Western Civilization: 1500 to the Present

Course Description

This course will address issues in today’s world and the historical background to events going on around us. We will focus on several key themes--imperialism, nationalism, and globalization. The course will be organized into four units: Europe, Asia, Africa/Mid-East and Current Events.

Course Goals

You will learn how to interpret media resources, historical works, and popular culture in order to understand world events. This course will introduce events and issues that are basic idioms for an educated person in our society. You will also learn how historians perceive and depict the past. Whatever your vocation in life, an understanding of world history, culture, and current events will be essential to how you interpret the world around you.

Required Books and Newspaper subscription

· William J. Duiker, Twentieth-Century World History

· Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

· Tina Rosenberg, Haunted Land

· Chang, Wild Swans

· Hammond Historical World Atlas OR Rand McNally Atlas of World Geography

· The New York Times – available free on campus!

· Conflict Unending (optional)

Films

We will be watching clips from international films, documentaries, news programs, and propaganda films. Students may also write short reviews of approved movies, outlining their relevance to course content, for extra credit.

Methods of Evaluation

§ Map Quizzes -- There will be several map quizzes given in class. Study guides will be posted to the course web page. Use the maps in the Duiker textbook and the Hammond or Rand-McNally atlases to prepare for these quizzes. All map quizzes will be scheduled.

§ Response Essays – Response essays are in-class essays you will write on books and films from class. They will be based on discussion guides you will have completed ahead of time. Response essays will be scheduled.

§ News Group leaders – Students will choose to join one of three groups – Europe, Asia or the Third World. Each group will be responsible for turning in the articles for their section, with proper citations and a summary of each article and how it fills the description in the Media Calendar.

§ NYT Article Collection – You will receive a list of topics for each unit. Search the NYT during those weeks for articles relevant to course material. Clip (or copy) these articles, and bring them to class. We will discuss the articles in class, with group leadership.

§ Examinations -- The exams will be comprehensive, consisting of identifications based on the terms lists, multiple choice questions, and essay questions. Exam review guides will be distributed. Bring a blue book AND a scantron answer sheet. Use dark ink.

§ Attendance and Participation – Students are expected to attend class and to participate in discussions and class activities. A portion of this grade will also be assigned based on pop quizzes. Pop quizzes cannot be made up.

§ Grading Scale[1]

Maps (4)	150	15%
Response Essays	200	20%
NYT Article Collection and leadership	150	15%
Mid Term	200	20%
Final	200	20%
Attendance and Participation	100	10%
Total	1000	100%

Course Policies

§ Attendance policy – You are required to attend class. You may miss 2 classes. Unexcused or excessive absences and tardiness will result in points lost from your grade. Each class missed above the 2 will cost 10 points from your total grade. Attendance excuses will not be taken by telephone, only in writing or via email. Notification of University official activities must be submitted ahead of time in order to avoid penalties.[2]

§ Exam and assignment policy -- All assignments submitted in this course must be your own original work. Any evidence of plagiarism or cheating puts you at risk of failing the exams, the writing assignment, or even the class. Late papers, assignments and exams will be docked five percentage points (5%) for each day late or each day taken late, and one letter grade for each weekend late (10%). This includes in-class essays. Pop quizzes cannot be made up. Work turned in after class has already met will be considered 1 day late. Thus, a “B+” (89) paper submitted late would be a “B” (84), if submitted one weekend late it would be a “B-/C+” (79). A “C” paper submitted late would be a “C-“ and so on. If you require any exceptional conditions for taking exams or completing assignments due to a disability, please let me know at the beginning of the term so we can arrange this through the appropriate office. Your eligibility to these conditions is not up to me, but up to that office.*

[1] See the Evaluation Rubrics page online for more details about grading and expectations.

[2] Exception: If all absences are due to an official university function, points will not be deducted provided you have given the professor satisfactory documentation to this effect. However, if any absence is not for an official function, 10 points will be deducted. In other words, you are not entitled to additional absences just because you have an official function. (Ex. You are in a WT play, you must miss one week for dress rehearsal, then the next week you are sick. You have lost 10 points. OR You are on the rodeo team, you must miss two weeks for out of town events. You give the professor a note from your coach. No points are lost.)

* “West Texas A&M University seeks to provide reasonable accommodations for all qualified persons with disabilities. This University will adhere to all applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and guidelines with respect to providing reasonable accommodations as required to afford equal educational opportunity. It is the student’s responsibility to register with Disability Support Services and to contact the faculty member in a timely fashion to arrange for suitable accommodations.” This policy is announced in accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Professor: Dr. Elizabeth Morrow Clark

Course Description