PPCS 100

Introduction to Public Policy and Community Service

Fall 2014
Mode of Inquiry for Individual and Society
Critical Thinking Proficiency



Travis Proffitt, instructor
Appalachian Center for Civic Life
Ext. 6619
[email protected]
Office Hours: 1-4 p.m. MWF; 1-4 p.m. Tu/Th; other times available by appointment.
This course examines the meaning and interconnection of citizenship, politics, community, justice, place,
culture, conflict, religion, diversity, public policy, personal responsibility, democracy, and service in
contemporary society in a variety of geographic contexts.

The course is grounded in the precept that service is inseparable from effective citizenship and civic
work. Guiding the course is the understanding that the study of the interrelatedness and interdependence
of citizenship, public policy, and community service is an interdisciplinary study, drawing on a range of
disciplines, giving attention to the wide array of factors that shape life and citizenship in a place. The
course further seeks to introduce the effects of local, regional, national, and global structures as well as
institutions on processes of social change and individual identity. In material, ideas, and in its structures,
the course strives to enable students to understand the importance of place, stories, critical thinking,
public ethics, and tough questioning.

Because the Public Policy and Community Service Department and curriculum are integral to the
educational and service mission of Emory & Henry College, this course helps students satisfy several
requirements of the Colleges General Studies. As a Mode of Inquiry, PPCS 100 asks students to
consider the complex and often-conflicted relationship between individuals and the larger social order.
This course will also satisfy the proficiency requirement for critical thinking. In particular classes and in
the department as a whole, learning and teaching have always focused heavily on the processes of
thinking critically, asking participants to establish themselves as a community of scholars and activists
that works together to think systemically and systematically about complex public issues and questions.
By giving attention to this proficiency, we as a community of learners will use tools and approaches that
are applicable across a variety of disciplines and contexts to apply critical thinking processes to difficult
questions. Students will reformulate the thesis and argument presented in a range of readings, analyze
those arguments, and raise a series of questions of those arguments and theses based on particular theories
and concepts. The intent is to become familiar with the practice of critical thinking, but also to acquire
skills and insights that are useful in a wide range of courses, disciplines, and situations, both public and
private.

More than an introduction to the Department of Public Policy and Community Service, the course offers
introduction toward more effective thinking and analysis of the questions of our time and place, and a
more meaningful connection between citizenship and service. The nature of this journey is such that
those who embark upon it must also participate in shaping and directing it. This is arduous work,
requiring tough questions, careful listening, and thoughtful reflection. Yet the work of this journey is not
undertaken in isolation, for it transpires among a connection of people equally committed to the same
journey and process. I am thankful that you are on this journey, and I look forward to the questions,
stories, and insights you bring. Welcome.

The major objectives of the course are:

(1) to promote an understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of the study of public policy making and
community service, including the influence of social, cultural, political, economic, and religious factors in
community life;

(2) to develop an understanding of place as both a theoretical concept and particular geographic reality,
and the importance of place to citizenship and service;

(3) to develop an awareness of rural Appalachian regional identity, to explore some of the key themes of
Appalachian culture and history in the American context, and to develop a deeper appreciation of the
interconnection and commonalities between Appalachia and other regions and places, both nationally and
abroad;

(4) to introduce an awareness of urban (specifically Detroit) political and cultural identity and to develop
a deeper appreciation of the interconnection and commonalities between experiences of place in Detroit
and in Appalachia;

(5) to develop an awareness and responsibility concerning the common good and just relationships in the
larger society;

(6) to explore the links between citizen education and service learning, including an examination of what
does service mean, should people do service, why do people serve, and what is the relationship of
service and the educational process;

(7) to introduce the key ideas, concepts, and themes that undergird the Department of Public Policy and
Community Service;

(8) to strengthen students' analytical, written, oral, and leadership skills;

(9) to define clearly the concepts and approaches to definitions of justice and what makes justice social,
and to identify an issue or question of justice in a particular context of public policy or civic affairs, and
to evaluate effectively the strength of the argument put forward;

(10) to learn by practicing the processes and skills of critical thinking.

The learning goals for this course are:

(1) Students will articulate in written reflection and in essay exams the interdisciplinary nature of
civic life and the importance of place to civic and social identity.

(2) Students will give careful thought to and be able to articulate an understanding of justice and the
questions necessary for building a just society.

(3) Students will be able to discuss various approaches to education, and the role of service in a
problem-solving model of education.

(4) Students will demonstrate a working knowledge of various key concepts that are foundational to
the study of citizenship and to other classes in the Public Policy and Community Service degree program.
Chief among these concepts are place, the sociological imagination, social formation of identity, and the
difference between charity and service.

(5) Students will be able to discuss in class sessions and in written work the civic and policy
implications of place and regional identity.

(6) In written work and in classroom discussion, students will demonstrate a range of critical thinking
skills and the application of critical thinking approaches to complex questions and issues.



Required Reading for PPCS 100
Bastress, Jennifer. Students as Agents of Social Change.
Bragg, Rick. All Over But The Shoutin. New York: Pantheon Books.
Binelli, Mark, Detroit City is The Place to Be, New York, NY: Picador, 2013.*
Burns, Shirely Stewart, Bringing Down the Mountains, Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University
Press, 2007. *
Campus Compact, Reflection and Service Learning, Reflection Guide.
Class Privilege.
Cotter, Wendy. The Historical Jesus and the Kingdom of God, Becoming, Loyola University Social
Justice Reader.
Cresswell, Tim. Place: A Short I ntroduction. Oxford, England, United Kingdom: Blackwell
Publishing, 2004.*
Emory & Henry College, The Appalachian Center for Community Service, Mission and Core Values
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond McDowell County, WV.
Freire, Paulo. Chap. 2 from Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
Giardina, Denise, Storming Heaven, New York, Ivy Books, 1987. *
Hartnett, Daniel. A Pedagogy of Justice, Loyola University Social Justice Reader.
Hermansen, Marcia. Islam and Justice Issues, Loyola University Social Justice Reader.
Heterosexual Privilege
Learning Pyramid
Loeb, Paul. Soul of A Citizen: Living with Conviction in Challenging Times. (New York: St. Martins
Press, 1999, 2010)
Male Privilege
McIntosh, Peggy. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Peace and Freedom
(July/August 1989).
Mills, C. Wright. The Promise. From The Sociological Imagination.
Palmer, Parker. Excerpt from To Know As We Are.
Quotes from Lappe and Marshall
Ray, Patti. The Concept of Judaism: Some Brief Comments, Loyola University Social Justice Reader.
Service Learning is Reciprocal
Stanley, Tal. The Poco Field: An American Story of Place. Champaign, Il: University of Illinois
Press, 2012. S*
Class Reader for PPCS 100. CR*
Stanley, Tal, Places Your GPS Can Take You, Keynote, Address to the 2011 Gulf-South Summit,
March 2011
Theobald, Paul. Chapter 1 from Teaching the Commons: Place, Pride, and the Renewal of Community.
Two Feet of Service
White Privilege
Yamato, Gloria. Something About the Subject Makes It Hard to Name. (1988)
Zandy, Janet. Decloaking Class: Why Class Identity and Consciousness Count. Race, Gender, & Class
(1996).

* To Be Purchased




Schedule of Class Meetings and Reading Assignments
Date Topic Reading/Assignment(s) Due
W08.27 Why We Are Here and Where Are We Going?

A Review of the Syllabus
and Course Requirements
F08.29 Why Are We Here? A Different Kind of Education CR 13-21, 44-57
Journal 1 Due
M09.1 The Sociological Imagination
Introduction to Service Sites
CR 1-12,58-72

W09.3 A different education for a different learning for a different life CR 1-12,73-88
F09.5 A different education for a different learning for a different life

SERVICE SITES FINALIZED.
CR 22-25, 101-113
Journal 2 Due
M09.8 Understanding Place CR 26-43
Creswell 1-14
W09.10 Understanding Place Stanley Prologue-22
CR 114-120
F09.12 The Importance of Place; A Place-Based Model of Education Creswell 15-29
Stanley 23-55
Journal 3 Due
M09.15 The Importance of Place; A Place-Based Model of Education Creswell 29-49
Stanley 56-97
Highly Recommended Lyceum :
Building Global Villages: Reflections on Habitat for Humanity in Nicaragua
Tuesday, September 16, 7:30 p.m., Van Dyke Board of Visitors Lounge
(attendance and written reflection will replace unsatisfactory quiz grade)
W09.17 The Importance of Place; A Place-Based Model of Education Creswell 81-102
Stanley 98-127
F09.19 The Importance of Place; A Place-Based Model of Education Creswell 102-123
Stanley 128-153
Journal 4 Due; service hours due
M09.22 The Importance of Place Creswell 53-79
Stanley 154-194
W09.24 Self in Place and Service; Faith and Justice CR 89-100, 138-141
Loeb 140-144 (to be distributed)
REQUIRED LYCEUM:
The Importance of the Other Dr. Stephen Hunt, 71
Tuesday, September 25, 7:30 p.m., Van Dyke Board of Visitors Lounge
F09.26 Self in Place and Service; Understanding Privilege CR 121-137
Adam Davis piece
Date Topic Reading/Assignment(s) Due
Journal 5 Due
Adam Davis Critical Thinking
Assignment
M09.29 When a Place is Exploited
W10.1 FILM: Justice in the Coalfields, Part I
F10.3 FILM: Justice in the Coalfields, Par II Journal 6 Due; service hours due
M10.6 Mid-Term Exams
W10.8 (FALL 2014 FALL BREAK)
F10.10 (FALL 2014 FALL BREAK)
M10.13 Mountaintop Removal Burns 1-32
W10.15 Burns 33-59
F10.17 FILM: Black Diamond Burns 60-98
Journal 7 Due
M10.20 FILM: Black Diamond Burns 99-143
W10.22 Interactive map exercise on ilovemountains.org
Highly Recommended Lyceums:
The LGBTQ Community and the United Methodist Church Part 1(performance)
Wednesday, October 22, 7:30 p.m., Wiley Hall Auditorium
The LGBTQ Community and the United Methodist Church Part 2 (lecture)
Thursday, October 23, 7:30 p.m., Van Dyke Board of Visitors Lounge
(attendance and written reflection will replace unsatisfactory quiz grade)
F10.24 Burns Critical Thinking
Assignment
M10.27 From Appalachia to Detroit Austen, NYTimes Article (to be
distributed)
http://www.detroitblog.org/?p=1475
W10.29 Looking Back, Looking Forward: Detroit Binelli 1-51
F10.31 Looking Back, Looking Forward: Detroit Binelli 53-85
Journal 8 Due; service hours due
Highly Recommended Lyceums:
The Last Segregated Hour Stephen R. Haynes
Sunday, November 2, 8:15 p.m., Van Dyke Board of Visitors Lounge
Monday, November 3, 7:30 p.m., Van Dyke Board of Visitors Lounge
(attendance and written reflection will replace unsatisfactory quiz grade)
M11.3 Looking Back, Looking Forward: Detroit Binelli 87-135
W11.5 Looking Back, Looking Forward: Detroit Binelli 137-177
F11.7 Looking Back, Looking Forward: Detroit Binelli 179-227
Journal 9 Due
M11.10 Looking Back, Looking Forward: Detroit Binelli 229-267
W11.12 Looking Back, Looking Forward: Detroit Binelli 269-307
F11.14 FILM: Requiem for Detroit Journal 10 Due; service hours
due
M11.17 FILM: Requiem for Detroit
W11.19 Citizenship Belongs to You CR 142-151
Loeb 54-67 (to be distributed)
Requiem for Detroit Critical
Thinking Assignment
F11.21 Citizenship Belongs to You CR 152-170
Loeb 451-457 (to be distributed)
Journal 11 Due; final service
hours due
M11.24 Eportfolio Preparations
W11.26 (T-GIVING BREAK)
F11.28 (T-GIVING BREAK)
M12.1 ePortfolio Presentations
W12.3 ePortfolio Presentations
F12.5 ePortfolio Presentations
M12.8 ePortfolio Presentations
W12.10 LAST DAY OF CLASS wrapping up, course evaluations





Course Requirements

Distribution of Grades
Area of Evaluation Points
Quizzes 120
Journals 100
Critical Thinking 110
Mid-term Exam 90
Class Participation 80
Final Exam(ePortfolio) 100
___
Total Points 600

Total Points Letter Grade Percentage
600-558 A 100-93%
557-540 A- 92-90%
539-522 B+ 89-87%
521-498 B 86-83%
497-480 B- 82-80%
479-462 C+ 79-77%
461-438 C 76-73%
437-420 C- 72-70%
419-402 D+ 69-67%
401-378 D 66-63%
377-360 D- 62-60%
359-- F 59%--

Service

Every student in this class must complete a minimum of 25 hours of community service over the course
of the semester. During the first days of class, you will be provided information about possible service
sites and the logistics involved in dealing with the various issues arising from your service activity.
Community service is a required activity of this course. Students who do not complete this
requirement in a satisfactory fashion will not pass the course; no matter how well they have done on
the classroom or written parts of the course requirements.

Quizzes

There will be 15 unannounced 10-point quizzes on the assigned reading material. The lowest three grades
will be dropped. If the student misses class and hence a quiz because of a college-sponsored and announced
event (sports team travel) or if the student is ill and misses class and hence a quiz, the student may make that
quiz up. However, the student must do this within three days of the absence and on the students own
initiative; the instructor will not take responsibility for asking the student to take the make-up quiz.
Moreover, should a student arrive late to class, hence missing a quiz, and it is a tardiness not related to either
of the outlined reasons, the student may not make up that quiz.

Critical Thinking

The critical thinking component for this course, satisfying the critical thinking proficiency
required of all students graduating from Emory & Henry College, will focus on identifying the
thesis of a range of articles and editorials, using the core concepts covered in the course to raise
questions of those thesis, and based on those questions to articulate a concise analysis of the
thesis. Each critical thinking exercise will consistent of three parts:
1. Identifying and restating the articles, books, or editorials thesis.
2. Three questions of that thesis based on the central concepts for the course
a. Place
b. Justice/Intradependence
c. Sociological Imagination/Social Analysis (questions as posed on page 87 of the
Class Reader)
d. Personal experience (drawing on the work of Mills and Freire)
3. Based on these questions, an analysis of the thesis.
a. What makes it strong? How? Why?
b. What weakens it? How? Why?
c. What are the implications of this thesis for other issues and questions?
4. The critical thinking work will be integrated into all aspects of the course and will be
given attention in both the mid-term and final exams. More particularly, there will be 6
critical thinking assignments. These will be discussed in the course.


Mid-Term Exam

Format to be discussed in class.

Final Exam
Your final examination will consist of your in-class presentation of your ePortfolio along with its
individual evaluation. (See Your ePortfolio at the conclusion of this syllabus.)


Attendance
Students are expected to attend all classes and will be penalized for more than two absences (5 points will
be deducted from the final grade for each absence over two).

Class Participation
Students will be prepared to discuss the assigned reading and their service experiences each day. You
will be graded on (a) the seriousness of your effort (i.e., whether or not you come to class prepared, and
whether or not you are physically, emotionally, and intellectually present); (b) the nature of your
interaction with other class members (i.e., whether you listen carefully and respectfully to what others
say, your willingness to challenge others and defend your points of view, and whether you provide
opportunity and encouragement for others to participate); (c) your faithfulness in meeting your
responsibilities in terms of the one-on-one meetings outside of class and the opening quote and question
during class; (d) your willingness to interact thoughtfully with guest speakers; (e) your willingness to
share experiences from your service site; (f) successful completion of various assessment instruments
used in the course; and (g) the quality of your overall effort. Part of effective class participation also
means that all phones, texting devices, i-pods, and other electronics will be turned off. This will also
include all laptops and i-pads. Students who are observed using cell phones, texting, utilizing other social
networking programs or devices, or employing laptops and i-pads during class will find their class
participation grade significantly and adversely affected.


JOURNALS

What J ournals Are Not

Journals are not to be confused with diaries, notebooks, or class notes. Diaries usually do little more than
log external events (My parents came to visit this weekend...) with occasional personal comments
regarding those events (I wish they would come more often...). Notebooks usually do little more than
summarize readings (The author concluded that...). Class notes do little more than reflect activities and
discussions that have taken place in class.

What J ournals Are

Journals frequently resemble diaries, notebooks, and class notes because the writer of a journal
sometimes responds to external events, or reacts to the reading, or reflects on something that has been
said in class. For the purposes of this class, journals, however, represent a distinctive kind of writing.

First, they articulate intellectual pilgrimage and autobiography. Students engaged in writing journals find
out very quickly that they are putting a very real part of themselves down on paper. To reveal something
of one's thoughts and feelings is a very personal activity. It is such a personal activity that some students
attempt to stay on an objective level by reporting what they have read and thought (but still keeping an
academic cocoon securely around them). Other students find out, however, that writing a journal becomes
a more authentic enterprise when the writer does not pretend toward objectivity but let the self speak as
well.

Second, journals provide an occasion for insights. Insights are those perceptions where an idea or fact
integrates other materials or explains personal experience. The light suddenly dawns, and the pieces of
a puzzle fall together for the first time! Insights may integrate intellectual understanding or personal
experiences. The quest for and the articulation of such insights provide much of the excitement of
keeping a journal.

Journals also provide an occasion to raise questions. Journals offer an opportunity to record questions, to
speculate on how to answer them, and to understand why the question has come about in the first place.
Questions may document ignorance or curiosity, but when one knows why a question is important and
what precisely one doesn't know, then there exists a significant kind of awareness.

Third, journals represent a tether binding a student to the subject matter of a class. By means of the
journal, a student has an ongoing opportunity to respond to class activities, react to assigned readings and
outside speakers, reflect on the service experience, engage in dialogue with comments the instructor has
made, and explore various perspectives on the subject matter of the class as these appear in newspapers,
magazines, and on film. In contrast to a research paper, which may be done in a short period of time, a
journal provides a semester-long format for interacting with the subject matter of a particular class.

The Contents of a Journal

The contents of a journal are limited only by the subject matter of the course and the writer's creativity,
imagination, and breadth of experience. As a result, a journal often includes a variety of materials:
personal reflection; comments on lectures or class discussions; reactions to films, tapes, and newspaper
and magazine articles; insights gained from readings and the service experience; relevant cartoons and
poetry; and extended statements on issues of personal conscience.

The following criteria will be used in grading journals.

(a) Writing coherence, spelling, grammar, punctuationdoes it make sense? Does the writer convey an
idea with cogency and developmentally appropriate skill?
(b) The seriousness of effort--how regularly you write in the journal; how thorough your entries are; how
well you follow the guidelines described above; and how willing you are to engage in dialogue with the
instructor by responding thoughtfully and honestly to his comments on and responses to your entries.
(c) The quality of the effort--how well you relate your service experience to the reading assignments and
concrete questions provided by the instructor; how well you ground all of your responses in what we are
reading and discussing in class; originality and diversity of the entries; honesty of the entries; willingness
to take risks by tackling tough intellectual and personal issues; willingness to let the self speak; and
willingness to challenge the instructor and assigned readings when you disagree with them.
(d) Improvement over time--the degree to which your entries improve as the semester progresses.




POTENTITAL JOURNAL REFLECTION QUESTIONS

These questions and statements are intended as suggestions or prompts to guide your journal
writing. You are not expected to respond to them in every journal entry. Additional writing topics
will be assigned throughout the semester.

1. Describe, in detail, your service placement...the site, the clients, the staff, other volunteers, the location,
and the general surroundings (what does it look like, smell like, sound like...).

2. Discuss your first experience at your service placement. Be very specific: when did you go (date and
time); how long were you there; whom did you see, talk with; what did you do. Include any first
reactions: did you feel useful, anxious, bored, etc., and do you think you will be able to learn anything
from this experience.

3. What are your general duties and responsibilities? What do you do on a typical day at your placement?
Describe, in detail, your activities each week.

4. How do people see you at your service placement? As a staff member? A friend? A student? What
do you feel like when you are there?

5. What surprised you the most this week in class or while you worked on your service project? What
moved you the most this week?

6. What was the best thing that happened to you in class or at your service site this week? Was it
something someone said or did, something you said or did, a feeling, an insight, and a goal accomplished?
What did you do that made you feel proud? Why? What did you do that was fun or satisfying?

7. What did you like least about your project this week? Why? What happened that made you feel
uncomfortable or unhappy?

8. In what ways are you finding your commitments to your service project difficult to keep? What is
helping you to follow through with these commitments despite the difficulties you encounter?

9. What new skill did you learn this week? What did you do that helped you get along and work with
others? What did you do that seemed to be effective or ineffective? What feeling or idea about you
seemed especially strong this week?

10. Did you take (or avoid taking) some risk this week? What were things you wanted to say or do but
didn't?

11. What did you discover about other people in class or during your service work this week? Who was
the most interesting person you met this week? Why? How did your feelings about any person change as
a result of this week's activities?

12. What are some things you have in common with the people in this course or with whom you work
(your peers, the staff, the person you served)? How are you different?

13. Did you get an idea this week that would improve your service work? Your class participation? The
program? The world?

14. What criticisms did you receive this week and how did you respond?

15. What compliments were you given this week and what did they mean to you?

16. How does what we have read or are currently reading in PPCS 100 relate to and/or help you better
understand various aspects of your service experience?

17. What do you perceive as the underlying cause(s) of the social problem(s) with which you are dealing
at your service placement? Elaborate on each. What do you suggest as strategies, policies, and/or
programs that could be implemented to try to lessen these problems? Who do you think should take the
responsibility for formulating and implementing your suggestions?

18. Do you find that service helps the server as well as the person served? Who is helped more? Does it
matter?

19. Can your service really make a difference? Alternatively, do you believe that only changes in
policy can make a difference?

20. In what ways are you growing and learning from service? Is it changing you in any way: your ideas,
beliefs, habits, values, or goals?

YOUR EPORTFOLIO

ePortfolios can be an effective way to demonstrate your learning and growth over a period of time. As
you move through your college career, youll explore theories and realities that will contribute to your
personal and professional development. An ePortfolio CAN provide a space to creatively display that
development to other audiencespotential internship sites, graduate schools, employers, etc In this
class you will be expected to develop an ePortfolio that captures your experience in PPCS 100, to capture
your learning and your growth. This will simply be an introductory exercise, but it might just get you
thinking about how, as you move through your studies, that you capture and tell the story of your
education.

The design of your ePortfolio is up to you and well cover some basics in class, but each PPCS 100
students ePortfolio will include the following:

I. Biographical Profile: who are you and what is your story?
II. Service Site Profile: where are you doing your service work? What is their work? What
impact do they have on the surrounding community? And what are YOU doing there and
what is its impact on the organization?
III. Change Agents: an opportunity for you to interview and highlight an individual who has
been particularly effective at honoring the value of a place, recognizing a need for change,
and mobilizing others to bring about that change.
IV. Resources/Documents: what materials have you created that demonstrate your work and
understanding of place and social change? Journal entries? Presentations?
V. Your Resume: an up-to-date and compelling resume that highlights your experience and
talents. Each student must set up an appointment and consultation with Amanda Gardner,
Director of Career Services, before submitting their resume.