Introducing American Government Through a You-Be-the-Judge Exercise

Extract

The first day of class is always a challenge (Vile 1985). An instructor has several objectives: to convey a sense of what the course will entail, to begin convincing students that what they are about to study is important, and to leave the impression that the class will be a stimulating experience. I remember my first class during my initial semester of teaching, a section of introductory American government. Fresh from graduate school, I lectured on how the study of politics could be scientific and dazzled the students with a tour through social science terminology—norms, roles, institutions, and so on. The response was, to be charitable, restrained.

Fortunately for my students, I've moved on to other approaches. One that has been particularly successful in basic American government classes is to place the students in a you-be-the-judge situation through consideration of a Supreme Court case that raises issues of substantive importance to which introductory students can readily relate. The case must have resulted in a non-unanimous decision that is not widely known among undergraduates. (There is no problem in meeting these criteria.) The legal background and facts of the case are presented, as are highlights from the majority and dissenting opinions, but without indicating which is which. The students are then given the opportunity to put their thoughts about the case on paper and to discuss their opinions with their colleagues, first in small groups and then with the whole class.