<p>So, I just visited Columbia, and I may be making the grave mistake of falling in love with a school I will have a terrifically hard time getting into. On the other hand, I might just be in love with a particularly good information session. Which is why I need your help.</p>
<p>I LOVE the idea of a core curriculum (my other current favorite is UChi, home of the most infamous core in the country), and I especially loved the way that our information session person emphasized the way Columbia students "engage" the ideas in all of the texts they study in the Core. I also loved the idea of discussion-heavy classes; I'm really the kind of student that often gets bored if I can't introduce my own ideas and reactions to the subject matter, or at the very least put it into practice (i.e. creative writing or foreign languages).</p>
<p>But, I also want to learn about critical perspectives on works. I don't just want to walk into LitHum and listen to everybody talk about their random opinion (however well supported), although I certainly think there's a place for that. I also want a professor to explain the concept of menus or metis to me as I read the Iliad or the Odyssey. I want to understand how these texts have been generally understood, and determine how that fits or does not fit with how I view the work.</p>
<p>So, my question is twofold: one, in the Core classes, what is the balance between student discussion and professor lecturing\moderation? Second, in all discussion-based classes at Columbia, how much background information and concepts do professors introduce before or during discussion, and if it is relatively little in a given class, is it because students are expected to research this background information for themselves before coming to class?</p>
<p>To anyone who answers, thank you so much for taking the time to respond. (and sorry if this question has already been answered...)</p>
<p>1) purely depends on prof, there's usually a good balance, where the prof talks 1/3 - 1/2 of the time, i've been in a class where the prof talked 1/4 - 1/5 of the time, and it was great, because i really got to argue things out in class, others liked it less. you'll be able to find a prof anywhere on the spectrum, CULPA</a> - Columbia Underground Listing of Professor Ability might help a little.</p>
<p>2)again depends on the prof, i've been in a class when everyclass before introducing the text there was a presentation on the background of the author and the ideas/circumstance that shaped the text, professors will choose how much historical reference to give you / how much you need to find out, it's usually that you read like 5-10 minutes about the author and several hours reading the text. since there is a progression in the Lit hum and CC texts, it'll be obvious where many of the ideas came from. But you can get sections that are more context heavy.</p>
<h1>1 also depends on the people in your class...i was in a particularly shy/uninterested lit hum class (it was an 11am class with a lot of jocks) so the instructor ended up talking more than usual</h1>
<p>From my experience, the kids in class brought up interesting tensions and grappling points within the text and the professor would let us flesh out our arguments until there were things that you simply needed to be taught.</p>
<p>1) About 1/3 to 1/2 of professor-talk is right. The professors often introduce concepts at the start of the class to "frame the discussion", bring people's minds back to the book they read in the last week, etc. And then they will serve as discussion moderators, calling on people, responding to particularly interesting (or particularly weak) points, focusing someone on a thought that's almost right or almost complete, probing and bouncing ideas off people.</p>
<p>By and large, the students (at least the 80-90% who do the reading/homework each week) will come with ideas of their own. They'll feel strongly about the symbolism of this or the importance of that, and it'll take on a life of its own such that sometimes, the professor hardly needs to say anything.</p>
<p>2) In UW / lit hum / CC type classes, the professor will start out with a framework for understanding the author's ideas, or view on the world. (usually, not always). This can take the form of discussing their contemporary political or economic situation, Montaigne's health, Foucault's career, etc. They may take a few minutes to recap the major events of the book or a key portion of it, or survey students in a round-table format asking for something like each person's description of the most important theme or point of the novel.</p>
<p>The professor wants you to get certain key ideas or concepts out of the discussion, for use on the Final or just because that's accepted knowledge or viewpoint on the matter. So whatever they have in mind, they will usually push the conversation towards those points, gently, until they've been covered.</p>