SETON HALL UNIVERSITY / South Orange NJ 07079
JCST 6016AA Values for a Pluralistic Society
Spring 2010 / Wed 4:00 - 6:10 p.m.
January 20 - May Professor David M. Bossman
FH 235 / Email:
Course Description
A study of pluralism as a social system along with its concomitant social values: civil rights and responsibilities, individualism and diversity, separation of church and state, community building and prejudice reduction. Deriving resources from a cross-cultural study of Jewish and Christian sources, the course will examine various societal models for values formation and practical guides for communicating values in a pluralistic socio-religious setting. 3 credits
Objectives
Course readings and discussions will cover a variety of topics and sources for clarifying foundations for the formation of shared values within a complex pluralistic social environment. Educators can expect to learn how to identify shared values and prepare a rationale for teaching values formation in public, private, and parochial schools.
Required Readings
Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. ISBN 978-0-307-45587-1. Vintage Books 2008.
Omid Safi, Ed., Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism. ISBN 1-85168-316-X. Oneworld Publications, 2003.
Maurianne Adams et al., Readings for Diversity and Social Justice (new edition 2010). Routledge.
Procedure
The course will be conducted as a colloquium in which assigned readings are discussed. Class participants will take turns facilitating particular reading assignments.
Requirements
A reading schedule will establish which readings will be discussed for each class of the semester. A 2-page critical reader response (not an outline but an assessment of the assigned reading with questions for discussion) is due each class for readings assigned for that class. In addition, class participants are invited to explore internet resources for each set of readings and retain those online resources (e.g. newspaper or magazine articles, informational websites, etc.) in a personal portfolio of related materials. Participants will be expected to share such resources on a weekly basis and at the end of the course to present a completed portfolio that organizes material in such a way that it represents a research product. The final requirement of the course will be a set of lesson plans or a topical essay relating to the course material.
Grading
Class participation will form 40% of the final grade. This will include the weekly submission of the critical reader response. The portfolio and final project will be graded each at 30% of the final grade.
Reading Schedule
Jan
20 Orientation
27 Obama
Feb
3 Obama
10 Obama
17 Safi Intro, Part 1, 1-5
24 Safi Part 2, 6-9
Mar
3 Safi Part 3, 10-14
10 Spring Break
17 Adams Part 1
24 Adams Part 2
31 Adams Part 3
Apr
7 Adams Part 4
14 Adams Part 5
18 Adams Part 6
21 Adams Part 7
28 Adams Part 8
May
5 Portfolio Show and Tell
12 Final Projects due