"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be
counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)
A king may move a man. A father may claim a son. But remember that even when
those who move you be kings or men of power...your soul is in your keeping
alone. When you stand before God you cannot say But I was told by others to do
thus or that virtue was not convenient at that time. This will not suffice.
Remember that. -- Kingdom Of Heaven
What is needed for this class Academically:
First things first, a notebook for this class is MANDATORY for this
class. By a notebook, I do not mean a folder with random sheets of
paper put inside. That is not a notebook and will NOT be graded as such. There
are NO exceptions on this. Notebook checks will be conducted quarterly and
comprise of 500pts. Students have failed because they did not have a notebook
or because of inadequate notes. If I take the time to write it down myself, so
should you. Handouts of various kinds will be the only side papers I will
allow within a notebook. It is not required to keep the Power Point handouts
per say, but would be useful to keep.
In addition to the notebook, a writing utensil of some kind must be
brought to class. It is not my responsibility to bring extra pens/pencils to
class for you. You are almost adults, and I will treat you as such. Act like it.
What is needed for this class Mentally:
It should be stated that during this class, you will be mentally
challenged in addition to academically. There are a few things to keep in mind
during the length of the course: keep an open mind and hear out other ideas,
respect outside beliefs, treat others and their opinions with respect, and do
not label, stereotype or generalize any culture or belief.
In keeping an open mind, students will be able to think critically and
objectively about a wide variety of theories, ideas and beliefs. There is
always room for debate within class, however, I ask that during debates that
students do not resort to name-calling, degradation and/or cursing to prove a
point. These are by no means an effective way of winning an argument. It is
not expected that students believe everything that they perceive, but it is
expected that the statements are respected and thought about or as Aristotle
said, "entertained".
Respecting an opposing belief is also tied in with the previous
paragraph. Treat others as you would like to be treated. It is a simple rule
that all of humanity should abide by. Once again, you do not have to agree,
but accept that what someone else perceives to be true.
What I mean as far as labeling, stereotyping ,and generalizing is by
basically saying that a belief, person or culture is "wrong". Far too many
times, we as modern humans put our standards and viewpoints upon past
civilizations and judge them. In all fairness, this is something that we can
not do. We as people tend to focus on the differences rather than
similarities, and because of this, we tend to unleash our self-destructive
nature in the form of violence and wars. Within this class, there are no wrong
people, cultures or beliefs, they existed as they did and that is that. The
term for this is Cultural Relativism. No civilization is better than any
other, just as no person is better than another and the same goes for beliefs
as well.
