UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN INDIANA

Honors Program

HONS 101.001Dane M. Partridge, Ph.D.

Issues for the 21st Century OC 3066C

Spring 2007 465-7085

M 1200n-1250p OC 2024 465-1044 (fax)

http://business.usi.edu/dpartrid/

Office Hours:

TR1030-1145a

R 430-545p

and by appt.

INTRODUCTION

This course is designed to build skills in applied critical thinking and to foster a sense of community among the honors students at USI. To thiseffect, we will use the work of the Kettering Foundation and the National Issues Forums (nonpartisan groups that study ways in which individuals and communities develop the capabilities needed for effective public deliberation). The basic premise of the National Issues Forums is that if American democracy is to fulfill its promise, citizens must take responsibility and act together, to make choices about how they want their government to function; the objective is to create a public voice that determines public policy.

Students will encounter problem-solving situations in small groups guided by a discussion leader whose role is to facilitate the learning process by asking questions and moderating the discussion. Each student will be expected to draw upon the knowledge in his or her discipline and share that knowledge with the larger group. In this manner, different perspectives on an issue are introduced, leading students to ask new questions and increase their understanding of the situation. In addition, students will learn a great deal about their own learning styles and will internalize the critical thinking strategies required for leadership positions in the twenty-first century.

Many of the complex public problems we confront seem ill-structured; accordingly, students are encouraged to develop the ability to confront ambiguous, ill-defined situations, to analyze and define the issues involved, and to develop the ability to ask the appropriate questions and obtain the needed information to address those problems. Many entering college students (even some Honors students!) bring into the classroom a naïve understanding of education as merely the acquisition of true facts. With little understanding of the complexity and contextual basis of all knowledge, they tend to regard questions that don’t have clear right and wrong answers as totally subjective and all opinions as equally valid. Deliberative discourse such as we will use in this course should lead to a deeper understanding of why we must evaluate others’ reasoning and our own (i.e., moving “beyond feelings”) (adapted from Jim Knauer, retired Professor of Political Science and Honors Director, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania).

READINGS

Students should obtain the following books:

Vincent Ryan Ruggiero, Beyond Feelings: A Guide to Critical Thinking. 7e (McGraw-Hill, 2004).

Americans’ Role in the World: Building a More Secure Future(National Issues Forum Institute, 2006). Available as a free download from K)

Democracy’s Challenge: Reclaiming the Public Role (National Issues Forum Institute, 2006). Available as a free download from (1447k)

Copies of the text should be available for purchase in the Bookstore. Any other assigned readings will be available on the instructor’s website or from the Rice Library online databases. Supplements to the course outline and reading assignments may be distributed during the semester.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS, METHODS OF EVALUATION, AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Your grade will be determined by your willingness to participate in class discussion. Consequently, attendance and class preparation are very important. Approximately once a month, I will collect your writing journals. A typical submission might consist of several brief in-class responses in which you reflect on the progress your group is making in its deliberations, your own contributions to the discussion, and the role played by the other group members, and/or several out-of-class responses to questions which I will assign each week. These responses typically need not exceed one typed page. Please be reminded that while this course provides one credit hour of academic credit, it provides three hours of Honors credit toward the 21 hours minimum needed to complete the Honors Program. Therefore, the workload for this course may be somewhat greater than for a typical one hour course.

Four journal submissions (meetings 4, 7, 11, and 14) 400 points

Active participation 100 points

500 points possible

450-500=A, 425-450=B+, etc.

Students are encouraged to stop in during office hours to talk about any problems or suggestions you may have concerning the course, or just about the Honors Program or things in general. If the scheduled office hours are inconvenient feel free to make an appointment. To underscore the value of office hours each student will be expected to meet briefly with Dr. Partridge early in the semester. To facilitate electronic communication, students are requested to schedule this initial appointment via e-mail. Please be reminded that USI provides free e-mail for students through MyUSI. The University routinely uses this USI e-mail account for both formal and informal communications with students. Students are expected to check their USI e-mail account regularly for University correspondence. If you prefer to use an e-mail account other than the one provided you by USI, you should forward your USI e-mail to the account you use most often.

A NOTE ON DELIBERATIVE FORUMS

In previous semesters students have reported that they greatly enjoyed the small group discussions in this course (although some also indicate they have been previously exposed to the critical thinking material in high school). The most frequently expressed concern has been that students didn’t know, early in the semester, enough about deliberative forums. A deliberative forum is a moderated discussion, not a debate, “… a process through which people talk with one another about public issues that concern them….”

The purpose of [a deliberative forum] is for citizens to make, or at least work toward, a decision about how they will act on a problem or what policy they think is best for their community. Deliberation is weighing the costs and consequences of a variety of possible actions…. Deliberation doesn’t result in absolute agreement, but it can reveal the general direction in which people want to move, the range of approaches to a problem that would be acceptable, and what people are or are not willing to do to solve a problem (Kettering Foundation, National Issues Forums, 1999, emphasis added).

Research indicates that public deliberation has an impact. “Not only does it change the way individuals understand an issue, it changes the way people talk with each other, and it improves a community’s ability to deal with its issues, concerns, and problems.” In short, deliberation is applied critical thinking, a process through which communities can more effectively address 21st century issues…

WHAT (SOME) PREVIOUS STUDENTS HAVE LIKED LEAST…

  • “The journals”
  • Students are assigned journal entries, primarily Applications from the Beyond Feelings book, so as to provide an opportunity to apply concepts pertaining to critical thinking.

THE INSTRUCTOR

DANE M. PARTRIDGE -- Associate Professor of Management; Director, Honors Program; B.A., Public Policy Studies, MichiganStateUniversity; M.S., Industrial and Labor Relations, CornellUniversity; Ph.D., Industrial and Labor Relations, CornellUniversity. Dr. Partridge's primary teaching and research interests involve human resource management and labor relations. Current research areas include the effect of pay structures on worker attitudes and gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment. Dr. Partridge has also taught at Virginia Tech, RadfordUniversity, and RoanokeCollege, and has received several awards for teaching excellence.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

Meeting 1 (1/8):Introductions -- about groups and individuals (Who are you?)

  • Ruggiero, ch.1, esp. pp. 10-11.

Meeting2 (1/22):What is critical thinking?

  • R. ch. 2, esp. pp. 16-18.

Framing the Issue

  • R. ch. 16.

Americans’ Role in the World

-- Introduction (sharing of experiences and views related to issue)

Meeting 3 (1/29):What is truth and what is knowledge?

  • R. chs. 3 and 4, esp. pp. 34-35, 42-43.
Americans’ Role in the World

-- Approach 1: Preserving and Sharing Global Resources

Meeting4 (2/5):Forming sound opinions

  • R. chs. 5 and 6.
Americans’ Role in the World

-- Approach 2: Seeking Security through Free Trade

Meeting 5 (2/12):Strategies for critical thinking: Knowing Yourself, Conducting Inquiry, Forming a Judgment

  • R. chs. 14, 17, 18.
Americans’ Role in the World

-- Approach 3: Promoting Democratization and Human Rights

Meeting6 (2/19):What is truth, revisited…

Americans’ Role in the World

-- Approach 4: Using Military Power to Secure the Peace

Meeting 7 (2/26):What is knowledge, revisited…

Democracy’s Challenge

-- Introduction

Meeting 8 (3/12):Forming Sound Opinions, revisited…

Democracy’s Challenge

-- Approach 1: Rebuilding democracy’s moral foundation

Meeting 9 (3/19):What is Argument?

R. ch. 7.

Democracy’s Challenge

-- Approach 2: Reinventing citizenship

Meeting 10 (3/26):The Pitfalls. The Basic Problem: “Mine Is Better”

  • R. ch. 8.
  • Student groups will lead discussion re: chs. 9-12, Errors of Perspective, Procedure, Expression, Reaction.

Meeting 11 (4/2):The Errors in Combination

  • R. ch. 13.

Democracy’s Challenge

-- Approach 3: Bringing the public back into politics

Meeting 12 (4/9):Being Observant

  • R. ch. 15.

Democracy’s Challenge

-- Reflections: Tensions and Tradeoffs?

Meeting 13 (4/16):Persuading Others

  • R. ch. 19.

Democracy’s Challenge

-- Reflections: Common ground for action?

Meeting 14 (4/23):Democracy’s Challenge

-- Reflections: What have we learned?

Meeting 15 (5/4): Semester Review (note that this meeting is scheduled to be held during the final exam period for the course; other arrangements may be made)

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