MCWP 125 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS - FALL 2008

• All students with more than 90 cumulative units need to obtain departmental authorization from the Muir Writing office before enrolling in MCWP courses.
• IMPORTANT NOTE: Students on the waitlist who do not attend the first class meeting of Muir Writing will be considered NOT ELIGIBLE TO ENROLL in the course. Enrolled students who miss the first two class sessions will be asked to drop the course. Responsibility for dropping the class from the Registrar’s records belongs solely to the student.
  
  The reading and writing requirements are the same for all sections. Books for each section will be available at Groundwork Books (858-452-9625) in the Old Student Center. Course readers will be sold at the UCSD Bookstore, located in the Price Center.

-FALL 2008-

Culture, Class, and (Eco-) Consumption

Concern for the environment used to lead primarily to a resistance to consumption. Today the situation is quite different: we are told that to take care of the environment, instead of buying less, we need to buy more of the right—read "green"—products. In addition, consumption is tied up with class expectations and aspirations. "Conspicuous consumption" can play a large part in the choices we make about everything from entertainment and food to cars and clothes. Now green marketing efforts have tapped this impulse to show up our neighbors, a greener-than-thou attitude, if you will. This situation puts people in a perplexing position: am I being responsible by using this product or am I being duped by a marketing machine concerned more with loss of consumers than the environment? In this course we will explore this contradiction through reading a variety of sources and researching your own argument on this expansive topic.

Texts:
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan; The Craft of Research, 3rd Edition by Booth, et al; and a photocopied reader

Issues in Higher Education

Education – it’s the reason you’re here, yet it’s the subject you’re least likely to discuss in the midst of studying for exams and preparing for life after college. What sort of factors affect and shape your education? In this course, we will examine articles and essays focusing on topics related to higher education, from financial aid and the college ranking system to the increased corporatization of the university and the application of newer technologies to the classroom. Our readings and our discussions of these different topics will lead to a 12-14-page final research paper focusing on an original argument about some aspect of the higher education system and its impact upon the value and meaning of your time here at UCSD.

Text:
The Craft of Research, 3rd Edition by Booth, et al; and a photocopied reader