POS. 204l                       U.S. Government              Tom Byrnes        

Theory, organization, principles, and functions of national government, stressing relationships of individual to all levels of government in the political system.  This course includes a learning activity designed to ensure competence in the basic use of computers.  

General description: This course has been carefully designed to be of practical use to you. We will work directly on skill acquisition.  It is my belief that the most important virtue of an educated citizen is the ability to think critically about political issues. Details tend to slide out of our minds quickly. Skills and concepts do not. You will gain a substantial understanding of the United States political system in this course, but there will also be a significant emphasis on skill mastery, in particular, that of critical thinking.

When you finish this class you will have a much better idea of how the current U.S. national government works, and how it was originally designed to work by those who wrote the Constitution. You will have a better grasp of the rights you possess by virtue of living in this country and you will be better informed of the political challenges and controversies facing the USA at this time.  

We will begin working on the skill of critical thinking at the start of class and it will be carried through till the end of the course. We will start with readings and discussions and progress rapidly to activities that will enable you to practice critical thinking and receive feedback on your work. The targets of our study will be political issues affecting you and other citizens of this country.    

 Classroom Procedures: There will be little lecture in this class. Class will primarily be thinking/discussion time. You will be given reading assignments and questions to answer or work to do before class. You will be expected to bring in your answers and questions in writing. I will check these almost every day. In class we will go over what you have been assigned. As the teacher, I will do my best to make sure that you understand the material, but you must make the initial effort. I will call on you in class. Be prepared.

You will be expected to read the newspaper, watch, or listen to the news on a daily basis for the duration of this class. The primary purpose of this class is to help you understand the political happenings of today. It is impossible to do this unless you make some effort to inform yourself about current political events. You have the responsibility to come to class with a good question about what is happening politically in the United States. If your family does not receive the Orlando Sentinel now is a good time to order it. It is a good source of news at the state and local level and has decent coverage of national news. I also highly recommend National Public Radio (90.7 FM) for excellent coverage of state, national and international news.  

A simple truth: educated people read. You may get a college education, but if you haven’t developed a habit of reading regularly you will soon be left behind by those who do. There is more to know each day: don’t get left behind. Read. The best source of information about politics is now found on the World Wide Web. Make your opening page a news page. I recommend CNN, but there are many other excellent places for news on the Internet. 

Group work: I have found that small collaborative groups are especially effective in skill acquisition. You can expect to be working in small groups with your classmates with some frequency. 

I utilize semester-long base groups of four, five or six students. You will be working with the same classmates from the first class. The primary purpose of base groups is to provide you with academic and personal support. You will not be dependent on the members of your base group for any type of grades. You will be expected to help each other be successful in this class.

In order to receive a decent grade in this course you will need to set aside one or two hours of quiet study for each hour of class. This will be about 3 to 8 hours per week. You will be given written assignments almost every class. I do this for several reasons, one of which is to make it more probable that you will do well on the tests and the critical thinking evaluations. I have found that students who try to cram for this class often are overwhelmed and end up withdrawing or getting low grades. I want you to succeed. If you do your work as we go along your success is more likely. 

This is a demanding college class. Studies have shown that most students who pass this class graduate from Valencia. I have carefully designed this class so that a student who comes to class and studies will do well even though he or she had little knowledge of U.S. Government to begin with. Students who don’t come to class and don’t study will not pass the course. 

Readings: You must read U.S. Government: A Look Inside by Thomas Byrnes (me). This textbook will provide you with the basic knowledge of our government. You can find an RTF copy of the textbook here. You should be able to read this using any software, but make sure you open your software before you try to open it. You will find a pdf copy of the textbook here. If you want a hard copy of the text I recommend that you take the pdf copy to Kinkos or Office Depot or another similar place and have them run off a copy. They can put it in a folder for you and the cost should be less than $15. If you wish to read the text on your computer I suggest that you download the RTF format. Using this format you can read, underline or mark the text in any way that you wish. Please note that I have verbal summaries of each chapter in Blackboard. Each summary is about 20 minutes long. I suggest you use the verbal summaries to help, but they should not be considered substitutes for reading the chapters carefully.

This course will involve research, and therefore, substantial reading outside of the text.  You will do a critical thinking evaluation of an editorial from three that I have chosen. This evaluation will require substantial research. You can find complete information about the critical thinking assignment here.

Grading Policies: There will be four exams. Each will count as 15% of your grade—totals 60% of the final grade. The final will not be comprehensive; it will cover only the last fourth of the class. The format for the exams will be multiple choice/true and false.

If you take a test late, and have not clarified to me your reasons before the initial exam date, there will be a penalty of five points. Ten points will be subtracted if a second exam is taken late. Students who miss an exam will have a week from the time the original test was taken to take the exam in the testing center. If more than a week goes by there will be a penalty of 10 points. If the makeup test score is 70% or lower, no points will be taken off. Please note that the teacher reserves the right to restore the penalty points in extraordinary situations. The testing center is open from 8AM till 9PM Mondays through Thursdays and from 8AM till 1PM on Fridays and Saturdays. Please note that you must arrive at least an hour before closing to be given an exam.  If you have any doubt about whether or not the testing center is open please call ahead. The testing center is located in building 11-142, 407-582-1323. 

You will be required to do a critical thinking evaluation. This will constitute 30% of your final grade. The evaluation will be typed and will require research using the World Wide Web. You will use three or four data bases that Valencia sponsors and others of your choice. I will grade your evaluations holistically based on a rubric that I will give you on a separate sheet. Online you can find it here. Your evaluation must be typed and should be generally free of language errors.  If you hand your evaluation in late it will lose five points. If it is more than a week late you will lose ten points.

There will be a formal, complete preliminary draft for the evaluation and then a final draft. I will read the preliminary draft carefully and give you specific information about how to improve it. If you do not have the complete preliminary draft in on time you will lose points on your final draft--five points for each part missing, with a maximum of 15pts lost. I will also read your final draft, make comments and give you a grade. All submissions of the evaluations will be done through WebCT. I will provide you with instructions in class on how to do this.

You can access Blackboard here: https://online.valenciacollege.edu/webct/entryPageIns.dowebct  Use your Atlas user name and password.

Please note that Valencia has a writing lab where you can bring in papers or other writing assignments and receive advice. You can call them at 407-582-5454 for hours and location.

The final 10% of your grade will be based on your participation efforts. I will look at one thing principally for this grade--the work you turn in on a daily basis. Please note that work must be shown at the beginning of class. No work will be accepted after the first ten minutes of class. If you are going to be absent you must send in your work with a fellow student or send it to me via email before class to receive credit.  My email address is included below.

Final grades will be 90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, 60-69% = D, below 60 = F.  

 Please note that I use the College policy on Academic Dishonesty (6Hx28:10-16) which states, in part:

"All forms of academic dishonesty are prohibited at Valencia College. Academic dishonesty includes . . . plagiarism . . . alteration or misuse of documents. . . .

"All work submitted by students is expected to be the result of the students’ original thoughts, research and self-expression. Whenever a student uses ideas, wording, or organization from another source, the source shall be appropriately acknowledged. . . .

"Any student determined by the professor to have been guilty of engaging in an act of academic dishonesty shall be liable to a range of academic penalties as determined by the professor which may include, but not be limited to, one or more of the following: loss of credit for an assignment, . . .; a reduction in course grade; or a grade of ‘F’ in the course. . . ."

 If someone is found to be cheating on an exam the normal grade will be a zero for that test. Plagiarism will usually mean a zero on the work that is turned in. As with all policies, I reserve the right to change these policies, but only to benefit a particular student.

 
Extra Credit: Please note that extra credit can be used towards an A, B, C or D, but students must have at least an 85% average on the three examinations to qualify for a final grade of A. 

There are several ways to earn extra credit.  

A.) Do extra critical thinking evaluations of editorials that you select. Please make sure the editorials treat a current topic and are related to political issues.

B.) Do volunteer work in an organization involved with a political or social issue and show me evidence of what you have done. Points will range from 1 to 15 points added to a test score.  

C.) Attendance: If you miss no classes you will earn 4 points in extra credit that will be added on to your final grade. If you end up with a 76% final average, for example, your grade would be changed to 80% or from a C to a B. You will earn 2 points if you miss only one class or a part of one class.  

All extra credit must be handed in two weeks before the final exam.  Again, no student is eligible for an A in this class unless he or she has at least an 85% average on the three exams. 

Class attendance: Roll will be taken every day to fulfill the requirements of the college. Students may be withdrawn if they miss three classes or miss more than one third of the classes. No student will be eligible for an A if he or she misses three or more classes.  

If you are more than ten minutes late it will count as a half absence. Any student who is late for more than half of the classes will be subject to withdrawal for excessive absences. If you do come in late please be sure I have not marked you absent. Do not come up the last day of class and tell me you were never absent.  

Classroom behavior: Please refer to Valencia Policy 10-18 on Student Code of Classroom Conduct to know exactly what is expected of you in class.

I will treat you with respect. I expect the same of you towards me and your classmates. We will all refrain from using inappropriate names or language in our discussions. 

During class discussions it is expected that students pay attention. This means, amongst other things, that you will not be chatting for extensive periods with fellow classmates. Any student who falls asleep will be asked to leave the classroom. Please be on time for classes and do not get up out of your seat during class unless it is an emergency. Turn off your cell phone, or better yet, don't bring it with you.

 If I find your behavior unacceptable I will speak with you. If the behavior continues you will receive written notification one time, anything more than that will require a conference with the dean and possible removal from class. Sorry to sound so harsh, but I have found this notice needs to be made in writing. 

Core Competencies: U.S. Government is part of the general education curriculum and as such is carefully designed to improve the four Valencia Student Core Competencies (Think, Value, Communicate, and Act) that have been identified as basic to preparing students for successful futures. Above we discussed critical thinking. This course will address the other competencies as well.  

Communication skills are important if one wishes to be effective politically or personally. In this class you will study communication skills that apply to political issues and we will use and evaluate those skills in class exercises. By the end of this class I want you to be able to discuss sensitive political topics in such a way that the people listening to you understand your thoughts clearly and are not unnecessarily offended by how you have expressed them. We will also work on your writing skills.

There will be values studied during the semester in an academic sense, including those used by the writers of the U.S. Constitution. We will also examine the beliefs and values of political liberals and conservatives. There are other values, however, that I teach and hope that you will follow. I will not test you on them, but I will do my best to promote them and see that they are practiced in the classroom. Let me be explicit. I value (stress) civility in all of our dealings. By civility I mean toleration of opposing viewpoints, a willingness to listen to ideas we find distasteful or uninformed and avoiding words and expressions of disrespect. Civility, in essence, means we treat each other with respect. There are other common values that almost all of us in academia stress. Theories, values, and beliefs are treated with a questioning eye. Supporting one’s opinions with evidence, research or sound reasoning is a must. Giving credit to those who first stated viewpoints or theories, rather than claiming them as our own, is a basic value. Finally, there is the simple, universal academic value – a respect for knowledge.  

In this class you will not only hear me speak about critical thinking, effective communication skills and academic values, you and I will practice them. In terms of Valencia’s Core Competencies, we will act on them. For a more complete description of the Valencia Student Core Competencies look at this website:  http://valenciacollege.edu/competencies/default.cfm

Student conferences: I will be available to speak with you before and after this class. You may also call me at home: 352-394-0220. Don't feel that you are inconveniencing me by calling, stopping by or sending me an email. You are not an inconvenience.    

My e-mail address is: tbyrnes@valenciacollege.edu   I am online several times daily, so feel free to email me at any time. For research please access my Profs Pics at: http://valencia.cc.fl.us/lrcwest/byrnes.html 

Students with Disabilities: If you have a disability which requires accommodations in this course, please provide me with the proper documentation from Valencia's Office For Students With Disabilities as soon as possible. I am happy to make appropriate adjustments to suit your needs.

Virtual Office Hours: I will be available before and after class to speak with you. Also, you can reach me at home (352-394-0220) Mondays from noon till 2 PM, Wednesdays from 11 AM till 1PM.  If for some reason you can't get me leave a message and I will get back to you soon.  Don't be afraid to speak with me or to set up a time for us to meet.

 I reserve the right to change any of the above policies due to extraordinary circumstances, but only to assist a student.