So much for cultural literacy
Fresh from the Christian Science Monitor: Scholars discover the comic book
“…Now, comics are coming into their own in classrooms of all kinds, gaining an unprecedented level of respect and spawning serious debate over their greater meaning.
“Comics have changed. They’re not the comics that we grew up with,” says Peter Coogan, an organizer of the academic-oriented panels at Comic-Con. “They can stand up to literary and critical analysis,” he says.
Across the country, hundreds of professors and college students spend their days analyzing comics, and the University of Florida even allows postgraduate English students to specialize in comics studies.
Meanwhile, teachers in elementary, middle, and high schools are embracing comics as tools to help students learn to read and enjoy words.”
hb
How does a Hamilton History major graduate without having read the Federalist papers? An English major without having read Shakespeare? No problem. No core requirements whatsoever and proud of it.
Hamiltonians of old might consider literacy and numeracy as baseline requirements to get in the place, let alone get out.
Are the trustees in any way engaged in or associated with for the core mission of the institution? Or have we taken a base on balls? We saw how effectively the Committee on Instruction from the Board of Trustees of Hamilton College was during the Kirkland Project follies. Last we looked the By-Laws of the Board of Trustees established the Committee on Instruction as a standing committee and requires that “This committee shall keep itself informed and shall advise the President and the Board on all matters relating to the educational program of the College…” Perhaps its been reinvigorated to help the College, well, Move On.
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Reader Comments (22)
Instead of bugging HCAGR about the endowment, direct your question to the board of trustees.
I've finally been inspired to comment by the topic hb proposed for discussion and which all the other comments seem to be ignoring: the use of comic books in university teaching.
No one is proposing replacing all texts with comics, but they are a valuable resource. No less a left leaning bastion than West Point-- yes, I am being sarcastic-- has included Satrapi's Persepolis in a course on Iran. Art Spiegelman's Maus is a profound account of his parents' struggle to survive the Holocaust, and his own experiences as the child of survivors. Furthermore, comic book classics like Batman, Spiderman, and Superman might be used to illustrate aspects of mid-century American culture.
I did not graduate from Hamilton that long ago, and in my day, a course on Shakespeare was required of all English majors, history majors were required to take a balance of courses on American, European, and Non-Western topics. I believe I read the Federalist papers in Doug Ambrose's Colonial America course or perhaps it was Ted Eisemeier's American Political Process course, at the time required off all government majors.
Decisions about these course requirements are all made at the department level and have nothing to do with the lack of a core curriculum or whatever leftist intrigue you all imagine. In terms of the Federalist Papers, Ambrose and Paquette are certainly in a position to make sure most history majors encounter them before graduation.
Finally, a word about politics in the classroom, I teach freshmen writing. I am thrilled when students can produce a well written and reasoned argument even when said argument supports something I would never vote for and might actually actively campaign against. I spent hours of my time this summer working with a student doing a conservative critique of US social welfare policy. I was happy to see my student's efforts at improving his writing pay off in a much improved essay.
I see my role as helping students acquire the critical thinking and writing skills that are essential for them to become the people they want to be even if I personally would never make their choices. No one has ever gone in to academia to make money. We love our research and our students, and quite frankly, if we wanted to convert people to a political cause there are far more direct ways of going about it.