|
as some of you may know, i recently started teaching at a community college after having been in the human service field for over fifteen years. i don't have data for our school on the # of students that go on and pursue a major in sociology from a four year college, but i am thinking it is not a very high percentage.
with that in mind, and with the thought in mind that, i suspect in many cases, soc is a required course for (or at least an elective among a menu of required courses) many students, many of whom will NOT pursue a degree specifically in soc, i started wondering i should frame my instruction from a "how you can use sociology in your daily life" kind of perspective as oppopsed to a more "traditional" perspective (learn and regurgitate)? if the majority of my students are NOT going to get a soc degree (and i realize that this is a generalization based on no empirical data), then wouldn't I want to, in the very least, demonstrate how sociology is relevant in all that they do? as opposed to saving discussions of soc applications only for those students who are "serious" (i.e., pursuing a degree in soc) about the discipline? in other words, this might be my only shot with them, so why not make it an applied one?
note that I think the notion of "public sociology" would fit my definition of applied. I say, "I think" because i need to do more reading on what constitutes public sociology.
john
John E. Glass, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology Colin County Community College Preston Ridge Campus 9700 Wade Boulevard Frisco, TX 75035 +1-972-377-1622 [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us." Marianne Williamson
|
