Courses Designed to Meet General Education Requirements

Service Learning and Field Placement

Syllabus -- Social Responsibility and Community
PITZER COLLEGE
Sociology 195

Instructors: Jose Calderon Avery 105, x2852 Off. hrs.: Tues. 2-3:30 @Chicano Studies, Th 2-3

Betty Farrell Scott 222, x3767 off. hrs.: TTh 3-4 Wed. 11-12

DESCRIPTION:

This course examines the nature, causes and consequences of inequalities in the U.S. educational system. Issues related to stratification and achievement will be placed in the context of contemporary issues which are facing Los Angeles County. In particular, the class will examine the challenges that parents, students, teachers, and administrators are confronting in the Alhambra School District. The class will involve Pitzer students in an ethnographic study of the three district high schools that now have predominantly Asian and Latino student populations. The course will culminate with a conference in which the seminar participants will present their research findings to school and community groups.

COURSE READINGS:

Apple, Michael W. Official Knowledge
Caplan, Nathan, Marcella H. Choy, John K. Whitmore. Children of the Boat People
Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities
Oakes, Jeannie. Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequali ty
Rodriguez, Luis J. Always Running
Rose, Mike. Lives on the Boundary

Reader at Pitzer Duplicating

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: ASSIGNMENTS AND EVALUATION:

(1.) Weekly attendance at the Wednesday seminar and three ho urs per week of field work in your placement site are required for this course. 10% of your final grade in the course will be based on your participation in both settings. Attendance is the minimal requirement; completion of all reading assignments and engaged participation in the discussions are expected.

(2.) Reading Log: 1-2 pages of commentary on each week's reading assignment, due every Wednesday. Papers will be used to help generate discussion during the seminar meeting; be prepared to read aloud what you have written. They will be turned in weekly for the instructors to read, then returned to you. Accumulated papers will be submitted as a portfolio for a grade at the end of the semester. In place of a final exam, you will be asked to wri te an essay, to be included with the reading log portfolio, that summarizes the readings for the class and your fieldwork experience. 30% of your final grade for the course. Due at the end of the last week of classes, Friday, Dec. 10.

(3.) Fieldwo rk/Research Project and Paper: 60% of your grade for this course will be based on your work in the high schools of the Alhambra School District. There will be two parts to your fieldwork: field notes and the research project/paper to be presented at the conference on December 1.

Field notes: You will keep field notes about what you see and hear during every visit. Field notes are an informal record of your participant observation experience that also include your own speculative ideas-in-progress a bout what's going on.

Research project/Paper for Conference Presentation: Each group will work collectively to gather information in their high school for individual and 2-person projects. Ongoing projects will be presented during the Wednesday semin ar meetings. Final projects will be presented at a conference of the Alhambra School District administrators, teachers, and students, scheduled for Wednesday, December 1, 1-3 p.m. 30%