Pilot Program

Western Heritage is part of the Heritage Studies Pilot Program, which replaces the regular Heritages Studies requirement for participating students. The Pilot Program consists of a two-course Western Heritage sequence taken by entering students, followed by one Global Studies course taken before graduation. Students have been randomly chosen to participate in the Pilot Program. Following are descriptions of Western Heritage and (for the sake of completeness) Global Studies. Global Studies courses will be taught for the first time in fall 2008 and will satisfy divisional distribution requirements.

I. Western Studies

Description

Students take two seminar courses called Western Heritage. The goal of the Western Heritage Program is to introduce students to a true liberal arts education through the seminar approach to learning.

As a community of learners, students and faculty will critically engage this inheritance, which is represented by seminal works in the arts; the humanities including philosophy, literature, spirituality and history; in the social sciences including political and economic thought; and in the natural sciences.

Through selected texts students will develop a process of rigorous thinking as they examine the history of Western thought. All courses will be taught with a focus on a central theme or themes with a sense of chronology.

In each Western Heritage seminar students will be called upon to discuss intensely, write engagingly, and articulate clearly their thoughts through critical essays and conversations in

A commitment to the goals of each Western Heritage seminar gives students a level of competency in areas that will aid them in all course work across all disciplines here at Carthage and in their future careers.

Conditions

Students randomly chosen to participate in the Heritage pilot program must take HERW 110, HERW 111, and a Global Studies course, which may also count for distribution credit. The Global Studies requirement does not increase the total number of credits required for graduation or general education.
Because of the seminar nature of Western Heritage, no student (day, evening, or ACE) may take the course as an independent study.
Consistent attendance and participation are required of all students in Western Heritage. Failure to attend and participate may result in an automatic "F" in any Western Heritage seminar.
Students who fail the first Western Heritage seminar may not advance to the second seminar in the sequence.

Courses

110 Western Heritage I: Classical Period to Renaissance (WI) 4 credits

This course develops critical thinking skills through discussing and writing about key texts from the Greco-Roman world and the Renaissance chosen chronologically to highlight a theme or themes.

Texts will be used to illustrate themes that develop over the course of Western philosophy, political thought, spirituality, science, and literature. Such themes may include Justice, Love, Happiness, the One and the Many, Order and Disorder, or Faith and Reason.

111 Western Heritage II: Renaissance through the Contemporary World (WI) 4 credits

Continuing instruction begun in Western Heritage I, this course develops critical thinking skills through discussing and writing about key texts from the Renaissance through the contemporary world chosen chronologically to highlight a theme or themes.

II. Global Studies

Description

While Heritage I and II cover the roots of European cultural traditions, Global Studies courses explore cultures and civilizations with substantial non-European elements. Courses fulfilling this requirement will seek to have students encounter and understand an alternate worldview. All Global Studies courses not only seek to explore the culture or civilization being studied, but also to enable our students to understand cultural difference-whether while traveling abroad, or in an increasingly plural United States. The Global Studies requirement can be completed either by courses taken on-campus or through off-campus study.

On-campus course will explore a particular non-European culture, civilization, or group to engage with core ideas, values, texts, or traditional sources of authority in a specific culture, civilization or group; to explore how the contemporary culture interacts with these sources of authority (that is, the "conversation" between the tradition and contemporary life; and to examine how people in these cultures have been affected by internal or external forces (such as cultural borrowing, colonialism, the global economy, or ethnic/ideological conflict) and how these forces have shaped cultural identity.

Off-campus courses typically will take the form of either a Carthage recognized study abroad program-encouraged for students in all majors-or a J-Term experience. To fulfill the requirement, each of these must explores the culture of a place by providing students with an understanding of the history, politics, economics, arts, and social issues of the country or countries; place students in a non-English speaking environment in which they are likely to experience significant cultural dislocation; require students to engage actively the local culture; teach students what it means to be Global citizens by exploring the concept of culture and cultural behaviors and the potential for misunderstandings as part of a common set of readings; and take students abroad for at least 14 days.

Conditions

Students randomly chosen to participate in the Heritage pilot program must take a Global Studies course, which may also count for distribution credit, in addition to HERW 110 and HERW 111. The Global Studies requirement does not increase the total number of credits required for graduation or general education.
Consistent attendance and participation are required of all students in Global Studies. Failure to attend and participate may result in an automatic "F" in any Heritage seminar.
Students who fail Global Studies do not fulfill their Heritage requirement.