WELCOME TO AMERICAN HERITAGE 100

Transcription

1 Course Introduction 1 WELCOME TO AMERICAN HERITAGE 100 Course Introduction

2 Wednesday, January 4 th Contact Information American Heritage Office 166 SWKT Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F americanheritage@byu.edu Website: americanheritage.byu.edu American Heritage Review Room 173A SWKT Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. M-F Professor Spencer david_spencer@byu.edu 165 FOB Office hours: M, T 3:00 4:00 PM or by appointment American Heritage sections cannot be added with an add/drop card. All enrollment in the class must be done via Route Y. Add deadline is Wednesday, January 18 th by 5:00 pm Drop Deadline is Thursday, March 15 by 5:00 pm Labs begin this week. Check Route Y for your scheduled lab (Thursday or Friday). Must attend the lab you are registered for!

3 Course Introduction 3 Outline for Today Introductions Dispel major myths about American Heritage Highlight course resources Briefly discuss course requirements and policies Introduction: Why American Heritage?

4 Myths about American Heritage It is impossible to get a good grade in American Heritage. Expected Grade Distribution A 25% B 40% C 20% D 10% E 5%

5 Course Resources Syllabus. Study it! You will accountable for its contents. TAs and Labs.

6 Course Resources Syllabus. Study it! You will accountable for its contents. TAs and Labs. Readings: Text and Course Packet. Review Room/TA office hours. AH website: americanheritage.byu.edu

7 Course Requirements Lab attendance and participation. Quizzes. iclicker: register (iclicker.com/registration) and bring to lecture Exams: two midterm exams and a comprehensive final. Essays: more next week. Citizenship/Service Learning Project 10 hours. Films. Grading. Exams: Essays: Quizzes: Service Learning Project: Participtation 350 points. 120 points. 50 points. 30 points. 30 points.

8 Class Policies There are no correct opinions about politics or public policy. We should treat everyone and everyone s opinions with respect and civility. We should treat the US and its people, including government officials, with respect but not with unexamined acceptance. We should treat other nations and all peoples with the same respect accorded the U.S. and its people. This is a serious course dealing with serious issues, but that doesn t mean we can t have fun.

9 Class Rules Only one person in each seat If you are going to eat in class, bring enough food for all of us. For example, 300 sandwiches or 75 pizzas. If you are going to leave class early, pretend to be sick. Texting is OK only if the text is taken from the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, or the Gettysburg Address. Cell phones may be used in class for the following purposes: Earthquakes 7.0 or greater on the Richter scale. Serious fires. One call per semester to tell your mother you are going to have a baby.

10 Course Introduction 10 Why American Heritage? Though we look at the United States, the fundamental question of the course is universal. How can we design a government that resolves conflicting interests and fosters beneficial cooperation while maintaining order and liberty?

11 Course Introduction 11 Why American Heritage? D&C 101:80 And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.

12 Course Introduction 12 Why American Heritage? The creation of the United States of America is the greatest of all human adventures. No other national story holds such tremendous lessons, for the American people themselves and for the rest of mankind. It now spans four centuries and, as we enter the new millennium, we need to retell it, for if we can learn these lessons and build upon them, the whole of humanity will benefit in the new age which is now opening. Paul Johnson, A History of the American People, p. 3.

13 Course Introduction 13 Why American Heritage? The U.S. is a relatively successful democracy. (Rhetorical) questions: Although the U.S. is a young country, it is also the oldest continuing democracy. Why? Why have so many immigrants sought to come here?

14 Course Introduction 14 Above all, this class focuses on ideas the ideas that form the basis for the American Founding Ideas both when they are right and when they are wrong are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men [and women] who believe themselves quite exempt from any intellectual influences are usually the slaves of some defunct [scholar]. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas...[i]t is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil. --John Maynard Keynes

15 Course Introduction 15 Important things to keep in mind We will resist idealizing the past. Things could have turned out differently; choices were always risky. Critical importance of context. Do not judge as though the actors could see the end from the beginning. Do not judge by today s standards. No one actually lives in the past.