Dr. Betsy Okello
MC 112 secs. 09 and 16
Spring 2014
Office: 369 North Case Hall
Email: ferrerbe@msu.edu
Hours: Thurs. 11-1pm (and by appt.)
Phone: 353-3759
MC 112 Conceptualizing Youth: Schooling, Society, and Policy
Course Overview
MC 111-112 is James Madison’s version of the University’s writing requirement, in which students
earn a total of eight credits. A two-semester sequence of writing-intensive seminars, MC 111-112
introduces students to significant questions and problems in the humanities, drawing primarily on
humanities-based texts such as novels, autobiographies, histories, essays, and films. Regardless of its
specific focus, each course fosters habits of mind essential to a liberal education: (1) ability to ‘read’
complex written, aural and visual texts insightfully and critically; (2) acquisition of rhetorical
sensitivity; (3) ability to articulate ideas effectively in writing and in speech; (4) appreciation for the
complexity and diversity of the human experience as expressed in a variety of imaginative literatures
and related texts; and (5) capacity for deepened self-reflection. MC 112, the second-semester course,
combines an intensive study of a compelling theme or a specific historical era with substantial
opportunities to hone students’ writing, speaking, and research abilities. In this course, students will
learn to define a significant research “problem” in particular disciplinary and inter-disciplinary
contexts; to locate sources and evaluate evidence in support of their own judgments (rather than
merely report the ideas of others); and, to present their research effectively in oral, written and
digital forms.
Children and youth are often the object of international development programs and national policies
that recognize the promise of youth when channeled toward productive ends and the problem of
youth when familial, social supports and formal structures break down. Many of these programs and
policies argue youth are “idle” and the solution is empowerment through hard work, education, selfimprovement, and formal employment (Hope, 2012; Durham, 2007). Therefore, youth have
received much attention from international and national NGOs, governments, media, and local
organizations who all believe they can shape these youth into their version of ideal, self-empowered
adults. As a result, youth are confronted with different versions of who they can and should become
contributing to the already ambiguous nature of what it means to be youth and to become an adult.
This section of MC 112 takes youth as the central focus for our investigations into schooling, society,
and policy. Throughout the course we will investigate the various ways in which youth are
constructed as both the problem and the solution. We will also interrogate the various
representations of youth in cross-cultural contexts, and how these representations shape experiences
in the context of schooling, the role of youth in society, and in public policy in urban cities in the
U.S. and in urban contexts across Africa. We will ask the following questions: What constitutes a
youth? What protections and responsibilities are afforded to youth? How are stories and
representations of youth connected to larger societal responses and/or public policies towards
education, such as school reforms, policies for “out of school youth,” and responses to social
movements? How do youth both reproduce their own circumstances through institutions such as
schools and exercise agency? What sense can we make of this apparent contradiction?
We will begin with Ain’t No Making’ It to explore ideas about social mobility and immobility and
social reproduction through schooling. This will provide the theoretical grounding for our
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investigation of schools. Next we will turn to Sherman Alexie’s young adult novel The Absolutely True
Diary of a Part Time Indian that tells the fictional story (though based on his own experience) of a
Native American boy who leaves the reservation to attend an all-white school. In the second part of
the semester, we turn our attention to international education, first through an educational
ethnography, Lessons from Mount Kilimanjaro, and then through the novel Purple Hibiscus. Through
these texts, we will explore issues in international education particularly related to gender,
community, and popular culture.
Required Texts:
MacLeod, J. (2009). Ain’t no making it: Aspirations & attainment in a low-income neighborhood
(3rd ed.). New York, NY: Westview.
Alexie, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. New York, NY: Little, Brown
and Company.
Stambach, A. (2000). Lessons from Mount Kilimanjaro: Schooling, community, and gender in East Africa. New
York, NY: Routledge.
Adiche, C. (2003). Purple hibiscus. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.
Excerpts from The Wire, Season 4 – Baltimore Schools
Course Format
This course requires active, engaged participation in both whole class and small group activities. As
such, it is ESSENTIAL that all students come to class prepared to discuss all readings and materials
and to interact with one another. You will be expected to work in formal and informal groups,
sharing your interpretations and critical assessments of the assigned texts and each other’s work.
Students will also be invited to facilitate large-class discussion on a regular basis. You will also work
together outside of class time for assignments such as the document excavation project.
Course Assignments
Attendance and Informed participation
20%
Your participation will be evaluated on sustained contribution to small group
discussion (e.g. willingness to engage and to listen to peers and to speak for the
group; doing the readings/work) and on sustained contribution to large-class
discussion (e.g. asking probing and/or clarifying questions; drawing connections
between texts and ideas; facilitating large-class discussion). In order to participate
fully, you must have a copy of the reading/text with you during class along with
notes you have made to contribute to discussion. This engagement may also include
announced and unannounced quizzes, informal responses or in-class writes, and
attendance. At the start of the semester, you will each write a participation agreement
detailing how you plan to participate in class. You will have an opportunity to revise
this agreement midway through the semester and then you will evaluate your own
participation and provide evidence at the end of the semester.
Critical commentaries portfolio
20%
The purpose of the critical commentaries is to improve your understanding of the
readings and the relationships between texts, and to improve the level of class
discussions. It should be a critical take on—not just summary of—required course
reading and discussions up to that point in the semester; it should incorporate textual
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references; it should be clean of grammatical errors. You are required to write two
critical commentaries throughout the semester. You will upload your commentaries
to D2L prior to our class discussion. Everyone will have access to these. You
may set your own deadlines, but must tell me these by January 27. The following list
of questions will be helpful to keep in mind as you read each reading.
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What are the key ideas or concepts that the readings present?
What argument is the author(s) trying to make?
What does this reading have to do with particular aspects of youth, policy, and/or schooling?
In what ways is the argument persuasive or not to you? Why? Why not?
What do you think the author failed to consider about the issue? Why? Why not?
Where do you agree/disagree with the author? Why? Why not?
What strikes you as particularly interesting, curious, insightful, irritating, etc.?
Document excavation and wiki site
25%
This collaborative assignment asks you to work in groups of 2 or 3 to locate, situate,
and evaluate ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ texts on a specific issue related to education.
We will brainstorm a list of topics as a class based on your interested and the course
focus early in the semester. This assignment also requires some experimentation,
creativity, and play—rather than write a traditional report or paper, the group will
produce a wiki site as a resource for others to use who may be interested in the same
topic. These will be linked to our class D2L site so that the entire class can benefit
from your group’s knowledge and hard work. The group will also present their
findings to the class in a short presentation.
Research project
35%
The research assignment asks you to work individually to research one issue or
problem within the broader course topic. The research may involve historical,
sociological, visual, and/or rhetorical analyses. There are three parts to the
assignment: (1) the framing proposal and annotated bibliography of at least 15
sources; (2) final paper; and, (3) presentation of findings.
Course Evaluation
The following is based on University and Madison guidelines:
A/4.0--Your work is excellent relative to the level necessary to meet course requirements; it is
probing, perceptive, original and very well expressed.
B/3.0--Your work is good relative to the level of course requirements; it demonstrates aboveaverage competence and is well expressed.
C/2.0--Your work meets requirements of the assignment and is fairly well expressed.
D/1.0--Your work meets minimum requirements for credit but shows definite weaknesses in
thought and expression.
F/0.0--Your work is unsatisfactory for credit because of major problems in thought or
expression.
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Course Policies
Late work and attendance: If you do not have work completed for assigned sessions, or if you miss
a scheduled conference, your final grade for that assignment will be lowered 1.0 point. University
policy allows students two absences without penalty. Be aware, however, that your two allowed
absences need to cover every possible conflict, and illness that might arise over the course of the
semester. Whenever possible, let me know in advance if serious illness, family emergency, or
religious obligations will cause you to miss more than two classes. Excessive absence will result in a
failing grade for the course. Finally, you cannot pass this course unless all assignments are completed.
Plagiarism means presenting the words, work, or opinions of someone else as your own (without
proper acknowledgement). You commit plagiarism if you submit as your own work: (1) part or all of
a written assignment copied or paraphrased from another student’s paper or notes; (2) part or all of
an assignment copied or paraphrased (without proper acknowledgment) from a source such as a
book, magazine, journal, website, or pamphlet. It is a very serious offense and usually quite easy to
detect. The James Madison College and Michigan State University Policies on academic integrity and
plagiarism will be strictly enforced if you commit plagiarism (0.0 for assignment at minimum; possible
0.0 for course grade). Please read the sections on plagiarism in the MSU Academic Programs catalogue
and the JMC Student Handbook (available online).
H-option: An opportunity for students who are interested in receiving honors credit for this course
or who would simply like to enrich their studies. To earn an “H” designation on your transcript for
this course, you will need a final grade of at least 3.5 in all of the normal course requirements and
write a short paper. This semester the honors option will participate in an independent reading
group facilitated by me. We will read an additional book on schooling – Annette Lareau’s Unequal
childhoods: Class, race, and family life.
Course Schedule
Unit I:
January
The uses and purposes of schooling in the United States
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Introduction to the course: review syllabus and expectations; begin
discussion of topics of interest related to schooling.
For Thursday: Bring in an artifact from your own school experience.
What underlying assumptions can you uncover about the purpose of
this artifact? What does the artifact tell you about the school’s
expectations of you as a student? Be prepared to discuss in class.
Read: Labaree: “Public goods, private goods: The American struggle
over educational goals” (pp. 40-81) on D2L and Chapter 1 Ain’t No
Makin’ It (p. 3-10)
15
Discuss the three historical purposes of American education and
their conflicts
Read: Chapters 2-4 Ain’t No Makin’ It (pp. 11-61). As you read, mark
and define for yourself the following terms: achievement ideology,
cultural capital, habitus, linguistic cultural capital, resistance, social
reproduction
4
20
Building a concept map: developing a concept map for terms from
prior readings – how do these terms fit together? What do they tell us
about education? Discuss the influence of family and the differences
between The Hallway Hangers and The Brothers
Read: Chapters 5-6 (pp. 62-112)
22
Discussion of schools as institutions – how The Hallway Hangers
and The Brothers experience schooling
Watch selections from The Wire in class writing on thoughts about
the clips.
Read: Chapters 7-8 (pp. 113-153)
27
Discussion of reproduction and agency
Due: Team assignments for document excavation project (sign-up for
group conference; critical commentaries selections).
Read: Chapters 9-10 (pp. 157-240) Groups choose which chapter to
read and facilitate: Discuss reproduction theory and what happens to
The Hallway Hangers eight years later
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Group facilitated discussions
Discussion: Document excavation assignment: research and design.
Start prepping for document excavation assignment
Read Chapter 11 (pp. 241-271)
3 and 5
Mandatory group conferencing—document excavation teams (no
official class sessions). Teams are required to meet with me on one
of two days, and to meet with each other during class time on the
other day.
February
10
Discuss class and race; structure and agency
Read Chapters 12-13 (pp. 277-406) Groups choose which chapter to
read and facilitate discussion
12
Group facilitated discussions (first half of class)
In-class: Workshop document excavation assignment and website
design (second half of class)
Read: Chapter 14 (pp. 407-461)
17
Discuss analysis of the Hallway Hangers and Brothers and
implications (first half of class)
In-class: Workshop document excavation assignment and website
design (second half of class)
Read: Alexie (pp. 2-98)
5
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Discuss Junior and his experience in light of Ain’t No Makin’ It
Read: Alexie (pp. 99-168)
24
Discuss Alexie (first half of class)
In-class presentations of document excavation—first set of groups.
Read: Alexie (167-230)
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Discuss Alexie (first half of class)
In-class presentations of document excavation—second set of
Groups (second half of class)
March 1 (Sunday)
Final document excavation due by 5:00pm to D2L.
3
In class viewing: additional clips from The Wire in conversation with
our other core readings
Finish discussion of Alexie; introduction to international education
Read: Lessons from Mount Kilimanjaro Chapters 1-2 (pp. 1-47)
5
Discuss purposes of schooling in Tanzania versus purposes we
discussed earlier of American education (Labaree)
Due: Two working research questions.
March 10 and 12
Spring Break—no Class.
Unit II: International Education with a focus on Africa
April
17
Review concepts from Kilimanjaro
Read: Lessons from Mount Kilimanjaro Chapter 3-4 (pp. 48-79)
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Discuss education for self-reliance and tradition
Read: Chapter 4-5 (pp. 80-133)
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Discuss gender and schooling
Read: Chapters 6-7 (pp. 134-173)
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Discuss popular culture and schooling and conclusion
Work on draft of research proposal
Read: Adiche pp. 3-70
31 and 4/1
Workshop rough drafts of research
proposal and annotated bibliography in class.
7
Discuss Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus
Due: Completed drafts of research project proposal and annotated
bibliography.
Read: Adiche pp. 71-161
9
Discuss Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus
6
Read: Adiche pp. 162-216
14
Continue discussion of Purple Hibiscus
Read: Adiche pp. 217-307
16
Complete discussion of Purple Hibiscus.
In-class: Assignment into research project teams—these teams will
be responsible for peer critiquing each other’s rough drafts. You will
submit these written comments to me as well. Workshop time for
research projects
All critical commentaries must be completed by April 16.
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Due: Rough drafts of research project to me and team
members at BEGINNING of class – peer edits, workshop. Continue
to workshop drafts, edit – written peer critiques due by the
END of class
23
Final research papers due. First set of presentations
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Second set of research project presentations.
30
Third set of research project presentations
7