Tags
GC
Admissions requirements
None, but for Semester 1 of 2015-2016, only second- and third-year students are eligible. First-year students may take the Community Project as an extra course in Semester 2.
There are only 20 places in this course. In case of oversubscription, a selection will be made based on students’ availability and statements of interest. For more information, see http://engagethehague.nl/community-project/.
Pre-registration
Because we need to arrange for placement in the schools, pre-registration is required for this course. Visit http://engagethehague.nl/register for more details, and to sign up.
Description
In this course we’ll learn about the promises and challenges of multicultural education—both in theory and in practice, right here in the city of The Hague.
In our own LUC classroom, we’ll raise a number of interrelated questions. What does it mean to be an educated person? What are—or should be—the purposes of education in a democratic society? How do schools subvert or reinforce existing societal inequalities? And what kinds of challenges and opportunities arise when students come together from a wide variety of social, economic, or linguistic backgrounds?
We’ll seek answers to these questions by reading and reflecting upon philosophical, historical, and ethnographic texts. We will also welcome visiting speakers—scholars, educators, and policymakers—who will share their knowledge about educational practice in the Netherlands. Through readings and discussion, we’ll deepen our understanding and place the contemporary Dutch experience in a broader comparative perspective.
In addition to reading and theorizing about multicultural education, we will also experience it first-hand. For approximately 3 hours each week, students will serve as tutors or teachers’ assistants in local secondary schools. Here students will have the opportunity to connect their academic knowledge to real-life, everyday practice—while providing valuable assistance to our neighbors in The Hague.
Course objectives
The broadest goal of this course is to help LUC students practice engaged, informed, meaningful citizenship in the community in which they live. In addition to learning about multicultural education, it is my expectation that students will come to better understand the City of The Hague—including its history, neighborhoods, governing structures, and communities—and feel that they themselves form an integral part of it.
By successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
speak in an informed way about educational theory and practice, linking academic work with the lived reality of teachers, students, and policymakers;
compare and contrast the challenges facing students and educators in different neighborhoods of The Hague, and to place these stories in a broader historical and comparative framework;
reflect in a critical, self-aware manner upon their own beliefs concerning multiculturalism and education, and to understand how individuals’ beliefs and experiences shape the way they move through and contribute to diverse social settings;
recognize human diversity as a point of departure for serious learning, and not as an explanation or recipe for failure.
Timetable
Once available, timetables will be published here.
Mode of instruction
Class will meet once a week, on Wednesdays from 11:00 to 14:00. This three-hour session will help us accommodate both discussion of assigned readings as well as visits from invited speakers. When we host a visiting speaker, lunch will be served. On other days, we may not use the entire three-hour session.
Each student will serve one service shift per week. The total amount of service hours will amount to about 35-40 hours over the semester, normally 2-4 hours per week. (Knowledge of Dutch is not necessary for the course, but working in local schools will be a great way to help one learn it!) See the form at Engage The Hague for full scheduling details.
In addition to class meetings, assigned readings, and service, students will write informal response papers, a short reflective essay, and conduct individual, independent research on a topic related to the course, resulting in a final project of 3500 words.
Assessment
Students will not be able to pass the Community Project course without fulfilling their agreed-upon service obligations, as confirmed by the partner school.
The final letter grade of the 10EC course will be determined by students’ performance on the following academic assessments:
Active class participation. (20%)
Weekly, informal reflection papers of ~300-400 words. (20%)
A short, formal essay of ~2000 words. (20%)
A longer, formal research essay of ~3500 words. (40%)
At the end of the semester, students will have an opportunity to present the results of their research essays at a public Community Engagement event hosted by LUC.
Blackboard
There will be a Blackboard site available for this course. Students will be enrolled at least one week before the start of classes.
Reading list
TBA via Blackboard.
Registration
This course is open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Registration is coordinated by the Curriculum Coordinator. Interested non-LUC students should contact course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact
Dr. Ann Wilson, a.m.wilson@luc.leidenuniv.nl.