One of the major disadvantages of teaching in a small, liberal-arts college with no political science major is that it is very difficult to move any course above the introductory level. Even courses which are intended for juniors and seniors must include an introductory element since a significant number of the students are not likely to have taken the introductory level classes. It does no good to establish prerequisites since this would only produce some combination of three unpalatable consequences: too many juniors and seniors taking freshman level courses; good students looking for an upper-division elective might be discouraged from taking a political science course; or, a discouragingly small enrollment in the upper-level political science courses.

A way to avoid this problem is to combine basic concepts of political science with advanced material.