First-Year Tutorial: Freedom

Is freedom the "natural"condition of humankind, as some theorists maintain, or are our identities subject to forces over which we exercise little control? Indeed, do humans covet freedom at all, or do they, as Dostoevsky has the Grand Inquisitor say, prefer to abandon their freedom in favor of happiness? From numerous perspectives, both classical and modern, this tutorial will examine freedom and its limitations. We will consider how dystopian fiction, Nazi culture, neuroscience, and molecular biology, among others, contribute to our understandings of freedom and its boundaries, and what these understandings mean for a liberally educated person.

Custom Course Packet [CCP], Tutorial "Freedom." XanEdu, 2002.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. NY, 1995.
Fulwiler, et al. The College Writer's Reference [CWR]. 3d ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 2002.
Gazzaniga, Michael S. The Mind's Past. Berkeley, 1998.
Hamer, Dean, & Peter Copeland. Living with Our Genes. NY, 1999.
Zamyatin, Yevgeny. We. Trans. Clarence Brown. NY, 1993.

Aims and Organization of the Tutorial

The First-Year Tutorial is the only course required for graduation from Grinnell College, and therefore occupies a correspondingly important place in the curriculum. Many aims drive the tutorial, but most importantly the tutorial aims to teach students to become acute analysts of information, skillful and persuasive writers, and better public speakersÑin classroom discussion as well as in more formal contexts. All these skills will serve the student well, no matter what major or area of study the student may subsequently concentrate upon. Therefore, although the exact texts or subject matter of the tutorial may never recur in any other Grinnell course the student takes, conscientious participation in the tutorial will inevitably contribute to the student's later success at Grinnell (and after Grinnell).

For much of the time, the tutorial will operate like any other course, although with fewer students than many courses, and often in a consciously less formal atmosphere than many other courses. However, to fulfill the promise of its name, the tutorial also will employ some small-group and even individual sessions that resemble the "tutorials" made famous by instruction at Cambridge and Oxford; these tutorial sessions are specially noted in the course schedule below. At these occasions, students will be expected to bring to their tutorial a piece of their own writing about which they're prepared to speak; they will also receive copies of writing from other students who may join them for the tutorial session. Each student will be expected to have read and thought about the other students' writings, and be prepared to discuss them as well.

For the tutorial to work, everyone must be prepared to participate, every day. Therefore, it is vital that everyone keep up to date with the assigned reading (and viewing, in the case of videos), and come to class already having thought about the assignment. To help stimulate useful discussion as well as encourage regular writing, each student will be asked to maintain a journal in which the student records both what the piece under discussion aspires to say, as well as what the reader thinks about that work. A handout will suggest a format to observe. It may prove easiest to open a file in your word processing program in which you simply add a page for each day's writing; that way, by semester's end, you will have available an entire folder of your thoughts and writing to consider. From time to time, each member of the tutorial will be asked to submit portions of the journal.

Students in the tutorial will be expected to organize much of the learning themselves. Among other things, this means the execution of several writing assignments, indicated in the schedule below. It will also mean regular participation in class discussions, and occasional participation in debates or other alternative forms of class organization.

The final essay will require students to consider the two basic questions around which the tutorial is organized: Is freedom the "natural" condition of humankind? Or, "Do humans covet freedom at all?" All essays should adopt a clear point of view, and must depend upon and make specific reference to our semester's study. All the final essays will be printed and distributed to everyone in the tutorial as a way of sharing our learning experience. All students must submit a first version no later than November 26; final, revised essays are due no later than December 12.

Assignments, Grading

The total, 105%, serves as a bonus, making possible a slight upward adjustment in grades.

"Schedule of Meetings"

Tut 100-15 Home Page

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This page last modified October 28, 2002