{"id":298,"date":"2020-02-11T16:25:33","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T21:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/honors\/?p=298"},"modified":"2023-08-04T11:51:06","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T15:51:06","slug":"what-were-really-doing-in-honors-one-professors-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/honors\/2020\/02\/11\/what-were-really-doing-in-honors-one-professors-view\/","title":{"rendered":"What We’re Really Doing in Honors \u2013 One Professor\u2019s View"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Tim Berg<\/p>\n

Dr. Timothy Berg<\/a> is an artist and educator.\u00a0 He teaches courses in the humanities, global studies, and colloquia on photography theory and other subjects (Honors 201, 202, 203 189, and 390).\u00a0 In all of his collaborative, discussion-intensive courses he focuses on the history of ideas, working with students to better understand themselves and the broader human condition.\u00a0 He’s led a number of domestic and international field studies with students to New York City and to Rome and Florence, Italy.\u00a0 In 2013 he was the director of Worcester Center Study Abroad Program in Worcester, England.\u00a0 In 2014 he was a fellow at the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry<\/a> which created The Infinite Museum<\/a> web application for the David Owsley Museum of Art.<\/em><\/p>\n

How do Honors courses relate to my life, both personally and professionally?<\/span><\/h4>\n

When you tell someone you\u2019re taking \u201chonors\u201d courses, what does that really mean? What is the purpose of our curriculum? How does it all fit together? The word, \u201chonors,\u201d on its own, doesn\u2019t necessarily mean much. Yes, we have an honors core curriculum, a series of courses students must complete to earn the honors diploma, but what are we really doing?<\/p>\n

In my honors humanities courses, we grapple with what it means to be human, to understand the human condition, and to encounter and think about some of the biggest questions we humans face. We do this by reading philosophy, literature, looking at art, and other such humanistic productions. We think about things that will help us live our best lives. All of my classes are really about this one same thing, living a good life. But as we work with these ideas, we work on building ourselves and also on a variety of skills that are transferable to anything you might do in the future. Whether it\u2019s reading, discussing, writing, doing projects, or whatever, we are building skills. We do, however, have to work on articulating what those skills are and how they might apply. We have to see them before we can know them.<\/p>\n

So, we need to think about something I call\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026 the UNDER-CURRICULUM.<\/p>\n

What is the under-curriculum?<\/span><\/h4>\n

The curriculum<\/em> is the content of the course, the readings and activities we do, the subject we\u2019re studying, etc. All classes have this, but they vary. The curriculum in English differs from the curriculum in Geology. Each honors course has a different curriculum, one that adheres to a master syllabus but is also the unique expression of the professor teaching it. In my Honors 201 course, our curriculum is about ancient ideas, about the big questions of being human, and living the good life. But underneath those differences, we\u2019re working on deeper skills that transcend any one course or academic discipline.<\/p>\n

This is the magical world of the under-curriculum<\/u>. Welcome! Come in!<\/p>\n

The under-curriculum<\/em> contains those skills and processes that you practice while engaging the curriculum. The under-curriculum supports the curriculum, because if you don\u2019t learn to do the things in the under-curriculum, well, you won\u2019t be able to learn the curriculum very well. And, the curriculum presents challenging texts and ideas that give the under-curriculum a workout \u2013 each text and activity or assignment is like a workout machine at the gym; they exercise your brain in unique ways. It\u2019s also kind of like that category of clothing that most of us wear underneath our other clothes. \u201cUnder where?\u201d you say? Right. Or, if you prefer, think of supporting actresses. Without them the lead actresses can\u2019t do their jobs very well. Football lineman and quarterbacks. I could go on and on.<\/p>\n

What skills do we gain from Honors courses?<\/span><\/h4>\n

In the under-curriculum drawer of this dresser you will find many things, such as:<\/p>\n