E55.2175



HIST 104-302

Why College? Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:30-5 p.m.

Jonathan Zimmerman

Office Location: GSE, 3700 Walnut Street, Room 429

Office Hours: Mondays, 2:30-3:30 pm. and by appointment

Office Phone: 215-898-5672

E-mail: zimmj@gse.upenn.edu

This course will explore controversies and dilemmas surrounding American colleges, from their birth into the present. What is the purpose of “college”? How have these goals and objectives changed, across time and space? What should college do, and for whom? And how can colleges be reformed to meet their diverse purposes and constituencies? Topics of discussion will include affirmative action, “political correctness,” fraternities and sororities, sexual assault and safety, online education, and the recent trend towards “college for all.”

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. Reading: Each week, I will assign 100-200 pages of reading, from the following books:

Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on

College Campuses (Chicago, 2010)

Jacques Berlinerblau, Campus Confidential: How College Works, or Doesn’t, for

Professors, Parents, and Students (Melville House, 2017)

Bryan Caplan, The Case against Education: Why the Education System is a Waste

of Time and Money (Princeton, 2018)

Andrew Delbanco, College: What is Was, Is, and Should Be (Princeton, 2012)

William Deresiewicz, Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite

and the Way to a Meaningful Life (Free Press, 2014)

Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, Campus Life: Undergraduate Cultures from the End

of the Eighteenth Century to the Present (Chicago, 1987)

Jerome Karabel, The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at

Harvard, Yale, and Princeton (Houghton Mifflin, 2005)

Lisa Wade, American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus (Norton,

2017)

Jonathan Zimmerman, Campus Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford,

2015)

I will also assign a few articles and book chapters, which will be available on “Canvas.” Please note: I expect you to do all the assigned reading, on time.

2. Point of View (POV) Papers: On alternating weeks, I will ask you to hand in a brief (750-1,000 words, maximum) paper that responds to the prompt in the syllabus. Please note: I do not accept late POV Papers.

3. Discussion Questions: On all other weeks, I will ask you to hand in 3-5 discussion questions about the assigned readings. The questions should identify and explore the key issues or dilemmas that you would like to examine in class. Please note: I do not accept late Discussion Questions.

4. Final Paper: On December 17, one week after the conclusion of our seminar, I’ll ask you to hand in 10-15 page paper on the following theme: You have been asked to give the “Advice to Freshmen” address to next year’s incoming class at the University of Pennsylvania. Please produce the first draft of your remarks, which should draw upon the literature from this course as well as from your own freshman experience.

5. Attendance: In this course, we want everyone to learn from each other. So it is imperative that you prepare for--and attend--every class, on time. If an emergency forces you to be tardy or absent, please notify me (by phone or e-mail) beforehand.

6. Office Hours: I try to shape my office hours around your schedule, not mine. You can always find me in my office on Mondays from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. But if that time doesn’t work for you, please email me and we’ll find a time that does.

7.. Laptop Policy: In light of recent research showing that laptops distract other students—not just the laptop user—I have finally decided to prohibit them from my classroom. If you have a learning issue that requires you to use a laptop, of course I will gladly make an exception. Otherwise, please don’t bring one to class.

GRADING

Weekly POV Papers and Discussion Questions: 50%

Final Paper: 25%

Discussion/Participation: 25%

COURSE SCHEDULE

August 29: Course Introduction

September 3: NO CLASS (Labor Day)

September 5: Why College? From the Puritans to the Modern University

POV PAPER DUE: Why are you in college? How do your own goals and purposes compare to the ones that Americans have assigned to college, from its inception into the present? In framing your reply, please make sure to draw on specifics from the text.

Delbanco, College, pp. 1-101, 125-149

September 10: College Life, I: The Sideshows and the Circus

Horowitz, Campus Life, 23-117

September 12: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS DUE

September 17: College Life, II: Conformity and Revolt

Horowitz, Campus Life, 193-294

September 19: POV PAPER DUE: In her history of undergraduate life, Helen Horowitz divides college students into Collegians, Outsiders, and Rebels. Do we still find these groups on campus today? How have they changed from earlier generations of students? And which group—if any—do you see yourself joining?

Guest speaker: Katie Hanlon Bonner, Executive Director, Office of Student Affairs, University of Pennsylvania

September 24: Why Penn? Glimpses from the Past and Near-Present

“Looking Ahead: Franklin’s Theory of Education in the 21st Century,” in “The Good Education of Youth” Worlds of Learning in the Age of Franklin, ed. John H. Pollack, 189-203 (pdf on Canvas)

Giovanna Paz, “New findings from Penn Slavery Project show how U. benefitted financially from enslaved labor,” Daily Pennsylvanian, 24 April 2018.

Sarah Manekin, “Gender, markets, and the expansion of women’s education at the University of Pennsylvania, 1913-1940,” History of Education Quarterly 50:1 (August 2010), 298-323 (pdf on Canvas)

John L. Puckett and Mark Frazier Lloyd, Becoming Penn, 177-217, (pdf on Canvas)

September 26: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS DUE

Visit to Kislack Center for Special Collections, hosted by John H. Pollack, Library Specialist for Public Services, University of Pennsylvania

October 1: Creating the Selective College: From Exclusion to Affirmative Action

Karabel, The Chosen, 77-109, 128-136, 378-392, 449-467, 483-513, 536-557

October 3: POV PAPER DUE: How should highly selective schools decide whom to admit? Please draw upon the history of college admissions in framing your answer.

Guest speaker: Eric J. Furda, Dean of Admissions, University of Pennsylvania

October 8: Who Are Your Professors?

Berlinerblau, Campus Confidential (all)

October 10: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS DUE

Guest Speaker: Beth Winkelstein, Vice Provost for Education, University of Pennsylvania

October 15: What Are We Learning?

Arum and Roksa, Academically Adrift (all)

October 17: POV PAPER DUE: Is American undergraduate education plagued by “limited learning,” as Arum and Roksa assert? If so, why? And what—if anything—can or should our universities do about that? In your reply, please draw upon the Berlinerblau book as well as Arum and Rosksa.

Guest speaker: Richard Arum, Dean, School of Education, University of California, Irvine

October 22: Configurations of College

Professor X, “In the basement of the ivory tower,” Atlantic, June 2008.

Tressie McMillan Cottom, “The coded language of for-profit colleges” Atlantic, 22 February 2017.

Nyasha Junior, “What I learned teaching at a historically black college,” Washington Post, 21 May 2015.

Jonathan Zimmerman, “Scholars behind bars,” New York Review of Books, 23 February 2017.

October 24: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS DUE

Guest panel, on “The Challenges of First-Generation Students”: Roger Lehecka, Dean Emeritus, Columbia University; Valerie De Cruz, Director, Greenfield Intercultural Center/FGLI Program, University of Pennsylvania

October 29: Sex on Campus, I: The Hookup Culture

Wade, American Hookup (all)

October 31: POV PAPER DUE: Do you regard “The Hookup Culture” on campus as a problem? Why? And, if so, how should we try to change it?

Guest speaker: Lisa Wade, Occidental College

November 5: Sex on Campus, II: Sexual Assault and Consent

Jia Tolentino, “Is there a smarter way to think about sexual assault on campus?” New Yorker, 19 February 2018.

“45 stories of sex and consent on campus,” New York Times, 10 May 2018.

Manlu Liu and Vibha Kannan, “Penn professor had sexual relationship with his student in apparent violation of U. policy,” Daily Pennsylvanian, 11 April 2018.

Jennie Suk Gersen, “Laura Kipnis’ endless trial by Title IX,” New Yorker, 20 September 2017.

November 7: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS DUE

Guest speaker: Jessica Mertz, Director, Sexual Violence Prevention and Education, University of Pennsylvania

November 12: Campus Politics

Zimmerman, Campus Politics (All)

November 14: POV PAPER DUE: How do contemporary campus politics compare to student politics of earlier eras? Do you plan to engage politically at Penn? How?

Guest panel, on “Activism at Penn”: leaders of student political groups (TBD)

November 19: A Digital Campus?

Andrew Delbanco, “MOOCs of Hazard,” New Republic, 31 March 2013.

Henry C. Lucas, “Professors hate online education. To save colleges, they have to learn to love it,” Washington Post, 27 April 2016.

Guest speaker: Rebecca Stein, Executive Director, Penn Online Learning Initiative

November 21: NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)

November 26: Excellent Sheep?

Deresiewicz, Excellent Sheep

November 28: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS DUE

Guest Speaker: William Deresiewicz, Independent Scholar

December 3: A Waste of Time and Money? The Case Against College

Caplan, The Case Against Education, pp. 1-95, 195-290

December 5: POV PAPER DUE: Is college “a waste of time and money,” as Bryan Caplan asserts? If not, why not? And if so, what can we do to make college more efficient and effective?

Guest speaker: Bryan Caplan, George Mason University

December 10: Course Conclusion (No assignment)

December 17: FINAL PAPER DUE

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