August 16, 2024

Found a folder labeled, OLD UNCA. Within it I found an ancient Humanities syllabus intro:

CLASS REQUIREMENTS, EXPECTATIONS

Universities serve a variety of masters. One master is the interest of the student, which requires the professor and the institution to be alert to a student’s needs and adaptable to his or her interests, and to make certain accommodations to the exigencies of the student’s life. But it is important to remember that the Academy serves a social and cultural function, too: to assure society that each student has become familiar with a certain set of skills that may be called upon by that society in time of need, a certain breadth of knowledge which the society expects to be general among the educated, whether or not it coincides with the individual’s inclinations. Part of the university’s mission is to deliver into society people who are able to function in situations not specifically tailored to our likes and desires, who can cope when called upon to do things we don’t like to do, meet expectations which sometimes feel like impositions, to know things we think at this point we don’t need to know. It is part of our passage into the life of the community to adapt ourselves to these perhaps irksome but nevertheless ancient and, for the most part, reasonable demands. At the most basic level, society has the right to expect that we will leave the university knowing about things like deadlines and professional responsibility, about simple politeness, about completing the assignments given to us. 

For this reason, work will not be accepted late. Anticipate crises, and plan accordingly. You do have control over these things, and the control you have is to start work in a timely fashion to make sure it is done on time, with extra room to deal with computer disasters or family emergencies.

Attendance will be expected, and tardiness will not be tolerated. If you cannot get to class on time, drop the class and sign on again when you can make a responsible commitment. Tardiness will be counted as absence. Lateness is rude and contemptuous.

In an evening class, more than two absences or instances of lateness result in the lowering of the grade by one. More than 4 result in failure. In a day class, more than 4 absences or instances of lateness result in the lowering of the grade by one. More than 6 result in failure.

All out-of-class assignments must, of course, be typed.

Echoes from my teaching career have been gratifying, for the most part, sometimes almost unbelievably so, but I suppose those who hated me or got nothing in particular out of my class would not bother, at this distance, to say so.