Syllabus
Civic Participation and Community Leadership
PPS 49, Spring 2008
TuThu. 2:50-4:05 p.m.
102 Sanford Institute
Alma G. Blount, Instructor
Office: 104 Sanford; 613-7323; blt@duke.edu
This seminar explores ways in which value conflicts in communities affect civic and political participation, as well as policy design.
The centerpiece will be the study of policy issues connected to the 2008 U.S. presidential election. The class itself will become our learning community, and the Duke campus will become our civic arena. Students will be challenged to discover persuasive and politically savvy ways of addressing policy problems by developing their own viewpoints, discussing issues with others, and designing policy recommendations. The course will help students develop a framework for problem-solving work that addresses value conflicts and competing interests in productive ways.
The purpose of the course is to help students learn something useful about the meaning of engaged citizenship. Through weekly readings, quizzes, writing assignments and class exercises, students will develop knowledge and skills in three areas that are important for effective civic participation and community leadership:
1. THE CIVIC ARTS. Students will learn and practice the basic skills of public discourse: becoming informed about current events; understanding key questions of policy and politics; forming a point of view about issues; listening to divergent viewpoints; engaging others in dialogue and debate.
2. POLICY AND POLITICAL ANALYSIS. Weekly assignments will challenge students to develop a reasoned analysis of issues facing the U.S. during this presidential election year. In doing so, we will examine the political polarization that divides the country, and study approaches that could help us move beyond partisan stalemates.
3. LEADERSHIP. How does one mobilize groups to collaborate on issues of common concern? Students will examine leadership principles that can help groups and institutions locate common ground as they grapple with difficult differences in values, interests and perspectives.
This seminar is designed to give first-year students an opportunity to develop leadership capacities for contributing to and facilitating robust group conversations. Students will be required to analyze current events, develop their own opinions about complex issues, and participate in fast-paced discussions with other students with whom they may disagree. A central goal of the course is to give students a sense of the challenges and rewards of public discourse and group problem-solving work.
What does it mean to be an engaged citizen?
Overview of the course; getting aquanited excercies
Week 1—Thursday, January 10 The civic arts
Week 2—January 15, 17
Week 3—January 22, 24
Week 4—January 29, 31
Week 5 —February 5, 7 Reading Assignments
• Daily reading: the top political news articles and opinion pieces from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times (and your own customized news sources).
• Franklin Foer and the Editors of The New Republic . A Voter's Guide Election 2008 . New Haven : Yale University Press, 2007.
• Michael E. O'Hanlon, editor. Opportunity 08: Independent Ideas for America 's Next President. Washington , D.C. : The Brookings Institution Press, 2007.
• Cali Carlin. “The Young Vote: Engaging America 's Youth in the 2008 Elections and Beyond,” Opportunity 08—Independent Ideas for Our Next President. Washington , D.C. : The Brookings Institution, 2007. http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2007/1204_voting_carlin_Opp08.aspx
• “The 13 th Biannual Youth Survey on Politics and Public Service by Harvard University 's Institute of Politics .” December 5, 2007 http://www.iop.harvard.edu/pdfs/survey/survey_f2007_execsumm.pdf
• Abby Keisa, et al. “Millenials Talk Politics: A Study of College Student Political Engagement.” CIRCLE: The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/CSTP.pdf
• Dean Williams. Real Leadership: Helping People and Organizations Face Their Toughest Challenges. San Francisco : Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2005.
Writing assignments and other exercises will include point-of-view essays, quizzes, short speeches, and the facilitation of group discussions.
Policy and political analysis
Week 6—February 12, 14
Week 7—February 19, 21 Week 8—February 26, 28
Week 9—March 4, 6
Reading Assignments
• Daily reading: the top political news articles and opinion pieces from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times (and your own customized news sources).
• Paul Krugman. The Conscience of a Liberal . New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 2007.
• Edwin J. Feulner and Doug Wilson. Getting America Right: The True Conservative Values Our Nation Needs Today. New York : Three Rivers Press, 2006.
• David Frum. Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again . New York : Doubleday, 2008.
• Excerpts from: Ronald Brownstein. The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America . New York : The Penguin Press, 2007.
• Excerpts from: Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel. Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That Is Destroying America . New York : William Morrow (HarperCollins Publishers), 2007.
Writing assignments and other exercises will include point-of-view essays, quizzes, short speeches, and the facilitation of group discussions.
Group Projects—The Illegal Immigration Issue
Week 10—March 18, 20
Week 11—March 25, 27
Week 12—April 1, 3
Small groups will analyze the immigration issue in the U.S. from different perspectives, and make presentations that engage the entire class in discussion and debate.
Guidelines will be announced in class.
Reading assignments:
• Daily reading: the top political news articles and opinion pieces from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times (and your own customized news sources).
• Heather MacDonald, Victor Davis Hanson, Steven Malanga. The Immigration Solution: A Better Plan Than Today's . Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 2007.
• Jane Guskin, David L. Wilson. The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers. Monthly Review Press, 2007.
• Jane Stancill. “Who Wins? Who Loses?: The education of illegal immigrants in N.C. has sparked fierce debate. To some, it's an investment in the future; to others, it enables lawbreaking.” The News and Observer , Sunday, December 23, 2007.
Writing assignments and other exercises to be announced.
Leadership
Week 13—April 8, 10
Week 14—April 15, 17
Week 15—April 22
Reading assignments
• Daily reading: the top political news articles and opinion pieces from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times (and your own customized news sources).
• Rosabeth Moss Kanter . America the Principled: 6 Opportunities for Becoming a Can-Do Nation Once Again. New York : Crown Publishers, Inc. 2007.
• Juanita Brown with David Isaacs. The World Café: Shaping our Futures Through Conversations that Matter. San Francisco : Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. 2005.
Writing assignments and other exercises will include point-of-view essays, quizzes, short speeches, and the facilitation of group discussions.
Course Requirements
• Complete and punctual attendance.
• Please follow the top political news stories, editorials and opinion columns of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times every day, and keep up with the news from your own customized news links. (We'll discuss this strategy in class.)
• At some point during the semester I may call on you to give an informative and engaging five minute talk about a topic of current events. How to prepare? Read the political news each day, develop a clear analysis of key issues, and then form your own point of view about the given topic. I will give you advanced notice about which classes will include the “public speaking” exercise, and which topics we will consider.
• The majority of your weekly assignments will be short quizzes and essays (total of 12). Guidelines will be announced in class and posted on Blackboard. Several essay assignments (250-500 words) will be due by 9:00 pm Monday night. During the weeks when a quiz is scheduled, I will ask you to complete the quiz either 1) by 9:00 pm Monday night via Blackboard, or 2) at the beginning of class on Tuesday. I will give you advanced notice and guidelines each week for the weekly assignment due the following week.
• This is a leadership class, and the purpose of the class is for you to find your voice and to learn to speak up in creative ways that enhance the quality of our group conversations. In this seminar, everyone has an important role to play in creating an engaged and enjoyable learning experience for the entire class. Please learn to pay careful attention to the dynamics of our class discussions, and to the role you tend to play in it. If your tendency is to speak up often, you might try observing more. If your tendency is to hold back and watch what unfolds, take a chance and speak up. What matters is that you pay attention to the dynamics and quality of our conversations, and take responsibility to help make our discussions exciting and fun. What will be your own unique contribution to our discussions?
• Be ready to conduct quick, individual “mini-research projects” about questions that come up in class. The quality of your efforts in these short term projects will be reflected in your class participation grade.
• For your mid-term assignment, I will ask you to write a three-page paper (750 words) about a policy topic that is currently in the news and connected to the U.S presidential campaign. Due Thursday, March 6 (before fall break). (The format of the assignment may be an op-ed column, a speech, or an essay.)
• Participate fully in your assigned group project. I will ask each group will teach the class about different political perspectives and policy issues concerning the issue of illegal immigration in the U.S. , and to engage the class in vigorous discussion of policy options.
• Write a final paper (three pages) that integrates ideas you will have developed throughout the semester about policy, politics, civic participation and community leadership. How to prepare? Do a thorough job each week with the reading, writing and class exercise assignments. As you complete this work, take responsibility for forming your own opinions about the themes and topics of the course. How would you engage a wider community of your peers at Duke in a healthy, robust political discussion of these issues? Think of your final paper as your own distinct, carefully reasoned strategy for exercising leadership on a policy issue that greatly interests you, and that is a salient issue in the U.S. presidential election.
Grading Policy
Class participation: 20%
Weekly assignments: 30%
Mid-term paper: 15%
Group project: 15%
Final paper: 20%
Please note: during individual evaluation meetings with me in March (before and after spring break), I will give you feedback about your weekly assignment and class participation grades.
Required Daily Reading --Newspapers
Your daily reading assignment is to read the top political news articles and opinion pieces from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times (and your own customized news sources). My advice is to find a good, consistent time to do this reading each and every day, so that this political news reading habit becomes a basic part of your daily routine.
To subscribe to the Wall Street Journal : http://subscribe.wsj.com/semester (The cost for students is $29.95 for 15 weeks, which includes access to the electronic edition, and delivery of the printed edition. Please note: the WSJ is not available for free on the web the way the NYT is. Your options are to read it each day in Perkins Library, or to set up your own subscription. Fortunately, the subscription rate for students is 70% off the regular rate.)
To subscribe to the New York Times : http://homedelivery.nytimes.com/HDS/StudentHome.do;jsessionid=0000z-jTHLISZPwS0gBqWpFa3Br:12d040fmb;?mode=studHome
Here is how to access The New York Times for free on the web:
http://www.nytimes.com/
Books
All the required texts are available in the textbook department (bottom floor) of the Regulator Book Shop on Ninth Street in Durham . A few additional readings (articles and excerpts from books) will be distributed in class or posted on Blackboard.
1. Franklin Foer and the Editors of The New Republic . A Voter's Guide Election 2008 . New Haven : Yale University Press, 2007.
2. Michael E. O'Hanlon, editor. Opportunity 08: Independent Ideas for America 's Next President. Washington , D.C. : The Brookings Institution Press, 2007.
3. Dean Williams. Real Leadership: Helping People and Organizations Face Their Toughest Challenges. San Francisco : Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2005.
4. Paul Krugman. The Conscience of a Liberal . New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 2007.
5. Edwin J. Feulner and Doug Wilson. Getting America Right: The True Conservative Values Our Nation Needs Today. New York : Three Rivers Press, 2006.
6. David Frum. Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again . New York : Doubleday, 2008.
7. Heather MacDonald, Victor Davis Hanson, Steven Malanga. The Immigration Solution: A Better Plan Than Today's . Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 20007.
8. Jane Guskin, David L. Wilson. The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers. Monthly Review Press, 2007.
9. Rosabeth Moss Kanter. America the Principled: 6 Opportunities for Becoming a Can-Do Nation Once Again. New York : Crown Publishers, Inc. 2007.
10. Juanita Brown with David Isaacs. The World Cafe: Shaping our Futures Through Conversations that Matter. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. 2005.
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