Excerpts From 148 Statement

(Following are excerpts from the Soc Rel 148 staff's statement on the course.)

Sectionmen: Most of the sectionmen were included among the course organizers. We feel sectionmen are qualified first because they are experienced and knowledgeable in the issues treated in the course.

Support for the educational philosophy of the course is the second qualification for sectionmen. They must be committed to a discussion directed to the interest of the students in the section. Teaching is a skill which can be developed if one is willing to work hard at it. Most teachers at Harvard are primarily researchers, they teach as a secondary or tertiary part of their occupation. We feel that teaching requires a separate and distinct skill which, while not inconsistent with research, must be separately and carefully developed.

Grades: It has been our consistent feeling that grades often damage the educational value of courses. First, grades can create a feeling among students that they are competing for the attention and approval of the sectionmen...Second...often a student--with or without cause--will write papers and exams which he thinks will "please" the teacher. Finally, we feel that teachers, if they must grade papers, do not respond in the same way as if they were reading critically for ideas and argument. The prospect of grading a paper alters one's perception of it. Therefore, we have decided that the grading system should be substantially separated from the student's performance in the course and from his political ideas.