2010-2011 Academic Catalog

Jan 02, 2025

2010-2011 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ENG 104 - To the Woods: Walden Today

Type of Course: First-Year Seminar

In a workshop setting, students will read WALDEN, other selections by Henry David Thoreau including “On Civil Disobedience,” and some related contemporary writings such as “The Monkey Wrench Gang” by Edward Abbey, “The Survival of the Bark Canoe” by John McPhee, “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson, “Walden Two” by B. F. Skinner, and “Last Child in the Woods” by Richard Louv. The class will take a field trip to Walden Pond. Class discussions, exercises and weekly reflective essays will focus on understanding and analyzing the writings in their own context and on applying their perceptions and values to contemporary American concerns and issues such as self-reliance, solitude, our connections with nature, and the individual’s relationship with government. The final term paper will allow students to use WALDEN and the other writings as windows into issues in disciplines of particular interest to them, including politics, religion, economics, science, art, literature, psychology and philosophy. Fulfills the Verbal Expression requirement. You must be placed at the verbal-expression level to be admitted into this seminar.

Instructor: Staff

When Offered: Offered annually

Faculty: TBA