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Dr. David
Rezelman
free bells: D, E, and G
An understanding of the world beyond America’s borders is fundamental to the preparation of useful and responsible members of our democracy. The purpose of this course is to help students improve their understanding of the world and the role of the United States within it. Our focus will be on world politics during the era of the Cold War, i.e. ca. 1945-1990. It was during this period that the modern world, the world we still live in today, was created. In the process of examining world politics, students will strengthen their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills.
Our scope is global. International conflict and cooperation is the focus, but we will also study major intranational issues when they bear substantially on the international balance of power. Particular emphasis is given to historical events that are most relevant to an understanding of current and likely future world problems. We seek to answer the following questions regarding the international arena from roughly 1945 to 1990:
We will first spend a week or two studying of history of the world in the early-to-mid twentieth century, and especially what the world was like in 1945. We will then proceed forward on a strictly chronological basis. Each day’s class will focus on a particular year; some years may receive an extra day of attention. Your instructor will provide the overall context of the year’s events, and then focus especially on the role the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, played in world politics that year. Each student will select a particular country to focus on, and each student will contribute to class discussion regarding what “his” or “her” country was up to that year. (This will be discussed in more detail below.) Subjects that will receive particular emphasis include:
Below you will find a brief, general discussion of what sorts of assignments I am envisioning for this course, but everything in the section below is subject to change. This is still a “young” course, so the instructor of necessity is retaining a substantial amount of flexibility as to the particular assignments that may be given. As the year progresses students will of course receive detailed descriptions of all assignments plenty of time in advance to complete their work. “Adopt-a-Country” At the beginning of the year students will, in consultation with the instructor, choose to “adopt” one particular country. They will then, throughout the rest of the semester, research that particular country and be responsible for explaining that country’s views on whatever issue is at hand during class. This process will be explained in class in much more detail over the course of the semester, and there will be periodic graded assignments relating to it. The country assignments for the spring 2008 semester are as follows:
Reading Assignments The textbook for this course is Martin Gilbert’s A History of the Twentieth Century: The Concise Edition of the Acclaimed World History (New York: HarperCollins, 2001). Students should use this as a supplementary text and reference work for our class discussions of world politics. The book, like the course, is organized on a strictly chronological basis. There is also a summer reading book, an expanded edition of George Kennan’s American Diplomacy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995). This book should be read by the student in the summer preceding this course. Any other reading assignments in this course will be made available to students on the internet, usually via the databases accessible through Batten Library. On occasion photocopied materials may be distributed as well. The most important reading and research students will conduct, however, will be printing, reading, and commenting on historical newspaper articles relating to their particular country in the year in question. These articles will be made available via the library’s “online resources.” The details of these assignments, and others relating to each students’ “adopted” country, will be explained in more detail in class. Note-Taking Skills Note-taking skills are of great importance in this course. Students are responsible for all material that is covered either in the reading assignments or in class. Though there will normally be no mandatory “checking of notes,” students are strongly encouraged to take detailed notes on both the reading assignments and especially all material covered in class. A student may copy another student’s notes only when that student has been absent from class, and then only for the material covered in the class(es) missed by that student. I am happy to meet individually with students to discuss note-taking skills and to help any student catch-up who has fallen behind because of absences or for any other reason. Grading: General Grades are determined by the standard grading scale used at Norfolk Academy. Grades are generally rounded up only if they are at or above 0.5% (e.g. a 91.49% rounds to a 91%, which is a B; a 91.50% rounds up to a 92%, which is an A). The instructor reserves the right, at his discretion, to add as much as one additional point to a student’s average during a marking period. This is generally only done in cases where the student has shown either a) exceptional performance during class discussions, and/or b) exceptional improvement during the marking period. The lowest grade during each marking period will not be dropped. My interpretation of the grading system is that “A” means “excellent,” “B” means “good,” “C” means “satisfactory,” “D” means “poor,” and “F” means “unacceptable.” Thus, a “B” is, by definition, a good grade. If you are unhappy with a grade you have earned and would like to improve, it is better to ask “what can I do on the next assignment to improve?” rather than “what was wrong with my last assignment?”. Both in the case of tests (mostly essays and “identifications”),. and on papers, grading is of necessity subjective. This subjective process is grounded, however, in my almost decade of teaching history at both the university and secondary school level. If you have any questions or concerns about the grading process, please do not hesitate to talk to me about them. Grading: Late and “Make-Up Work” Policies Assignments submitted late may be penalized by as much as one full grade for each school day they are late. This is the outer limit on late penalties; penalties may be less than this, but this will likely only occur in cases where the student has notified the instructor in advance or as soon as possible afterwards that an assignment is going to be late. In general, communication is the key here: a student who stays in communication with the instructor regarding a late assignment will in general be looked upon far more kindly than a student who simply misses a due date and does not say a word about it. Forgetting when an assignment is due is no excuse. A few words in general on excuses are probably in order at this point. My attitude toward excuses can best be summed-up this way: I find them uninteresting. There are valid reasons for missing a deadline, but these generally involve obvious matters that we all recognize, such as serious illnesses and deaths in the family. I would like to draw particular attention to the modern-day equivalent of “the dog ate my homework”: the computer-related excuse. Maybe your computer really did “crash” the previous night; and maybe your print cartridge really did run out of ink last night, and maybe Office Depot really was out of that kind of cartridge, and the computer network on campus was in fact down when you arrived this morning, and so on, and so on. It does not matter -- your assignment is still late. It is your responsibility not to wait until the last-minute, but instead to complete your work far enough in advance so that minor, last-minute problems such as these can be overcome. Also, a reminder: lying regarding the reason your assignment is late, or the reason you missed the test or quiz, could constitute a serious honor violation. If your paper is late it will be penalized, but even the best of us miss a deadline from time to time. The consequences of dishonesty regarding an assignment, however, are far more severe. Please note also Norfolk Academy’s policy regarding make-up work, as described in the Essential Information handbook distributed to students and faculty at the beginning of the year. In cases of n excused absences, students generally have n+1 days to make-up their assignments. If they fail to do so, they may be given a zero for the assignment or be required to stay after school on the n+1th day (or any subsequent day) until their make-up work is completed. It is the student’s responsibility to make-up work according to these deadlines; students should not rely on the instructor to track students down and nag them until they complete their work. Please note also that, if a student wishes to be excused from a test on a day that that student will be on campus, the student must contact me no later than the previous evening (unless they were absent the day we reviewed for the test). If you show up only minutes before the beginning of a test or quiz asking not to take the test that day, it will be too late. Please note also that approval by me cannot be assumed. Thus, if a student has not already secured my permission to delay the taking of a test, it would be prudent for that student to assume that they will be required to take the test. Students are welcome to call me at home in order to secure this advance permission, but except in the case of serious illness this call should be made by the student, not a parent (though parents are of course also always welcome to contact me as well). Sending an e-mail is not enough; you cannot assume that I will check my e-mail at any particular time over the next few hours. (For more on how to reach me, see “How to Contact Me” below.) Reminder: these restrictions apply only to students who will be on campus the day of a test; those who are absent the day of the test or quiz will be automatically excused and required to make-up their test according to standard make-up policies. If you have any questions regarding late and/or make-up work policies, ask -- ignorance or misunderstanding of the rules is no excuse. Tests Tests will be a major, but by no means the only, means of determining a student’s grade. Every attempt has been made to avoid conflicts with test dates for other classes. That having been said, some overlap is unfortunately inevitable. If you have more than two tests scheduled for a given day, speak with me as far in advance as possible about this and we will probably be able to re-schedule one of your tests. (Please note that this means more than two tests, not “vocabularly quizzes” or other relatively minor assignments.) Each of the tests listed below will count as 100 points unless otherwise noted. The following test dates are fairly firm. Deviation from these dates will only be due to extraordinary circumstances (e.g. hurricane, snow day, asteroid strike), and will be announced as far in advance as is possible.
Other Assignments There will be numerous other graded assignments throughout the semester. Most will be relatively small assignments, such as turning in a particular newspaper article, along with comments on it, which might be worth by itself five points. Other assignments, such as the in-class essay on the summer reading assignment, might be worth as much as half a test (i.e. 50 points). In general, these more numerous smaller assignments will likely comprise somewhere between half and two-thirds of the overall grade each marking period. There is no major project associated with this course, but there will be a final exam. Extra Credit Policy Students may be given the option, at
the discretion of the instructor, of completing extra credit
assignments. The onus for the initiation and completion of any extra
credit assignments lays entirely with the student. Any students
interested in extra credit should notify the instructor of their interest as
soon as possible. All extra credit work must be approved in advance;
approval should not be assumed. Extra credit assignments are generally
good for only a handful of points. The purpose of extra credit is to reward
students for exploring in greater detail a historical subject of particular
interest, NOT to counteract poor performance on regular class
assignments. The Web Site Students and parents should be aware
that the instructor makes use in class of a web site specifically designed
for this course (http://irh.rezelman.org).
The web site is being revised and updated “on the fly” as the year goes on.
It is designed primarily for in-class use by the instructor, but students
and parents alike are encouraged to look around it as much as they want.
Please be warned that the web site is a work in progress; I hope to, at a
minimum, post course outlines and handouts on it. How to Contact Me Students are strongly encouraged
to talk to me regarding anything having to do with the course or any
other matters. Parents may also contact me should they have any questions
or concerns. The easiest way for students to talk to me is to visit me in
my office during my free bells (D, E, and F in the second semester), or at
any other time of mutual convenience (such as after school). Though I am
generally in or around my office during my free time at school, it would be
wise for students to let me know when they plan to stop by so I can make
sure to be in my office at that time. Students and parents are also welcome
to contact me via e-mail at
drezelman@norfolkacademy.org.
Finally, I can also be reached at home at 318-7185, though I do ask that any
non-emergency calls be made before 8pm. When in doubt -- ask! I
am here to help. J
Subjects and Pace The following is a tentative and brief list of the historical topics we will be discussing this semester, along with estimates of when -- roughly -- it is that we might find ourselves discussing each. We will inevitably get ahead and/or fall behind the general schedule given below; this is an estimate only. This is especially true given how many outside speakers will, it is hoped, be speaking to the class throughout the semester. Test dates generally do not change even if/when we get ahead or behind schedule; each test will simply be on everything we have covered since the last test, plus or minus a little bit.
Course Honor Statement All students will receive during their first week an honor statement for each of their courses, and for Norfolk Academy as a whole. Students are reminded here, yet one more time, that the Honor Code is a point of emphasis at Norfolk Academy, and that dishonorable behavior -- as defined in both the course and school-wide honor statements -- can have extremely negative consequences. Do not follow the Honor Code because of these consequences, however -- follow it because you are an honorable person.
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