World Civilizations from the
Origins to c. 1000
Fall Term 2008
Course
Objectives:
As a general education course
fulfilling the cultures and civilizations requirements, the general purpose of World
Civilizations is to produce educated persons by introducing students to the
complex network of events, patterns, forces, and interacting people that led to
the world in which they presently live and teaching them to examine the
origins of their world critically (historically). History 103 will acquaint
students with a broad historical account of humankind's past from the origins
of civilization to about 1000. This general purpose may be said to comprise
several distinct objectives. The major objective is to provide students
with an awareness of the achievements and potentialities of human institutions
so that they can better understand their own role in the modern world. Weaving
a story of humankind’s past in a global context, History 103 will examine
the development of the great civilizations or traditions of the world as human
achievements that endured for millennia and that still effect us today. Because
history enlightens us with regard to who we are and what we may achieve, it
will help prepare students to make informed decisions in the future.
Its second objective and major
focus will be to show how human achievements of people around the globe up
to the year 1000 were the expressions of their specific time and place. World
Civilizations will develop the ability of students to ascertain how human
actions occur in specific contexts. It will provide an historical understanding
of how the cultures were created by people with specific environments and
needs. Once created, however, these cultures and all human institutions, at
once constrain and enable people: they become part of the environment. History
103 will show how civilizations were the human means to creating order among
people, organizing production of human needs, establishing a sense of the
importance and meaning of human life, expressing joy and sorrow, and beauty and
ugliness. The course will develop the ability of students to think logically,
to analyze evidence, and to be precise in thinking and writing, through the
completion of classroom assignments and exams. In a word, the objective is to
arm students with an understanding of their history, so that they may leave the
university as educated citizens who will seek to preserve what is good and
change what is not.
Providing students with an
historical explanation of their world and developing their ability to
contextualize human achievements, the course will help students to better
understand who they are as individuals and as members of communities, such as
families, ethnic groups, states, regions, and the world. This course will
contextualize the following kinds of human achievements:
1. cultures and civilization,
including agriculture and urban development
2. forms of political organization
3. worldviews and religions
4. forms of economic life
5. styles of everyday life and
pleasure
6. the arts and literature
There are further objectives. World
Civilizations will introduce students to the major human value systems created
by people in ancient times and up to 1000. It will show how values systems
informed all human activity. It will illuminate the relationships between
socioeconomic arrangements, political institutions, and value systems, as seen
in literature, art, music, and architecture. It is hoped that the historical
approach, with its demand for critical analysis, will develop student awareness
of and capacity to judge various forms of explanation and evidence. Finally,
students will have writing experience through required exams and papers.
We have glorious heritages, both as
individuals and as groups. We are heirs to the legacies and potentialities of
our parents, families, various communities, and the civilizations that have
shaped our very beings. But as
Evaluation,
Examinations, and Final Grades
Students
will be evaluated on their mastery of the content set forth in the outline for
the course, as demonstrated mostly in clear, expository written form. At least
fifty percent of the final grade will be based on the evaluation of essays
required on exams. In keeping with the major objectives of this general-education
course, these essays will be graded mostly on the student’s ability to recount
a history of civilization, to explain some of the significant human achievements
and their potentialities, and to place the human achievements studied during
the semester in an historical context. Nevertheless, essays and mini-essays
must be written in clear, proper expository English.
There will be two examinations
during the term and a longer, comprehensive final exam at the end of the
semester. These exams will consist of identification problems (mini essays,
identifying a term) and longer essays. All of the identity problems will be
based on the list of terms for the course. At least two-thirds of these exams
will consist of writing essays. These exams will be done in exam booklets ("blue books")
available at the bookstore. All exams must be done with the pen; the pencil
will not be allowed. Letter grades (i.e., A, B, C, D, F) will be assigned for
work on all exams and quizzes. Unexcused failures to take these exams may
result in the assignment of a zero grade for a missed exam.
Semester grades will represent the
semester average, calculated with the following grade components: each
mid-term exam will represent one component (one-fourth each) and the final
exam will represent two components (one-half). Hence, unless there are unannounced
quizzes, four components will be averaged, because the final exam represents twice
the value of a midst-of-the-term exam. If there are quizzes, the average of those quizzes
will represent one-fifth of the final grade and the Final Exam will represent two-fifths.
Please note, also, that the instructor reserves the
privilege of adding another component, a class participation grade, in order to
raise a student’s final grade. This will be done only for for students
who have regularly attended and worked hard all semester.
Calculations will be made using the 6-point system; i.e., A = 4, B = 3,
C = 2, D = 1, F = 0, and zero = -1. (Rounding off will move up from .51 or
higher.)
Extra
Credit Essays:
Students
are encouraged to read an optional book and to write a critical book review
(four typewritten pages) thereon in order to raise their semester averages
or to learn more. These book reviews must be based on the reading of Charlotte
& William Wisers' Behind Mud Walls. It will be the
responsibility of students to discuss these reviews and the selected books with
the instructor by Monday, 27 October 2008.
No further arrangements for extra credit will be made or allowed after that date.
The grade on this project will represent an additional component in the semester average.
Terms
& Other Information:
Students
should prepare definitions and explanations of the significance of the names of
people, places, ideas, and events as part of their routine study, as well as
immediately before exams. Routine study should comprise at least two hours of
individual study for every hour spent in class. A list of terms is available by
internet. An older, exemplary one is also available at the library, on closed reserve.
The on-line list will be regularly updated and other information will also be
made available there.
Electronic
Connections:
All of the
class information, syllabus, various study questions sheets, terms and
announcements are available by internet. The course homepage address is
http://www.utc.edu/Faculty/Bill-Wright/.
Students are encouraged to contact the instructor with questions and problems
by internet at Bill-Wright@utc.edu. Certain assignments may also be
submitted by e-mail and the instructor may wish to contact students by e-mail.
If you do not have a personal computer, please make use of the university
facilities in the Hunter Student Lab, Library, and other locations.
All students automatically receive an account upon registration. To enhance
student services, the University will use your UTC e-mail address
(firstname-lastname@utc.edu) for communications. (See http://onenet.utc.edu for
your exact address.) Please check your e-mail on a regular basis. If you have
trouble accessing your e-mail account, contact the Help Desk at 423/425-2676.
Help in using this medium may be obtained at the Hunter Student Lab and in the
Library.
Books
Required:
The
required textbook is: 1) the book, A.M. Craig, W.A. Graham, et. al., Heritage
of World Civilizations, Seventh Edition. [If you can locate one, the
CD-Rom, Discovering World History, a disc version of an earlier edition,
may be used, but it has different chapter and page numbering.] Two supplemental
books will also be required: Confucius, The Analects and Plato, Timaeus.
The following books are recommended: Aristotle, On the Heavens, and C.
& W. Wiser, Behind Mud Walls. Short readings available at the
library or by internet may also be required.
Special
Assistance:
ATTENTION:
If you are a student with a disability (e.g. physical,learning, psychiatric,
vision, hearing, etc.) and think that you might need special assistance or
special accommodations in this class or any other class, call the Office for
Students with Disabilities at 425-4006 or come by the office - 110 Frist Hall.
If you find that personal problems, career, indecision, study and time
management difficulties, or similar problems are adversely affecting your
successful progress at UTC, please contact the Counseling and Career Planning
The Semester Outline: Topics & Reading Assignments can be accessed on-line.