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SYLLABUS
APLS 201 AMERICAN NATIONAL GOVERNMENT (INTERNET VERSION)
APLS
201- 062 and 063
Spring
2012
Instructor: Carol Botsch
Address:
Last
updated 1/5/2012
Office: Humanities and Social Sciences Building: C-5
Telephone: 803-648-6851 (W) (ask switchboard for Carol Botsch or ext.
3227)
e-mail: carolb@usca.edu
fax: 803-641-3461
Office Hours: Mon, 10 to 11:50 am, and by appointment
I will check my e-mail every weekday during the semester, except on
breaks and holidays.
Text: A Republic If You
Can Keep It, by Robert E. Botsch. This is a free online text that is
available only for use by USCA students. It is available in both Word
and a PDF version.
Keeping up with the news is
especially important in this course and you will have a number of newspaper
assignments. Here are the urls for several major news
sites:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Real Clear Politics (polls)
Every book that is written on
American government has its own unique angle. One that we used in the past
centered on the theme of "democracy in the making." It looked at our
political system as one that began as an elitist democracy that has been
undergoing gradual transformation into a more popular democracy. That is a
reasonable historical and political interpretation of the
Our
Course Objectives
1. To give you an opportunity
to learn how the American political system actually works, as opposed to
how you are often told it should work. To do this, there are many facts you
should know, but they are not worth knowing unless you understand the forces
that tie them together in a meaningful way. For example, understanding how a
bill becomes law is a series of facts that helps us understand why the status
quo is so hard to change, and that in turn helps us understand why we are so
cynical about politics and politicians. Yet at the same time Congress plays
other less obvious roles that explain why we elect and reelect most members.
2. To understand your role
in our political system. You really have no choice in this matter -- you have a
role whether you like it or not. Even if you refuse to pay taxes you will play
a role--in the courts and in the federal prison system. You might as well know
what your role is.
3. To understand the possibilities
and limits on your own personal political activity. You can make a
difference, although most of you would rather exercise your right to be a
passive citizen. But to make any difference at all you must know the rules of
the game. You must know how most things do get done in American politics.
4. To understand the relationship
between the current issues of public debate and the biases that
are built into our political system. Many issues that seem new and
hot and new to you (health care reform? ethics in government? military
spending? economic planning? balancing the budget? reducing the size of
government? abortion? prayer in schools? what rights to give gay people?) are
really old issues that arise in new forms because our political system is
unable to solve those issues in any permanent way. In fact, that is part of the
genius of the design of the system--it was made to allow evolving answers to
difficult questions, answers to allow those losing today to hope they can win
tomorrow. Even an issue like global warming is not really new if one thinks of
it within the context of environmental protection!
5. To learn the fundamental
values and ideas in the important documents that lay the foundation for our
political system: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the
Federalist Papers. One of the most interesting aspects of these famous
documents is how much conflict and ambiguity are built into them. They do not
lay out clear guidelines that tell us how to answer the political questions
that face us today. Much political conflict is over how to apply and prioritize
conflicting principles built into the Constitution. Why are these conflicting
and ambiguous principles important? As citizen leaders of tomorrow, your job
will be to interpret and apply the fragile principles of democracy for the next
generation. My generation won't be around to do it. In a single generation,
democracy can be lost. That's a heavy responsibility. In a mere 40 years,
virtually all the teachers and leaders of the nation will be gone. Those who
are the young adults and children of today will be in charge. Think about it.
6. To learn why politics
is so much fun to learn about, think about, talk about, and even write
about. Every issue will have at least two answers, usually more. It's a lot
less precise than mathematics, and that's what makes it frustrating and fun
(two sides of the same coin). In fact, the ability to make political issues
seem all very clear and simple is a powerful political weapon that people who
are skilled at the art of political communication are always using on you.
Hopefully, after this course, they'll have a more difficult audience.
7. To improve your own
communication skills -- comprehending, writing, and using e-mail and the
Web (although most of you now are far more technologically competent than am
I!). Improved communication should be a goal of every college course.
Communication may be the most important quality of an educated person. It is
certainly a requirement for a viable democracy, whether it be
a republic or a popular democracy. It is no accident that typewriters were not
allowed to be owned by private citizens in
How
Your Grades Will be Determined
1. Exams (40% of your grade). We have
built this course so that you can do the entire course in your own home or
wherever you have access to a computer and an internet connection (called an
“asynchronous” course, where we don’t meet in real time). Thus, in this course
you will be graded on your responses on essay exams that require you to apply
what you have learned in the text, or engage in what we often refer to as
critical thinking. On the dates announced in the course schedule, I will post
the assignment on your course website. Each student will have 48 hours to
write their essays and e-mail them back to me. The answers will be graded
with comments (Unfortunately, for reasons of personal privacy and federal law,
the school will not let us email your tests back to you. But I will keep a copy
here with the comments. You can either see me personally and
obtain a copy of it or I can have the department secretary mail you a copy).
The grade will depend upon how well the essay used the factual information
in the assigned reading material to provide a logical, well organized, and
well written answer and applied it to answer the question. I may ask
you to refer to an additional source for your answer. So allow plenty of time
for this, and do not tell me you cannot get it in on time because you had to
work or had some other kind of commitment. You must plan ahead and manage your
time! Yes, grammar will count--even on the internet in this case. I will
subtract five points for excessive spelling and grammatical mistakes, so proofread
your work.
2. Written E-mail
Assignments (web and newspaper based), Blackboard Test Mastery Questions, and
Blackboard Discussions (60% of your grade – see below for specifics).
One of the hardest things for teachers to do is to motivate students to read
and think about the material before class. Getting students to keep up is one
of the hardest parts in totally self-paced on-line distance education (ode).
That's what this is all about. It involves three parts, not all of which will
be done in every chapter: Blackboard test mastery questions (you will have to
log in to the Blackboard website for this), discussion questions (also on
Blackboard, on the Discussion Forum - and I have repeated the discussion
questions on your class schedule so you can read them ahead of time and be
aware of the due date), and Web exercises (this part will be found on your
class website as a link from the assignment for each unit, on the assignment
page, and you have to email your newspaper or web responses directly to me). When
I respond to you concerning your work for a web or newspaper assignment, if
your work is complete and meets the requirements, I will let you know that it
is satisfactory, and thus receives full credit. Normally I will not respond to
you about a grade on discussion assignments unless it is inadequate, in which
case I will contact you privately.
A. On the beginning date of
each chapter of material, all registered students will be able to log onto the
Blackboard web site at https://blackboard.sc.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp
- if you do not have a Blackboard user id and password, see the instructions on
the assignment page. Each of you has a user name that is assigned to you and I
have given you some instructions as to how to get started on the assignments
page. Please click on that link as soon as you finish reading the syllabus, as
you will have to get your user id and password immediately so you can get
started, if you have not used Blackboard before. Each question will be worth
one point. There will be approximately 220 points total, or about 20
questions for each of the 11 units. There are no Blackboard questions for the
final two units, units 12 and 13 – see class schedule. Please note that the
questions will be randomly generated for each student from a question bank, and
thus, after you read through the chapter, you will need to go back and find the
answers to each question somewhere in the chapter. Take the time to carefully
complete each of these assignments, as they comprise a substantial portion of
your grade. You can make up to three attempts on the Blackboard questions, and
your highest score will be counted. Blackboard will randomly generate a
different set of questions each time (25%
of your grade).
B. The second part of each
unit is a Web assignment or a newspaper assignment that will be posted on your
course schedule page –there is a link to the schedule on the home page for the
class (25% of your grade). Whenever you email me, you need to fill
in the subject line. Please list your assignment topic or number when emailing
me your homework. It is also very helpful if you indicate your class number
(062 or 063) either in the subject line or the body of the email, since I am teaching
two online classes this semester. Please do not send me emails with a blank
subject line! You will need to follow the instructions and click on the link to
a web page. This portion of your assignment requires you to apply what you have
learned and often, to see what real world application you can find. Many of
these will be newspaper assignments, to put what you learn in a real world
context. Again, click on the link to answer and type in your response to send
it to me. This will be labeled as an Internet Assignment. Be sure to
write "Internet Assignment 1" in the subject line when you send me
your answer. I will grade each question as satisfactory (full credit), marginal
(half credit), or unsatisfactory (no credit at all). Please use your USCA address
unless there is a very good reason not to. If you have to email me from another
address, be sure to specify in the subject line, so I don't delete it as spam.
For each newspaper assignment, you should find an article in a reputable
online newspaper (see list on syllabus for typical sources), or similar paper
newspaper if you prefer (in that case, you will have to give me a page number
instead of a url). This must
be a current article, written within the last two days unless I specify
otherwise (so for a newspaper assignment that is scheduled for February 15-16,
it should have been written no earlier than Feb. 13) and is due by midnight on
the final day listed for the assignment (using that same example, of the
assignment for Feb. 15-16, it is due by midnight on Feb. 16). The subject of
the article should be a topic that reinforces something you read about in the
chapter (so for the first assignment, you may want to choose an article that
illustrates one of the key terms in the chapter, like power or politics or
ideology, for example. You are not limited to this approach of using key terms,
but I am simply giving you some examples. For the second unit, your newspaper
assignment should illustrate something from the US Constitution or whatever
else we discuss in the chapter). You will need to give me the name of the
newspaper and its url, the
date that the article appeared, and summarize the story in your own words
in a paragraph. In a separate paragraph, indicate what this illustrates from
the chapter. Be very specific about this, referring to the appropriate section
of the chapter so I know what you are describing! In general, the article
should refer to some current and important political news although there
may be instances where it is appropriate to choose an article from the
entertainment or sports or living section. I suggest you skim or read through
some newspapers to find these articles, as doing a search for a term like
"constitution" may lead you to something about the Russian
constitution or the
C. The third item is
virtual class discussions on Blackboard (10% - the smallest percentage of
your total grade, but it’s enough to make a letter grade difference!).
I have created a discussion forum on Blackboard for each unit and have created
a thread, to which you will reply (in other words, reply to my comment, not to
your fellow students, although you should certainly read other posted comments
before you post yours, so you do not parrot what others have said). I have
posted a question for each chapter and for the final two units. Click on the
link for the Discussion Forum for your class, which is on the left. Then go to
the list of discussion forums and click on the correct one. Then read the
question, and click on my response and read that. You should also read the
comments of the other students who have already posted. These threads can be confusing and I’d like
you to respond to my comment so we don’t have comments appearing all over the
place – we’ll give it a try and see what works! If you have a private comment
that you do not want everyone to see, don’t post it on Blackboard, but rather,
send it to me at the carolb@usca.edu address. Feel free to begin a dialogue and
to respond to what some of your classmates are saying. To get credit, you must
reply to at least the initial question in a significant way. That
means that you don't just parrot the answers of others ("I agree with so
and so..."). Be sure you read what others have written before you respond!
Draw on what you read in the chapter, on my introductory comments, and on what
you read and see in the news. Yes, you do need to keep up with the news
for this class. Plan on reading a newspaper (paper or internet version),
listening to the news on the radio, or watching the news on television every
day! I will respond to you privately if your answer is not satisfactory. Otherwise,
you can assume it is.
You must observe
deadlines in order to get credit for your answers. If your computer goes on the
fritz, you can fax me your work (803-641-3461) or hand-carry it to my office on
campus. To protect yourself from electronic glitches and crashes, save
electronic and hard copies of all your work. Then if all else fails, you
can bring them to me and I can then give you the credit you so richly deserve
for your hard work! Contact me by phone if you have computer problems or a
personal emergency that cannot be avoided, such as a death in the immediate
family. The Internet exercises will be graded and I will respond to you by
email. If you don't hear otherwise from me, you can assume that your discussion
response was a satisfactory, as I have to be careful what I say on the class
discussion forum. The Blackboard questions are graded automatically on the
website - keep track of how many you get right and you can figure what your
percentage of correct answers is. Let me know if the percentage information
doesn’t show up.
DO NOT use attachments in your answers. They cause too many
problems. Copy and paste your answers from a word processing program to your
e-mail. I will delete all emails that have attachments without opening
them!
Please note that while I will
normally send written comments and grades on all written work within 48 hours
of its due date, sometimes I can get behind. I'll try to send out a message let
you know of any problems I have that affect the whole class. Tests may take a
while longer.
Grading Scale
I will use a 10 point grading
scale that works as follows: A: 90-100; B+: 85-89; B: 80-84; C+: 75-79; C:
70-74; D+: 65-69; D: 60-64; and F: less than 60.
Plagiarism and Honor Code Violations
Rules regarding PLAGIARISM apply
to all written work. Depending on the nature of the work and the precise
offense, the penalty for plagiarism may be as light as a failing grade for the
work or as heavy as an F for the course. If you're not sure what this means,
e-mail me! The one exception to required notation in
this class is that if the material you write is obviously based on what is in
the text, you don't need to reference it. However, if you do quote directly
from or closely paraphrase (just change a few words here and there) the
text or from something on the Internet (or any other source), you must use
quotation marks and give a page number, for example (text 241). Other than
this, you must cite sources. You should read the portion of the student
handbook that describes Honor Code Violations. All honor code
violations, major and minor, will be reported to my department chair, to the
chair of your major department, and to the Executive Vice Chancellor for
Academic Affairs. You will receive a certified letter at your home address notifying
you of the violation and of your right to appeal. See your student handbook or
me for more information. The USCA Honor code (I have neither given nor received
any unauthorized help on this work) is in effect for this course on all written
assignments and exams. Students who collaborate with other students or
any other person on exams or allow other students to look at their work will
automatically receive a "0" for the entire test.
Disability Policy
If you have a physical,
psychological, and/or learning disability which might affect your performance
in this class, please contact the Office of Disability Services, 126A B&E,
(803) 641-3609, as soon as possible. The Disability Services Office will
determine appropriate accommodations based on medical documentation.
Writing Proficiency Portfolio
Requirement (USCA Students only)
Please remember that the
written work that you produce in this class can be included in your writing
proficiency portfolio. For further information on the portfolio requirement,
please consult your USCA Undergraduate and Graduate Studies Bulletin or
visit Dr.