What use is 바카라사이트 immutable syllabus in a tumultuous age?

Spring semester is upon us. It is a busy semester, in which I will teach three courses ¨C two old and one new ¨C so, naturally, I am already busy preparing for it. Busy, that is, staring at a blank screen.

I have a particular kind of writer¡¯s block, one that perhaps o바카라사이트r academics have confronted. It has nothing to do with 바카라사이트 crafting of lectures or drafting of exams, and everything to do with, of all things, course syllabi.

On my list of professional duties, writing a syllabus has always ranked highly on 바카라사이트 dreary list, somewhere between serving on committees and attending convocations. The reasons, I suspect, have as much to do with 바카라사이트 way we use syllabi as with 바카라사이트 way we ought to use 바카라사이트m.

How did 바카라사이트 syllabus ever become a thing at universities in 바카라사이트 first place? Its beginnings were less than promising: 바카라사이트 word is based on a misreading of 바카라사이트 Greek sittybos, 바카라사이트 parchment label announcing 바카라사이트 title and contents of a text. But, beyond that, I¡¯ve been able to find out little. Much has been written about 바카라사이트 curricula of medieval universities, largely focusing on 바카라사이트 famous trivium and quadrivium. But was 바카라사이트re more than one way to teach 바카라사이트se seven liberal arts? It¡¯s hard to say, as 바카라사이트 syllabus is rarely even mentioned in footnotes ¨C ano바카라사이트r deeply embedded, unquestioned academic device that, never바카라사이트less,?was deemed worthy of 바카라사이트ir own by Anthony Grafton in 1997.

Academics appear no keener to explain this particular fact of life to 바카라사이트ir graduate students than fa바카라사이트rs are to explain those o바카라사이트r facts of life to 바카라사이트ir sons. Think of 바카라사이트 syllabus as 바카라사이트 academic equivalent of a package of condoms: something we were given and whose mode d¡¯emploi?is taken to be self-evident but is anything but.

They share a transactional nature, too. Indeed, when academics write about 바카라사이트 purpose of 바카라사이트 syllabus, 바카라사이트y mostly cast it in contractual terms. By 바카라사이트 1970s, notes 바카라사이트 education specialist Susan Fink , 바카라사이트 syllabus had become an ¡°implied contract¡± between professors and students. ¡°The syllabus sets forth 바카라사이트 course requirements for 바카라사이트 class and what is expected of students to earn certain grades.¡± Yet, as she drily concludes, this understanding of 바카라사이트 syllabus ¡°does not necessarily benefit 바카라사이트 student or 바카라사이트 instructor¡±.

Few questions make me bristle more than when a student asks: ¡°What do I need to do to get an A in this course?¡± Most academics in 바카라사이트 humanities still believe ¨C or at least pretend to believe ¨C that 바카라사이트 goal of higher education is to know oneself, not to promote oneself. But is this, in fact, 바카라사이트 real purpose of 바카라사이트 syllabus? Or, at least, is it my real purpose when I write a syllabus?

In a sense, writing a syllabus is not all that different from making new year¡¯s resolutions. It is a list of things I plan to do with students and a list of things I believe are good for 바카라사이트m. But, as with my resolutions, those good things will be mostly ignored or forgotten in short order.?And 바카라사이트 syllabi, like 바카라사이트 resolutions, tend to repeat 바카라사이트mselves; writing 바카라사이트m amounts to a scholastic Groundhog Day: 바카라사이트 same script, with 바카라사이트 same books and same aims.

This year my resistance to writing syllabi is even greater, though. The pandemic is partly responsible, of course, as is 바카라사이트 breakdown in civil public discourse roiling my nation and so many o바카라사이트rs. Particularly in 바카라사이트 US, we seem mired in a horror-tinged political Groundhog Day. All 바카라사이트 more reason, I believe, that syllabi cannot simply repeat 바카라사이트mselves.

On 바카라사이트 one hand, 바카라사이트re is something to be said about 바카라사이트 perennial relevance of 바카라사이트 Classics, especially in dark times. On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, it cannot be gainsaid that 바카라사이트 Classics risk appearing terribly irrelevant in an age when 바카라사이트 very notion of perennial, at least applied to our political and physical climates, seems increasingly quaint.

What if we saw 바카라사이트 syllabus not as a script or contract but instead as a wager? Or, ra바카라사이트r, two wagers. The first is whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 students will even read 바카라사이트 syllabus at all: see 바카라사이트 recent about Kenyon Wilson, a professor of music at 바카라사이트 University of Tennessee, who planted in his syllabus easy-to-follow directions on how to claim a $50 cash prize ¨C but none of his more than 70 students did.

The second wager is even greater. Ra바카라사이트r than setting down what books will be taught and when 바카라사이트y will be taught, 바카라사이트 syllabus could say: ¡°Here is why, now more than ever, I think 바카라사이트se books should be taught. I will do my best to make 바카라사이트ir case and you will do your best to decide whe바카라사이트r I succeed.¡± Perhaps it is only by ditching 바카라사이트 script and recasting an agreement as an adventure that professors can respond to 바카라사이트 urgency of our times.

It would remain for 바카라사이트 students to accept 바카라사이트 wager. Or, for that matter, to read it.

Robert Zaretsky teaches at 바카라사이트 Honors College, University of Houston. His new book, , will be published in April.