Discipline covered in General Education: history, political science, speech and communication, philosophy, global studies

Gen. Ed. Category Event should be listed under: Social Science & Humanities

SCC Competency addressed by event: Describe the historical, cultural and social contexts of philosophy, literature or language

Event experience Title: Fall 2007 -- SCC Democracy Days

Anticipated Learning Outcome. Enriched understanding of the role democracy plays in the U.S. political system and the world at large.

Guidelines for accomplishment of event

• Go to the SCC Web site listed below, where you’ll find the agenda and descriptions for Democracy Days 2007 [September 17 – 19], and pick a session to attend.
• When you attend, be alert to a) the thesis of the presentation, particularly as it relates to what the speaker is saying about the quality, health or functioning of democracy, and b) how the thesis is supported (i.e. evidence, examples).
  
  Since there will be time allotted in each session for questions and comments from people in attendance, feel free to ask the speaker to clarify his or her thesis. (Note: A thesis statement is a one- to three-sentence statement indicating the topic, purpose and focus of a text or, in this case, a speech.) Presenters are unlikely to lift their hands and say, “This is my thesis” in explicit terms, so you will need to intuit it from the presentation. Keep in mind that each session should in some way have to do with the quality, health or functioning of democracy.
• After the presentation, find at least one competing point of view or a line of reasoning in an article or editorial, or perhaps one that enlarges your understanding of the subject of the presentation, and write about it. Your finished product will be a synthesis based on the material of the Democracy Days presentation and the other source(s) you choose.
  

A lot of what the Democracy Days forum has to do with is encouraging you to find your place, and your own voice, in the discourse on the subject of your choice. Therefore, in your writing, feel free to respond with your own opinion, too. If you wish to make your writing informative rather than persuasive in purpose, that's fine, too, but in either case, ideally, your finished product will be a mini-essay rather than a series of informal observations as in a journal.

If you read about the subject in advance rather than go into the session cold, all the better.
Find the best possible source that you can -- a thoughtful position-piece from a generally respected publication rather than a message board or blog, which tend to be informal and deliberately inflammatory rather than persuasive in the best sense of the word. You might consider approaching the presenter after the session and asking for suggestions for further reading, including and especially sources with competing ideas.

Event Contact Name: Michael Kuelker
Event Contact e-mail: mkuelker@stchas.edu
Event Contact website URL: www.stchas.edu/events/democracydays.shtml
SCC Event Creator: Michael Kuelker
Estimated Time: 3-4 hours