<p>I am an entering freshman for the class of 2011, and I am undecided on which seminar to take. It is much more important from me to have a great instructor rather than a course material that I am very interested in. I signed up for Sarat’s secrets and lies, just because he was teaching it. However, I am having second thoughts. I am much more interested in, say, Arts of Spain taught by Natasha Staller or say War taught by Czap, Hunt amd sean. I am quite adept in sociology, and all the works listed in Sarat’s course I have already read. That’s why I want to explore new areas but for that, I ask of your recommendation for an instructor. </p>
<p>This is a question for those who had already taken a FY seminar or has done EXTENSIVE research in this area. It would be helpful if you gave some imput</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I took Sarat's Secrets and Lies last semester. I would recommend the course. I'm surprised that you have read all the works listed in his course catalog; I suppose you mean only the books. He mainly uses the course booklet which he gives out on the first day of the class. It contains a bunch of journal and magazine articles about 'secrets and lies' as long as excerpts from some old prints. He'll use that as a primary reading material. So I don't think you'll learn something you already know. And I don't even know exactly what I learned. It was more about the philosophical discussion. I remember always walking out of that class scratching my head because I was so perplexed about what was just said in class. </p>
<p>Thinking back, I don't think I learned a lot of material knowledge, but I did learn a lot about ways to access or analyze the reading material. And that's what FYS are supposed to be about in addition to writing, I suppose.</p>
<p>Rather than the class itself(which was interesting, no less) I would recommend the class just because of the instructor. Sarat has a particular teaching method that i've never seen, and would have enjoyed had I completed all the readings(haha). And personally, I think Secrets and Lies is a better pick to see why there is so much word about Sarat than Social Organization of Law. Having taken both in the same semester, Sarat was much more approachable and understandable in a class of 14 rather than a class of 100. The course is heavy in reading, but most FYS classes are, so you're no better or worse in this area. </p>
<p>So I'd recommend Sarat, but not really for the course-- for the instructor.
(This doesn't mean of course that the course was boring- it was very interesting but I think Sarat made it that way, not the material itself).</p>
<p>I'm also a 2011. From my discussions with others it seems Secrets and Lies was a very popular choice (probably because of Sarat's rep) so I don't know how likely it is you'll get in considering how small they want the FYS to be.</p>
<p>bump...and thanks to the Deanchhsw...what was the grade distribution in sarat's FYS</p>
<p>With ANY Sarat classes, the grade distribution is a big B. One of my classmates said this: There are two curves in a Sarat Class, two curves of a B. Of course there are very few As and A- s, but most of the students receive a B, I'd say about 70~80 percent.</p>