The New York Times Discussion Assignment
Pol S 102, Fall 2010
GRADE (20% of your class grade):
1) Attendance on 9/7 – 1 point;
2) Preparation and Attendance in 10 Discussion Group Sessions: 20 points in all;
3) Group Leadership—Meeting with Ms. Rijkoff and In-Class Presentation of Questions (4
points)
INSTRUCTIONS:
Beginning the week of 9/13, the second part of each Thursday, and after 11/6 of each Tuesday,
session will be devoted to a structured discussion of world politics covered in the NYT that week or the
week before. Students should come to class each discussion day having read through the online newspaper
for articles related to politics outside of the USA. Students who have not read some of these articles will be
considered unprepared for that session.
On 9/7, the first two discussion groups will be assigned. The remaining groups will be assigned on
the first day of discussion on 9/16. See the syllabus for the discussion group schedule.
Group Leadership-- Each group will lead Thursday group discussion of world politics from the
NYT once during the semester. There will be two leader groups each discussion session. See the syllabus
for the group leadership schedule. Each group needs to arrange a meeting with Ms. Rijkoff prior to their
Thursday discussion session. Appointments for meetings the following week will be made at the end of
each discussion class. All members of the group must attend this meeting. At this meeting, which should
take no longer than 45 minutes, the group will formulate two questions that relate to the political events
covered in the NYT that week and select one for presentation. You should come prepared —being familiar
with the concepts in class that week and having read the NYT. The questions should be formulated in such
a manner as to allow for either a " yes" or "no" response, should relate to concepts covered in class that
week or the week before, and should be on a Comparative Politics topic. The more controversial the
question, the more interesting the discussion for the entire class. Sample questions include, "Will
Afghanistan remain a stable nation-state?" "Is Iran a democracy?", "Is fascism still important in
Germany?".
Group Participation -- On discussion days, the class will breakdown into their groups. The two
discussion-leading groups will each present one of their questions to the class. All groups will be given 20
minutes to discuss the questions amongst themselves and come-up with a consensus answer – yes or no--
on the two questions. In the last part of class, we will tally and discuss the answers.
DISCUSSION GROUP EVALUATION:
You will be evaluated on preparation as well as attendance each discussion day – 1 point for each
during the general group discussion, for a total of 20 points. If the discussion strays from the questions and
course issues, students in the whole group will not receive the preparation point. The best way to get that
point is to have done the assigned readings for the week, to have read the NYT and, most importantly, to
talk about the issues in the questions for the full twenty minutes.
MAKE-UP POLICY FOR MISSED DISCUSSION DAYS:
Students are each allowed one undocumented absence, after that, students need to have
documented explanations in order to accept make-up essays. In order to make-up any missed discussion
days students must first notify Dr. Mazur prior to class by e-mail and then write a short essay explaining
their position on each question presented for discussion for the day they missed. All documentation for
missed absences should be submitted to Dr. Mazur. After the first undocumented absence, make-up work
will only be accepted for serious scheduling conflicts. Leaving for Florida two days prior to Spring break,
for example, is not an acceptable reason for missing class. Final make-up essays are due the last day of
class, they can be typed or hand-written.