Bard High School Early College – Newark
College Course Syllabus
BARD007: Year 2 College Seminar 1
3 Bard credits / 2.5 NPS credits
Fall, 2014
Dr. Matthew Park
Faculty in History
Office #: Room 117
Instructor’s email: mpark@bhsec.bard.edu
Sophomore Seminar: Voices Against the Chorus
Angel of History: “His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he
sees one singular catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of
his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed.
But a storm is brewing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the
angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly pulls him into the future to which his back
is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call
progress.”—Walter Benjamin, “Theses on the Philosophy of History”
Course Description:
Sophomore seminar explores the development of the central ideas that have come to define the
modern world. Its focus is on how nineteenth- and early twentieth-century thinkers in various
disciplines confronted what was the accepted order of things, how they proceeded to challenge
accepted ideas and categories, and how, finally, they constructed radically different conceptions
of the world around them. Students are challenged to understand each text within its historical
and intellectual context, and to make comparisons among texts as a means of elucidating those
contexts.
Course objectives:
1. To help students develop a critical understanding of many of the values, assumptions, and
ideologies of contemporary Western society.
2. To explore the historical development of ideas about the nature of society and the place
of the individual within it by reading and analyzing key texts published in the later 19th
and early 20th century.
3. To challenge students to understand individual texts in their historical and intellectual
contexts, as well as to consider contemporary issues in light of these texts and ideas.
4. To use course readings as impetus for oral and written analyses which develop the
students’ abilities to read carefully and critically, articulate an argument or claim, and to
express themselves effectively.
5. To teach students how to read difficult texts, how to respond critically to those texts, and
how to use textual evidence to support their responses.
Required Readings:
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Communist Manifesto (1848)
Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (1871)
W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
E.M. Forster, A Passage to India (1924)
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents (1930)
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (1927)
Course Requirements:
Class Work and Participation: 25%
You are expected to come to class on time, prepared to discuss the text at hand in an active
manner. Every perspective is important to our discussions. Please bring the text that we are
discussing to class with you. We will also do some in-class writing.
Three Essays: 45%
Over the course of the semester, we will be writing three 4-6 page papers. These papers will pair
Marx and Darwin, DuBois and Forster, and Freud and Woolf. As you read, you may want to
begin to think about the connections between these texts in particular. I will provide essay
questions for you. If you would like to suggest a paper topic of your own, we can discuss it, but
you must get approval for your topic. Papers must be typed, double spaced, in 12 point font.
Response papers: 10%
Throughout the semester you will be asked to write short responses to the pieces that we are
reading in class. These must be handed in on time, also typed, as we will discuss your ideas in the
class that follows its due date.
Final Examination: 20%
There will be a final exam during the exam period set up for the semester. I will announce the
date when it becomes available. This take-home exam will involve writing essays dealing with
the larger issues we have examined in the course.
Each student is required to create an e-portfolio in which they will keep their midterm and final
assignments, as well as additional assignments as requested by me. Your grade for the e-portfolio
will be included in your grade for Class Work and Participation.
Plagiarism/academic dishonesty/cheating: We will go over the topic of academic dishonesty in
class, but you need to understand that when you turn your work in, your teacher is assuming that
it is your own, and that any sources you may have used have been properly cited. It is surprisingly
easy for a teacher to recognize and identify text that is not written by a student. Moreover, the
punishment for academic dishonesty is severe: students who are found guilty of cheating,
academic dishonesty, or plagiarism may receive a zero on the assignment, and/or receive a failing
grade in the course. If you have any doubts about something you’re turning in, please ask and I
will help you prepare your manuscript so it represents your best work.
Attendance policy: Each student’s active involvement is essential to the seminar’s success.
Your grade for participation does not mean simply talking in class. It means being well prepared,
contributing thoughtfully to discussions, listening carefully to others and engaging fellow
students’ concerns and questions. It of course also means being present, awake and alert.
Unexcused absences and tardies will reduce your participation grade. If you must miss the
class for a reason that is excused, you are expected to make up the work in a timely fashion.
If you miss more than 3 classes, your participation grade will be lowered.
You will have the opportunity to rewrite one of your papers during the course of the
semester. If you decide to rewrite your paper, you must first have a conference with me to
discuss your revision. It will be due within 10 days of when you get the paper back from me.
Weekly Schedule of Classes:
Week of 9/8: Course introduction: What is modern?
Week of 9/15: The Communist Manifesto
Week of 9/22: Marx Capital
Week of 9/29: Essays by Appleman, Mayr, Malthus, Paley, and Lamark; The Descent of Man
Week of 10/6: The Descent of Man
Week of 10/13: Hofstadter, Carnegie, Gould in The Descent of Man
Week of 10/20:. The Souls of Black Folk First paper due
Week of 10/27: The Souls of Black Folk
Week of 11/3: The Souls of Black Folk
Week of 11/10: A Passage to India
Week of 11/17: A Passage to India
Week of 11/24: A Passage to India; Second paper due
Week of 12/1: Civilization and its Discontents
Week of 12/8: Civilization and its Discontents
Week of 12/15: Civilization and its Discontents
Week of 12/24: RECESS
Week of 1/5: To the Lighthouse
Week of 1/12: To the Lighthouse.
Week of 1/19: To the Lighthouse Third Paper Due
Week of 1/26: Week of Final Exams
Final Examination: to be announced