questions,
some essay-type extended ID questions. The Final will be
much the same, with the exception of added questions covering the
whole of the course material. All tests will be taken in a
bluebook (or greenbook--the test booklets available at the
bookstore and elsewhere). Please bring one to class for each
test. I may have you trade greenbooks beforehand, and I may
look through each student's greenbook.
In this course, 93
or higher is an A; 90-92.9 is an A-; 87-89.9 is a B +; 83-86.9 is
a B; etc.
You need to come to
class. After more than five absences,
you run the risk of being dropped from the course, and
since students who miss that much frequently have a failing
average, there is a double risk of being dropped with a failing
grade.
This course will follow the policies on
academic integrity laid out in the Environment and other
official college publications. Please read these guidelines
carefully; we will follow them strictly. All violations will
be turned in, with appropriate evidence, to the Vice-President for
Academic Affairs. Academic honesty is absolutely
essential. This means: no cheating.
Testing rules:
Everyone must
surrender any cellphone or tablet device to a table at the front
of the room before the test, if called to.
If a test booklet is turned in with a page torn out, the test
grade will be 0.
No whiteout may be used on exams.
All tests must be in ink--no erasable ink or pencils.
No restroom visits will be permitted during an exam except under
extraordinary circumstances.