Best Humanities Sequence?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>I'm curious about the various areas of the core, and how best to fill those areas.</p>

<p>What is the best humanities sequence? What sequence did you take and how did you enjoy it? What was the reading list? Who/How was the professor?</p>

<p>The University of Chicago Course Catalog gives the following humanities sequences:</p>

<p>HUMA 11000-11100-11200. Readings in World Literature
HUMA 11500-11600-11700. Philosophical Perspectives on the
Humanities
HUMA 12000-12100-12200. Greek Thought and Literature
HUMA 12300-12400-12500. Human Being and Citizen
HUMA 13500-13600-13700. Introduction to Humanities
HUMA 14000-14100-14200. Reading Cultures: Collection, Travel,
Exchange
HUMA 16000-16100-16200. Media Aesthetics: Image, Sound, Text</p>

<p>If you have the time to spare (or just don't want to study for finals), feel free to describe the reading and writing input of each course, and the general feel of classes.</p>

<p>Also, I struggled to find past posts comparing the core courses, so links would be nice and will be added here:</p>

<p>-</p>

2

<p>Also, I noticed that Philosophical Perspectives doesn’t appear under the humanities listing on the time-table. Has it been removed as an option?</p>

<p>In an opposing regard, I’m curious if the “At The Piano” course fulfills either the humanities or DMV requirement. It seems to be an instructive course, which interests me as one who was never in band but always wanted to play and instrument.</p>

3

<p>If a course isn’t listed in the catalog as fulfilling a core requirement, it doesn’t.</p>

<p>I took HBC for my Hum sequence. The first two quarters were fine, but I got an outstanding professor my third quarter who really made the course worthwhile. If you decide to take HBC, definitely try to take Herman Sinaiko’s class. Hum classes will read a lot of the same books - some of the highlights from HBC are The Illiad, Heart of Darkness, Dante’s Inferno, and some Plato dialogues. Readings in World Lit offers choices for the third quarter. My suitemate is taking a class exclusively on modern poetry.</p>

4

<p>Something to point out here and in your other questions-- there is no clear “best” sequence, and “best” might vary, depending on the professor teaching it. Course evaluations ftw here.</p>

5

<p>You missed one of the options – Language and something, a two-quarter only sequence that is linguistics-oriented.</p>

<p>My kid #1 took Reading Cultures. On paper it looked perfect for her (prospective Eng Lit major, very sophisticated, taken college-level courses on literary theory before entering). In practice it was very unsatisfactory, due in part to bad luck/bad chemistry with the teacher, and a bunch of contemptuous econ majors who for some reason had decided to take that class. My kid #2 took HBC. He is well-read but hates literary analysis, would never take a literature class per se voluntarily. He loved it – one of the best classroom experiences of his life, and the highlight of his first year.</p>

<p>A professor no longer at Chicago told me that the traditional Hum sequences – by which he meant HBC, Philosophical Perspectives, and Greek Thought – just worked better than the newer ones. They are road-tested, and the faculty know how to teach them to get the most out of them. On the other hand, a lot of my kids’ friends, especially theater-oriented students, took Media Aesthetics and loved it.</p>

<p>Of course, if you can get a great teacher (and Herman Sinaiko is, by reputation, a great, great teacher), then it doesn’t matter which course it is, go with that. But I sense that getting a great teacher is somewhat luck of the draw – there are lots of sections of the popular courses, and lots of turnover in the faculty teaching them. Grad students and young faculty can be great, by the way – but it’s hard to tell in advance with limited information. (The teacher kid #2 loved was an advanced grad student.) Your odds may be a little better in something like Greek Thought vs. the much more popular HBC.</p>

<p>There is a lot of overlap in the readings across all courses (Plato, Genesis, the Iliad, Dante), although not necessarily in the same order, and there is variation among sections of the same course.</p>

<p>In the end, you will probably do better going in to talk to your advisor with an open mind during O-Week than doing too much planning in advance about Hum sequences.</p>

6

<p>Yep, you missed Language and the Human.</p>

<p>It was a good class… not life changing, but interesting at times.</p>

7

<p>S1 took Greek Thought and Literature (the 3 course sequence) and it almost made him become a classics major. He absolutely loved it, and thought it gave him a firm analytical basis for dealing with subsequent courses across several disciplines.</p>

8

<p>S1 (math major) took HBC this year. Loved all three quarters and has had the same advanced grad student for the past two quarters. (The university who hired her after she graduates this spring will be very fortunate!) He checked course evals and talked to folks who had taken HUM sequences to get advice. O-Week staff were VERY helpful in this regard. These courses were a big part of why he chose Chicago, and so far, he has not been disappointed.</p>

<p>He is planning on Social and Political Thought for next year.</p>

9

<p>To JHS and CountingDown:</p>

<p>Your direct and indirect suggestions to wait until O-Week to make my final decisions (or, more broadly, to avoid pre-planning my four-years over the first summer) has been heard and taken to heart.</p>

10

<p>I took Greek Thought and Literature, and I thought it was amazing. This was probably in part due to the fact that my teachers were awesome, though. In fact, I’m thinking of taking Latin and Greek in my 3rd and 4th years for fun now.</p>

11

<p>lasermouse9,
I think poring through the college catalog is a fine way to spend a summer (BTDT)! It can help you develop a road map as to what courses/sequences you’re interested in taking and as long as you recognize that there may be some unexpected detours, it’s all good!</p>

<p>IIRC, you’ll get access to course evals once you get your C-NET ID, which I believe was in August last year.</p>

12

<p>I’m very excited about taking detour courses. I look at courses in Linguistic and Near East Languages, and know I’ll never use them professionally, but I still want to take them, simply in the interest of a liberal education.</p>

13

<p>It is harder to go wrong with HUM sequences, but try to avoid untested faculty. Since these courses go over iconic texts, they have both old gaurd profs and recent hires teaching them. Certainly avoid settling for a graduate student. You are paying UChicago tuition, so take advantage of the full time faculty.</p>

14

<p>Glad to hear that the HUM Writing sequence is not its own credit. There are too many enticing classes already to fill three of them with a required writing seminar, I feel.</p>

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<p>Your point is reasonable, but I think Post #5 by JHS and Post #8 by CountingDown, anecdotes though they may be, indicate that this generalization isn’t necessarily accurate. Coming into my first year, I expect to approach courses taught by seasoned faculty with more confidence–because they must still be teaching for a reason–but grad students, in the right conditions, seem to be just as likely to be strong, engaging teachers. The two situations mentioned above are encouraging evidence in that regard.</p>

<p>I’ll be talking to my advisor during O-week and afterward, looking forward to any courses I can take at Chicago. The excitement (and related marks, asterisks, and underscores in the catalog) grows!</p>

15

<p>To reassure some of you: S1’s first quarter HUM teacher was also a PhD student (I think this person may graduate this year as well, but simply don’t know). The first time S got a paper back from her, he also received a full page of typed comments full of praise and constructive criticism. S emailed it to me because he has NEVER had a teacher critique his writing in such a way, and it was exactly what he had hoped to experience.</p>

<p>Another thing S has found this year is that what is listed as the same class may have a variety of flavors depending on who is teaching it. This reflects the background and research interests of the instructor or prof. The course catalog delineates this for the Bio classes, and had he paid more attention, S would have chosen a different section of Core Bio more in line with his interests and background. One of S’s HUM teachers is a linguist; the other a classicist. Different perspectives, all good.</p>

16

<p>I’m an incoming freshman but I took the first quarter of Philosophical Perspectives on the Humanities three summers ago. For what’s it’s worth, that one was just basically a lot of Plato and Sophocles. I guess what distinguishes it would be the nature of the paper topics, which were more philosophical: the rationality of fearing death, the rationality of not wanting knowledge (Oedipus), what is love (Symposium). Lots of reading, as all of these probably are. The professor did give us the option of writing a dialogue as opposed to a formal essay for a lot of them, but he’s at Johns Hopkins now, so I guess the specifics of the prof himself aren’t relevant anymore. The course material was engaging though.</p>

17

<p>Language & the Human. Best Hum sequence.</p>

18

<p>The negative of taking a graduate student is that you cannot later use them for graduate school recommendations. I bring this up because a lot of pre-med / law / MBA students utilize profs from the core who they had for 2-3 terms, which allows for the establishment of considerable rapport.</p>

19

<p>That’s a good point, alum. I hadn’t considered the continuing relationship, especially concerning graduate school. That might be something to consider.</p>

<p>For me, the most important thing is trying new things and surprising myself with the results. I’m hoping to learn a lot in that area alone–then the classes will start!</p>

20

<p>
[QUOTE=Cosmos]

Language & the Human. Best Hum sequence.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That’s the course that most draws me at the moment. It seems to focus on linguistics, which I’m considering as a minor or even a major. Why do you say it’s the best? The material, your interests, the teacher you had?</p>