As everyone who has taught a course on international politics can readily attest, there are few events which evoke as strong a reaction from students as does a major surprise. Surprise leaves a deep imprint upon the student, generating two simultaneous reactions which push the student in opposite directions. On the one hand, the student is impressed by the range of what can be accomplished by a skillfully undertaken course of action. At least for the moment, world politics no longer appears to him or her as an arena beset by problems totally without solutions. The strongly held desire of most students to believe that insight and vision can solve problems is reaffirmed.

Surprise also produced a second reaction. Depending upon whether the event is perceived favorably or not, student reaction ranges from moral outrage, to puzzlement, to disbelief or exhilaration.

Debates persist about the use of case studies as a research methodology, but regardless of how that issue is resolved, the judicious use of case studies as a teaching instrument can be very effective. The controversy over tax exemptions for private schools which discriminate on the basis of race serves as one example. Questions about theory, political institutions, and substantive policy issues abound, and the timeliness and sensitivity of the issue make for a stimulating study of American government and public policy.

On January 8, 1982, the Reagan Administration announced that private schools which discriminate on the basis of race would no longer be denied tax-exempt status. The Administration defended this policy change as an effort to prevent bureaucrats from making policy in the absence of specific guidance from Congress.

In the Summer 1982 issue of NEWS, W. Rick Johnson in an article entitled "Some Strategies for Teaching Students Critical Thinking" delved into a subject which has often bedeviled those of us who have ever taught political science to undergraduates. Like Johnson, I found that the basic exam/term paper format is inadequate and needs to be expanded upon to excite the average student about politics and get him thinking critically and independently.

Between 1979 and 1982, I taught five semesters of a core course in politics and government to second year cadets at the United States Military Academy (USMA), four of which were for regular course students and one at a more advanced level. The other semester I taught an elective in comparative political systems and an evening colloquium series on intelligence and public policy. At that institution I found I needed to search for an even more effective tool to spark student interest due to a couple of institutional constraints not faced by instructors at civilian colleges. First of all, only recently has West Point begun to institute a major's program.

A recent grant from the National Office of Pi Sigma Alpha gave us the opportunity to provide students with an extra-curricular writing experience that proved rewarding for all involved. The honorary's Committee on Chapter Activities funded a project jointly conceived by chapters at Miami and Purdue Universities during the 1981-82 academic year.

The project consisted of a research essay contest with a cash prize awarded to the winning paper authors. Three teams of two students each were chosen from both chapters to write papers and to present them at a joint meeting. Specifically, the three “teams” from Miami were asked to write on the following topics:

1.The Reagan Administration seems committed to a lessened role for the federal government and a stronger role for the state governments in determining and implementing public policies.

Not satisfied with existing approaches to teaching American government, the two authors volunteered to participate in an experiment applying the learning theories of Piaget.

What follows is a short explanation of a few selected theories by Piaget, as a forerunner to demonstrating how the noted psychologist's ideas relate to the teaching of American politics. A learning model is then described. Two sample units of this approach to teaching the introductory course on American government are discussed in some detail. Before concluding with a little background on the federal grant involved, there is a section on the advantages and disadvantages of this method for the college instructors as well as their students.

A recent newspaper article discussing future trends in higher education noted that by 1990 college graduates were likely to have had some “hands-on” experience with computers regardless of their chosen course of study, including the humanities. Nowhere is the impact of the technotronic society more visible than on the college campus today. Computer centers can now be found even at small, traditional liberal arts colleges. Computer manuals are becoming the equivalent of collegiate dictionaries.

As it becomes increasingly apparent, even to the anti-technotronic segment of the academic community, that the development and expansion of computer usage is unlikely to wane, the dialogue about the role of the computer on campus is shifting.

At the APSA Convention in New York in 1981, the Presidency Research Group ran a very successful panel on “Teaching the American Presidency.” Those in attendance all were convinced that they gained useful insights into their own teaching by sharing experiences with others. In hopes of achieving the same goal, the Legislative Studies Group organized a similar panel of the 1982 meeting. This brief article served as background for the panel.

Our panel is “similar,” not “parallel.“ Those in the Presidency Research Group nearly all teach courses on the American Presidency, not on chief executives. The teaching and research interests of our group are more diverse. Some of us concentrate on the United States Congress, others on the Congress and the various state legislatures, still others on the Congress and the various state legislatures, still others on comparative legislatures. The discussants on our panel were all authors of leading texts on the Congress; however, because of the interests of members of the group, this article discusses comparative legislature courses as well.

The terms “politics” and “literature” are both “essentially-contestable“ concepts. “Politics” can mean political practice, political ideas or the study of politics; “literature” can mean the writing of books, the content of those books or the reading of them. “Politics and literature” is often taken to be synonymous with “political literature,” but different usages of “politics” and “literature” will produce other connections. Much of the work in “politics and literature” hitherto has been of a sociological nature. Less interest has been shown in the distinctively political aspects of the possible relationships between the study of politics — political thought in the widest sense — and the content of literature.

No methodology has yet been developed, in Literary Studies or Political Science, for the explication and understanding of these connections. The sociology of literature, however, provides terminology that may be useful in establishing such links.

In over three decades of a career devoted about equally to university administration, teaching and writing about American foreign policy, and serving as a foreign affairs professional, I have been frequently asked questions by persons considering careers in foreign affairs. I have counseled hundreds of young persons considering foreign affairs schooling and careers, already in foreign affairs careers, or pursuing academic professional education preparatory to or at midcareer in foreign affairs careers. The purpose of this brief paper is to set forth the main elements of that advice for persons seeking counsel about foreign affairs careers. This paper has benefitted greatly from comments and suggestions by colleagues, alumni, and foreign affairs professionals who read earlier drafts.

This seminar is designed to explore the role of the Supreme Court and the First Amendment in protecting, encouraging, and regulating free expression in the United States. Class discussion, readings, (and to the extent possible) individual participant reports, will focus on key doctrinal developments, on the extent to which First Amendment values have become part of the prevailing legal/political culture, on the effectiveness of judicial protection of First Amendment rights, and on contrasting liberal and conservative approaches to defining and implementing First Amendment values.

Since the 1960s consistently, and before that sporadically, the Supreme Court has articulated a liberal theory of the First Amendment which emphasizes the importance of free expression for its own sake as well as its unique instrumental role in the achievement and preservation of other cherished rights.

The year 1937 marks a great division in the history of the Supreme Court. In a period of 18 months in 1935 and 1936, the Court struck down more important social and economic legislation of the national government and of state government than at any time in its history, including such landmarks of the New Deal as the National Industrial Recovery Act and the Agricultural Adjustment Act. In the nearly half-century since then, the Court has not invalidated even one piece of significant social legislation. The seminar will explore how this “Constitutional Revolution of 1937” came about. It will examine the changes wrought by the New Deal, the character of the Court in the era of “the nine old men,” controversial rulings such as those in the Schecter and Butler cases, the origins and nature of FDR's “court packing“ plan, and the long term consequences of the Constitutional Revolution.

The seminar will explore the historical development surrounding changes in the legal status of women from the colonial period to the present. In addition to specialized readings in constitutional history, video cassettes which analyze aspects of modern case laws affecting contemporary American women will also comprise a segment of the instructional material. Particular attention will be paid to the historical circumstances prompting women reformers to place varying degrees of emphasis upon achieving equality through equity procedures, litigation, amendments to the Constitution and public policy legislation. Bibliographies and techniques for teaching major constitutional issues will be presented and discussed. Topics: equity jurisprudence, dower rights, married womens’ property acts, the Fourteenth Amendment, Supreme Court decisions involving working women, the Nineteenth Amendment, equal and comparable pay, national commissions on women, federal legislation prohibiting sex discrimination in employment and education, divorce and family law, constitutional views on contraception and abortion, the significance of the ERA, treatment of rape victims, sexual harassment on the job.

This seminar will explore the American experience in reconciling the conduct of an activist foreign policy with the constitutional requirement for power-sharing between Congress and the President. Focusing mainly on the period since World War II, it will review experiences in both economic and security issues, including war powers, arms sales, trade negotiations, and foreign aid. Particular attention will be given to the impact of “extraconstitutional“ procedural innovations, like the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the various arrangements for powersharing on trade, and the legislative veto.