Category Archives: hist 102 (Spring 2011)

Reminder: Sunflower

Don’t forget that you’re required to read part 1 of Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower:On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness before April 18th, and to come to my office (RH 406F) to discuss it. One of the take-home essays will be on this reading. Part 2 is optional, though I don’t know anyone who’s ever read just part 1.

A note of caution: it is a vivid tale of the experience of the Holocaust. It is not easy reading.

Test 3 and Doc Assignment 3 Grades

On the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen assignment, I gave grades and plus grades (A+, A, B+, B, etc.) Here’s how the grade scale worked out, approximately:

Grade Level distribution
A 5%
B 20%
C 50%
D 20%
F 5%

On the test, I gave plus and minus grades (A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc) which translate into a 100 point scale in my gradebook (100, 96, 92, 88, 85, 82, etc., down to 58, 55, 50 for F-level). The high score in the class was 49 out of a possible 49, not counting extra credit, and I used a slightly extended scale for grades (if you’re not sure whether that helped you, just double your raw score to get your percentage score before the adjustment). The median score was C/C+, meaning that about as many people got above a C+ or above as a C or below; the average score was a solid C as well. The extra credit was worth up to 5 points: about a quarter of the people who attempted extra credit got no benefit; over half went up one grade level (B to B+, etc.), about a sixth went up two grade levels (B- to B+, etc.). Here’s how the grade scale worked out:

Grade minimum points distribution
A+ 49
A 45 15%
A- 43
B+ 41
B 39 25%
B- 37
C+ 35
C 33 25%
C- 31
D+ 29
D 27 25%
D- 25
F+ 23
F Below 23 10%

On a related note, I realized that my grading scale for the previous tests was based more on my experience with essay and short-answer tests than multiple choice tests. I’ve adjusted the grades on previous tests to compensate: B-level grades added a point; C-level grades 2 points; D-level grades 3 points; F-level grades 4 points. So your average may be a little higher than you think.

Some thoughts on the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen

In no particular order

  • Context/Author: most people mentioned either the Declaration of Independence (and sometimes the English Bill of Rights) or the Enlightenment (Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu), but almost nobody mentioned both. Similarly, many of you mentioned Lafayette’s American sojourn but ignored the fact that he was an educated Frenchman to begin with, well-versed in philosophe writings.
  • Responses: The United States did, generally, welcome the Declaration, but it also reacted very badly to the radical turn of the Revolution, eventually passing the Alien and Sedition acts to criminalize revolutionary positions and restrict French immigration. The Haiti slave revolts were very worrying to the plantation states as well. But buying the Louisiana Territory when Napoleon needed cash to try to put down the Haitian revolt was a good deal.
  • Historical Use: Similarly, very few people noted that the Declaration was only operative for a few years, though the principles it establishes do influence later French governments. The effect of the Declaration was both minimal in the short term and extraordinary in the long term. History’s a funny thing, sometimes.
  • I’m still writing “weak paraphrase” on too many papers. Summarizing or condensing primary sources is a challenge sometimes: the temptation to quote extensively is strong. If you’re not using exact quotes with quotation marks, though, what you write needs to be your words, not a slightly modified version of the words you read.

Don’t forget: the document assignment for Japan’s Meiji Constitution is due Monday the 28th.

Hope you’re having a fun and productive break!

Extra Credit: Insider History of NASA Manned Missions

Event: Joint Science/Technology Colloquium
Date: March 17, 2011
Time 2 pm
Place: Room 102, Yates Hall
Title: A BRIEF HISTORY OF NASA MANNED SPACEFLIGHT An Insider’s Viewpoint
Presenter: Alan Glines, former NASA employee in the Apollo Integrated Communications Office
As one of the original men of Apollo Mission Control Alan’s background covers many years of the evolution of manned space flight beginning with the two-man Gemini Project. He graduated from the University of Kansas in Electrical Engineering in 1966 and joined NASA in the area of spacecraft operations at their new Space Center in Houston in 1966. He rose to a primary position in the main control room by the time of the Apollo lunar landings. Insider stories of the key Apollo lunar landing missions will be detailed in this presentation as well as the Apollo 13 failure and recovery. Alan was cast in the first movie on Apollo 13 when Hollywood used the NASA control rooms for the filming back in 1971. Tom Hanks’ movie on Apollo 13 came later. Alan recently published a book entitled: A KANSAN CONQUERS THE COSMOS or “Spaced out all my life!”
Please come and listen the fascinating stories from the past of the US Space Program!

Extra Credit: Kansas Supreme Court Justices

On March 14, two justices from the Kansas Court of Appeals will be giving a public lecture on the principles of law at Pittsburg State University.  The Honorable Richard D. Green, Chief Justice, and the Honorable Karen Arnold-Burger will be presenting their lecture at 10:00 A.M. in the Governor’s Room of the Student Union.  The justices will also be available after the lecture to meet with students interested in careers in law.
Contact dbsamson@pittstate.edu for more information.

Extra Credit: Food and Culture Fair

Event: Food & Culture Fair
Date: Saturday, March 12th
Time: 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.
Place: Memorial Auditorium
503 N. Pine
Pittsburg, KS

Where can you eat your way around the world in one evening? The International Food and Culture Fair! PSU International students will offer tastes from their native cuisines as well as performances of music and dance. Students, faculty/staff and the community are invited!

The Food & Culture Fair is an event hosted by the International Student Association every spring in which other international organizations prepare food from their home countries to sell. Throughout the event, performances take place as well. Organizations participating: Chinese Culture Club, Black Student Association, Brazilian Student Association, African Student Association, Paraguayan Student Association, Saudi Arabian Student Association, Indian Student Association, Korean Student Association,HRD Club, French Club, Hispanics of Today & others.

Cost: General admission is $1 (Free admission with PSU Student ID; Children under 12 free). Tickets for food purchased separately. Tickets available at the door.

For more information, please contact:

Meron Garedew
President of ISA
merontgaredew@gmail.com
Sandy Huang
Vice President of ISA
yushanhuang@gus.pittstate.edu
(620) 704-1613

Extra Credit Opportunity: Democracy and Revolution in the Middle East

The Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences and the  The International Studies Program Proudly Present “Democracy and Revolution in the Middle East,” a Faculty Roundtable Discussion. Thursday, March 10, 3:00-4:30 p.m. Governors Room, Overman Student Center, PSU. Faculty, students, and community welcome. Discussion open to floor

The faculty panelists will be:

  • Steve Harmon (History), Egypt, Algeria if applicable
  • Paul Zagorski (Political Science), Libya, Tunisia
  • Kahmis Siam (Chemistry), Palestine, Syria
  • Maj. George Johnson (Military Science, History), Emirates, Saudi if applicable

As usual, extra credit requires writing a 1-2 page summary and reaction paper.

Some thoughts on Document Assignments

In no particular order:

  • Be careful about using the language of historical documents.
    • Careful paraphrasing makes it clear that you understand the material in a way that shallow paraphrasing does not.
    • Be careful not to copy the bad habits, slurs and errors of your sources: e.g. “papist”
  • The textbook is an excellent source of historical context, both prior background and responses. You shouldn’t be guessing until you’ve at least examined what the book has to say.
    • However, you also need to show me that you’ve read the document, not just the textbook, by engaging it in some detail.
  • Two points on writing and structure:
    • As I said before, the questions in the assignment sheet are guidance, and if they’re not relevant or you don’t understand them, don’t try to answer them.
    • Take a minute or two after writing to think about whether you’ve got the material in the right sections. Don’t shift things around to make the sections look balanced: put the relevant material where I am supposed to find it.

Finally, I’m only getting document assignments from about half of you. Why? It’s not really that hard of an assignment: read something, summarize it, read the textbook to see where it fits in the history, and think about it a little. I’m not saying that doing it well is easy, but at least do it: these documents will show up on tests, and will also be required for the final exam take-home essays. If you’ve been reading them all along, you’ll have a much better sense of what it all means at the end.

Test 2 and Doc Assignment 2 Grades

On the Bill of Rights assignment, I gave grades and plus grades (A+, A, B+, B, etc.) Here’s how the grade scale worked out, approximately:

Grade Level distribution
A 10%
B 15%
C 28%
D 25%
F 22%

On the test, I gave plus and minus grades (A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc) which translate into a 100 point scale in my gradebook (100, 96, 92, 88, 85, 82, etc., down to 58, 55, 50 for F-level). The high score in the class was 49 out of a possible 49, not counting extra credit, so for mercy’s sake I used 48 as the 100% mark (if you’re not sure whether that helped you, just double your raw score to get your percentage score before the adjustment). The median score was roughly C-, meaning that about as many people got above a C- or above as a C- or below; the average score was a solid C- as well. The extra credit was worth up to 5⅔ points (thanks to my error): About quarter of the people who attempted extra credit got no benefit (mostly people in F-range); about a quarter went up one grade level (B to B+, etc.), about a quarter went up two grade levels (B- to B+, etc.), and about a sixth went up three grade levels (C+ to B+, etc.; One person hit the sweet spot, and actually went up four (e.g. C to B+). Here’s how the grade scale worked out:

Grade minimum points distribution
A+ 48
A 45.5 15%
A- 43
B+ 41⅓
B 39⅔ 20%
B- 38
C+ 36⅓
C 34⅔ 20%
C- 33
D+ 31⅓
D 29⅔ 12%
D- 28
F+ 26
F Below 26 33%

This is a better result than last time, but still disappointing at the low end. I’m open to suggestions as to more effective ways to review material, study methods, etc.

Extra Credit: The Yellow Rose of Suffrage

Please join Pittsburg State University for the tenth annual Profiles of Women in Government Lecture Series featuring Author, Actress, Designer, and Director Jane Cox
“The Yellow Rose of Suffrage”
Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 11 a.m. McCray Recital Hall, Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas
reception to follow
presented by Pittsburg State University and the PSU Foundation, Inc., through the generous support of the Helen S. Boylan Foundation

As always, extra credit requires attendance and writing a 1-2 page summary/reaction paper.