Stockton: A Good City?
This course will focus on what makes a city a good society by examining Stockton, California. The course builds on two PACS I themes: family and civil society and politics, law, and citizenship. Participants will work together on a city guide for Stockton that will contain an analysis of the city's economy, cultural life, government, and social groups. The class will interview key city leaders, review city documents, and investigate city sites. Readings and discussion will cover the experience of benchmark cities against which Stockton may wish to measure its success. Students will be required to read the Stockton Record daily.
More specifically, participants will asked to digest four book-length studies which focus on what makes a city successful. Each book will be discussed during four class sessions and participants will be asked to write a short (3-page) essay identifying the benchmarks for a good city that each author implies.
In addition, the class will be subdivided into four work groups. Each group will be responsible for assembling a draft guide to Stockton's government, economy, culture, or social life. Once assembled, the draft will be presented orally to the class for evaluation and critique. At the same time each member of the team will be asked to submit a draft forward or afterword to the section on which they are working. It should be no longer than seven pages in length and must include citations to key materials describing Stockton. The purpose of the essay is to evaluate Stockton in terms of the benchmarks generated from those readings assigned earlier in the class.
Following the critique, the groups will prepare final drafts of their sections and individuals will polish their forwards or afterwards. These will be submitted at the end of the class in oral and written form at which time the guide will be assembled. The final examination, in the form of a take-home assignment, will be an evaluation of five to seven pages of the guide as a whole.
