SUFFOLK
COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
GRANT
CAMPUS
HISTORY 12
Western Civilization from 1715 C.E. to
the Present
Instructor:
Email:
Office
Course Web Page:
Office Hours:
Required Texts:
Western Civilization: The Continuing
Experiment, Dolphin
Edition, Vol. 2. Thomas F.X. Noble
et
al, Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Western Civilization: Sources, Images,
and Interpretations, Vol
2: Since 1700, 6th ed. Dennis Sherman, McGraw Hill, 2004.
Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt
Video--Dark Blue World (shown near the end of
November on campus, or you can rent the DVD at the appropriate time)
Course Description: This course will cover the development
of the Western tradition from 1715 through the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
A thorough understanding of the forms of inquiry and political structures made
possible through our Western heritage is critical to understanding world events
and to placing those events into historical and cultural context. With this understanding in mind, this
course will examine a wide range of topics including the Age of Absolutism, The
Ancien Regime, The Age of
Empires, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, Romanticism, the Rise of
Nationalism, the First World War, the Rise of Fascism and Nazism, the Second
World War, and the Cold War.
Course Objectives:
1.
To understand the development of political forms, ideology, social
structures and cultural expression since 1715 C.E. This objective will be achieved through course readings,
in-class lectures, weekly homework assignments, short-answer quizzes.
2.
To gain better facility with the skills used by historians: analysis of
different types of documents, images, and other primary sources; preparation of
written arguments; and participation in oral discussions. This objective will be achieved through
take-home exams, weekly homework assignments, map quizzes, and an analysis
paper.
3.
To understand the function of historical thinking in making sense of
contemporary life. This objective
will be achieved through in-class discussions of sources and film clips, as
well as through take-home examinations.
Means of Achieving Objectives:
Lectures, Socratic questioning, in-class videos,
short-answer quizzes, map quizzes, analysis paper, homework regarding sources,
group discussion, take-home examinations.
Lectures will cover the Western tradition
chronologically and thematically, while the assigned readings will focus in
greater depth on several of the central themes raised in the lectures. Students
will be expected to participate actively in discussions during class, as they
reflect on historical questions that can tell us much about the trajectory of
Western experience and about its continuing influence on our lives today. Students should expect to come away
from the course with an enhanced understanding of the complexity of Western thought
and Western experience, including the notion that past decisions have shaped
our worldÕs present-day reality, and that we are all historical actors with the
potential to shape the future.
Additionally, the assignments are designed to
help students begin to learn the skills of a historian, many of which are also
the skills of an informed citizenry: critical thinking, historical analysis,
and both written and oral communication.
N.B. : The ability to read and write at
college-level is a critical necessity for success in this class. If you are not already at this
level, you will have to work diligently to bring your reading and writing
ability up to speed so that your work is acceptable. I recommend seeing the Skills Center early and often
if you choose to continue in the class.
Assignments and Grading:
Short-Answer Quizzes: 20%
4-5 page analysis paper from ShermanÕs Western
Civilization:
20%
Weekly Homework 20%
Midterm Examination: 20%
Final Examination: 20%
Each of these assessments MUST be completed for
a student to pass the class.
Weekly homework will generally be based
on your reading from the Sherman book , although periodically, there may be a
question derived from a website.
Homework is designed to give you a chance to practice analysis of
sources and to explore in more detail the chronological areas we are examining
in the textbook and lectures.
Homework will be graded according a 10-point scale. The rubric for homework grading
is on the course website.
Homework for the week is due in person at the beginning of the first
class of the week. Late
homeworkÑwhatever the reason--will not be accepted. Homework will only be accepted in class; no email
submissions will be accepted.
There will be 13 or 14 homework assignments; to receive full credit a
student must turn in ten assignments.
(If we do not cover some of the material, I may adjust the number of
homework assignments offered. If I
do so, I will drop the number of assignments students need to turn in as well.)
Short-answer quizzes will be given
throughout the semesterÐsee the detailed course outline for the dates of the
quizzes. A total of five quizzes
will be given. The lowest quiz
score will be dropped. Quizzes
consist of ten short-answer identification questions out of which you choose
five, which must be answered in a few sentences. Additionally, there will be 5
map IDs on each quiz. Make-up
quizzes will only be given the last day
of class. Quizzes will be given
during the first thirty minutes of the last class of the week, unless otherwise
announced beforehand.
The analysis paper will be derived from a
chapter in ShermanÕs Western
Civilization. An assignment handout with detailed
instructions will be handed out to students three weeks before the due
date. All written work must follow
standards for good written English.
Late papers will be accepted:
see the assignment sheet for the penalty for lateness.
The midterm examination will be a take-home
essay examination.
The final examination will also be take-home
and will be due on the last day of class.
It will be the same format as the midterm.
Extra-credit opportunities are not given. Instead, students should focus on the
assignments as given and do their best work on each assignment.
A note about plagiarism and cheating. A student caught cheating on a
short-answer quiz will be given a zero for that test. Plagiarism is both dishonest and disrespectful. The work students do in this class for
any of the assignments is to be their own. Should I find evidence of plagiarism on a paper or take-home
examination, the student will receive a zero for the assignment with no
possibility of making up the work.
Should this occur a second time, the student will automatically fail the
class. There is no need to consult
outside sources for any of the assignments.
Attendance is a crucial predictor
of success in this class. Good
students have good attendance habits; a poor attendance record is almost
inevitably a predictor of a poor grade in the course. I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences,
and I do not make available lecture notes or outlines to those who miss class
(check with your classmates for that material). Nor do I give make up exams except on the last day of
class. College policy indicates
that more than two absences is excessive.
I am somewhat more lenient.
Students may miss up to six classes: if you miss more than six classes, you will receive an F for
the course.
Tardiness and leaving class early
disrupts the flow of the class.
Each student gets four ÒfreeÓ tardies (which includes leaving early,
whether or not you come back in).
Each additional tardy (or leaving early) will cost you 1% of your final
grade. Again, I do not distinguish
between excused and unexcused disruptions.
Withdrawals. I am willing to give withdrawals until
the last week of the semester. It
is up to the student, however, to fill out the paperwork, get the forms to me
to sign, and take it to the appropriate office. Once you turn in your final exam or I have agreed to
an incomplete, I will no longer grant a withdrawal.
Course Outline
Week 1 (Aug 28): Introduction to Course. What is History? What is Western Civilization? Noble, Preface. Mindwalk Activity.
Week 2 (Sep 4): Europe in the Age of
Louis XIV. Noble, Chapter 16. Homework and Discussions: Sherman, all
of ch. 16.
Week 3 (Sep 11): The Widening Scope of
Commerce and Warfare. Noble, pp. 591-604. Homework and
Discussions: Sherman, all of ch. 18.
Week 4 (Sep 18): The Enlightenment. Noble, pp. 570-590. Homework and Discussions:
Sherman, all of ch. 19. Quiz #1
Week 5 (Sep 25): An Age of Revolution. Noble, Chapter 19. Sherman, all of ch. 20.
Week 6 (Oct 2): Restoration, Reform, and
Revolution. Noble,
Chapter 21. Homework and Discussions: Sherman, all of ch. 23.
Week 7 (Oct 9): The Industrial
Revolution. Noble, Chapter 20. Homework and Discussions: Sherman, all
of ch. 22. Quiz #2
Week 8 (Oct 16): Nationalism and
Political Reform. Noble, Chapter 22. Homework
and Discussions: TBD. MIDTERM Due
Week 9 (Oct 23): The Age of Optimism. Noble, Chapter 23. Homework and Discussions:
Sherman, all of ch. 25.
Week 10 (Oct 30): Escalating Tensions.
Noble, Chapter 24. Homework
and Discussions: Sherman, all of Ch. 23. Quiz #3
Week 11(Nov 6): War and Revolution. Noble, Chapter 25. Analysis Paper
Due.
Week 12 (Nov 13): The Illusion of
Stability. Noble, Chapter 26. Homework and Discussions:
Sherman, all of ch.27.
Week 13 (Nov 20): The Tortured Decade. Noble, Chapter 27. Homework and Discussions:
Sherman, all of ch.28. Quiz #4
Week 14 (Nov 27): The Era of the Second
World War. Noble, Chapter 28. Homework and Discussions: TBD.
Week 14 (Dec 4): Discussion of Eichmann in
Jerusalem
and
Dark
Blue World. Homework TBD
Week 15 (Dec 11) : The Early Cold War. Noble, pp. 928-947. Homework and Discussions: Sherman, all
of ch. 29
Week 16 (Dec 18) Final Exam Due Quiz #5