Classics Greco-Roman Political Thought

Syllabus

Professor Jacques A. Bailly
School of World Languages and Cultures
231 Old Mill
jbailly@zoo.uvm.edu

Office Hours: 2:30-3:30 Monday and 10:30-11:30 Wed. also appointments.
This syllabus is posted on the web at: http://www.uvm.edu/~jbailly/courses/

Email is the single best way to contact me.
Please come see me during office hours if you can.
Appointments are welcome too, and often work best: email me to set one up.

Attendance: Required and counts for grade.

Texts:
Required: YOU MUST ORDER THEM YOURSELVES. These readings will be assigned from February on.

Recommended:

Grades: I am, willingly if they are high, unwillingly if low, required to record them. Earn it.
Artificially established limits for number-graded assignments: 91-100%=A, 81-90%=B, 71-80%=C, 61-70%=D, 60% or lower=F. Plus and minus will be given for the top three and bottom three points of each range respectively.

Graded Elements of this Course
4 Monthly Tests
 15% each
2 Presentations
 15% each
Daily Comments/questions
 10%
Attendance
 5%

Attendance Policy: The student who attends the most classes get 100%. Anyone who attends up to 3 classes fewer than that student also gets 100%. Those who miss more classes will have their attendance grade pro-rated accordingly. Do not miss a class lightly: attending class is important for learning and also, you may need to miss a day later in the semester.

Monthly Tests: the exact dates will be found on the schedule. If possible, material from your daily comments/question will constitute a fair bit of the test.
'January' (background, Homer/Hesiod, tragedies, Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato's Gorgias)
'February' (Plato Republic)
'March' (Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics, Politics)
'April' (Cicero)

Presentations

Daily Comments/Questions: we will try doing this on my Google drive: if that doesn't work for some reason, we'll switch to paper comments to be handed in at the end of class.

Procedure:
When there is a reading or assignment or activity on the schedule for a certain day, ready yourself for it by doing the reading, preparing the assignment, and studying for assessments before class that day.

Due dates and lateness: For graded items, lateness or missing the activity will result in loss of 1% per day. If you think there is a reason your grade should not be docked, include a written explanation with the assignment: that is my way to keep track of such things: I cannot manage to keep track of stray remarks in class, emails, phone calls, notes, and such. It is your grade, so please help me record it accurately by following this policy. It protects both of us and ensures you are treated fairly.

How to hand in assignments: printed out, on paper. Email is NOT handing in an assignment.

Illness, emergencies, etc.: Let me know as soon as you can. Communication is key here. It is a life skill and a serious job skill to inform other people who are affected by your actions as soon as possible.

You have entrusted me with the guidance and structure of this class, and I am honored and take that seriously. I am ambitious for you and want you to succeed. Please make suggestions about the class to help yourself and others succeed: I am not always aware of what you need. Teaching and learning are not matters in which there is a right and a wrong procedure: there are many good procedures and many more that are suboptimal.

Academic Honesty: UVM has policies that are publicly available to you: https://www.uvm.edu/policies/code-academic-integrity. They should be strictly observed and I will require you to adhere to them or face the consequences. This is your official notice of my policy on that.

Nothing produced by AI is ever to be handed in as your work in this class. Presenting products of AI as if they are your own work is academic dishonesty. Never cite or acknowledge AI as your source: it is not the ultimate source: AI got it from somewhere else or hallucinated it.
We will occasionally and inevitably use AI in class, but always knowing that it is, as my son puts it "whatever AI was able to scrape up from somewhere else or to steal from someone." In my class, that is never sufficient.

Electronics: You may use electronics in class ONLY for class-related matters. Avoid distracting other students with your usage. If there are problems, individuals may be forbidden from using any electronics.

Classrooms are places for the exploration of ideas, sometimes controversial or uncomfortable. In order to protect that exploration and to foster an environment where everyone feels free to participate, we will respect and listen to all opinions and be ready to ask and provide evidence for them. We will attempt to the best of our ability to respect and accommodate emotions.

To preserve the open and protected atmosphere of this class, recording of class sessions (audio or video) is not permitted without my prior permission. If permission is granted, recordings are for personal, educational use only and may not be shared or posted online. Students who need recordings as part of an approved accommodation should contact Student Accessibility Services (A170 Living/Learning, (802) 656-7753).

Nor knowest thou what argument
Thy life to thy neighbor's creed has lent.
All are needed by each one;
Nothing is fair or good alone.
excerpt from ' Each and All' by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.

(John Dewey, UVM 1879)