The final assignment for this semester involves a final essay (50 pts.)

Through Time Warps 109 you were offered an opportunity to begin to intentionally claim your liberal college education through an interdisciplinary course with a focus on the contemporary U.S. culture of time. 

With some introductory chapters and a look at a couple of websites, we began with an exploration of a variety of types of time and a number of angles and topic through which one can study time.  After considering some of the natural basis for time, we talked about defining moments, a way of marking and organizing time, through the example of September 11, 2001.  We then talked about the technological history of time measurement that led to and through the development of the mechanical clock.  We next began our look at the culture of time in the context of modernity.  With all this introductory knowledge, we paused to consider the U.S. education system, its time and efficiencies, and discussed our current and potential individual approaches to education.  We then engaged our analytical framework as the foundations for our exploration of the contemporary U.S. culture of time: CLOCKS: Culture, Longitude, Open, Critical, Kind Solutions.  The rest of the semester drew from our primary books to explicate some of the key factors of that have and do shape our experience of time in the United States.

One primary objective of the course is to help prepare you for your college educational experience. We periodically reviewed some of the mechanics of the college environment, such as advising, core requirements, dropping courses, student government, etc., and worked to get you involved in the campus environment—notably through the out-of-class enrichment opportunity.  And we initiated a discussion and reflection about claiming your education while you attend the University of Idaho and in your lifelong learning through curiosity, engagement and critical thinking. 

The other primary objective is to cultivate a complex understanding of the culture of time in the United States and a critical reflection upon its effects on your self, our society, and our global environment.  The CLOCKS model provides the guide to this understanding.  We treated our experience of time as a culturally constructed phenomenon and ourselves as both products of and agents within that construction.  Cross-cultural examples often provided comparative perspective on time cultures and possibilities.  To better understand the construction process and how the past shapes present experience, we explored the longitudinal context of our culture of time through historical factors and by looking at the culturally specific shifting nature of the ideas and meanings of time.  A review of the technological developments of time measurement and organization assisted this longitudinal understanding, with a focus on the development and implementation of the mechanical clock, calendars and schedules and an emphasis on the industrial revolution and the development and time-related effects of capitalism. 

Through this exploration, I asked you to keep an open and curious mind and to entertain a critical perspective toward understanding the U.S. culture of time and your experience with it.  The critical perspective played out in at least two ways.  First, critical thinking involves the curiosity to engage a variety of novel perspectives, the ability to consider them with attention to evidence and argument, and the capacity to reflect upon their implications for our own daily experience and for our society in general.   Secondly, the critical perspective involves an attention to power distribution, inequalities, and the effects of our culture of time.  In other words, this form of critical thinking sets our culture of time in a context of power and seriously considers the ways in which a culture of time both enhances and detracts from the human experience.  The aim is to critically consider how our culture of time could be reshaped or adapted to better serve the present and long-term human interests we share—the search for kind solutions.

I want you to leave this course with an awareness of what claiming your education entails and a capacity for critical thinking which you can build upon through the course of your life, apply to a complex understanding of our contemporary culture of time, and engage in a reflection of your own culturally-shaped experience.  This capacity, it is my hope, will allow you to be better citizens and lead more satisfactory and informed lives.

This final essay is an opportunity for students to reflect on what they have learned in this course, reflect on our culture of time, and reflect on themselves as products of our culture of time, increasingly “critical” “products.”  In this essay, students should:

FIRST, write an overview of the current culture of time in the United States complete with a discussion of some significant historical precursors or developments that shaped it.  This overview must be based on readings and class discussions AND include specific references, with citations, to those readings and discussions.  In other words, the overview must be supported with information, examples, ideas from readings and discussions.  However, this part of the essay should not simply review the readings—it should synthesize key ideas and themes drawing from readings and discussions.   Students should explain the course approach to understanding that culture of time—the CLOCKS approach (CULTURE, LONGITUDE, OPEN, CRITICAL, KIND SOLUTIONS), with some relevant examples, as part of this first section. 

SECOND, write a coherent explanation of their reflections, thoughts and comments about what they found most interesting about this culture of time and why, how it affects them on a daily basis (their experience of time), its role in the formation of their self (how it has shaped who they are), and what implications this culture of time has for their future and the future of society in the United States (or the global arena).  Finally, students should explain a little about what they think they can do to address any problems stemming from this culture of time.

Both sections of this essay are somewhat open-ended because we covered a lot of information, perspectives and topics in this course, and I obviously don’t expect the essay to cover everything.  However, the essay should display a broad coverage of time as well as specific points.  The process of the essay is as important a learning tool as the essay itself.  Students must identify key ideas, select information personally meaningful and find corresponding references while they develop personal reflections and ideas.  They must organize, synthesize and communicate this information though a coherent essay form that gives a sufficient overview of time to provide a context for their thoughts.

I am most concerned with what students have thought about and are thinking about as it relates to the course themes.  Students should feel free to expound upon any of the class discussions or any topic explored in class.  However, they should demonstrate their understanding of the culture of time, their ability for critical thinking, and what they think is most important to have learned about TIME.  While the focus is open-ended, they essay should have a reasonable structure and be coherent.  In other words, this is not a stream-of-consciousness assignment, and students should edit and revise their essays after they write the first draft.  As students are free to explore in their essay, I primarily want to see that they have engaged the course material in a way that has helped them realize its relevance to their lives. 

The length of the essay is also open-ended, but, as a rough guide, students should have around two single-spaced pages describing the U.S. culture of time and the CLOCKS approach, and then at least two pages of their coherent reflections.  Good luck.