Political Science Courses – Content Deflation? Just How Bad Is It?

I recently had a discussion with someone who felt that I might be overreacting to changes in education.  My friend felt that it was important to interest students in a subject even if that meant teaching them less.  Of course, we agreed that it is a matter of degree.  My friend worried that I was wrong about content deflation, especially outside of science and math.  My friend also felt that I had been unfair to Wash. U. in St. Louis when I discussed its engineering school, since it is best known for liberal arts.  So I decided to look.

I looked at political science since: (a) my friend was a pol. sci. major; (b) political science is important to a good education; (c) I took a good political science course many years ago at a commuter college (at that time); and (d) I have been listening to lectures from Open Yale’s course, http://oyc.yale.edu/political-science/plsc-114.

I compared introductory American Politics at three universities: University of Houstion (circa late 60’s to early 70’s); Washington University in St. Louis; and, Princeton University.  Here is what I found.

University of Houston:  This is only from my memory, though I still have some of the books we read.  I found the course outstanding – and hard.  We read the following and more.  The Federalist Papers (ALL 500+ pages); a book on presidential power; “The Paradoxes of Freedom” by Sydney Hook, a book on the judiciary, a book on the legislature; maybe others that I don’t remember.

Princeton: From https://registrar.princeton.edu/course-offerings/course_details.xml?courseid=005278&term=1142

A survey of the institutions of American democracy. Topics will include the Constitutional order, federalism, legislative deliberation, executive power, elections and representation, interest groups and social movements, the courts, and policymaking.

Larry Bartels, Unequal Democracy
McCarty et. al., Polarized America
Krehbiel,  Pivotal Politics
Mayhew,Partisan Balance
See instructor for complete list

Reading/Writing assignments:
Approximately 200 pages of reading per week

Washington University in St. Louis: Here is the syllabus: http://polisci.wustl.edu/files/polisci/imce/lowry_l32_101b.pdf

The text is “American Government: Power and Purpose 11th ed. (brief version)”  It appears that most of the readings are from the text, which is under 500 pages.  There are more readings but I don’t know how long they are.

Here is what is more interesting.  If you look up the Professor in Rate My Professor you can learn a little about the course.  I don’t rely on RateMyProfessor for much, but if many people say substantive things – not “he’s no good” or “he’s really good” – something can be gleaned from the comments when there are enough comments.  Here is what I found about the Washington University course.

The professor has 41 comments.  His “Overall Quality” according to RateMyProfessor is 4.7/5.0 – a very high rating.  Here are typical comments.

“Lowry is definitely one of the best teachers i’ve had at washu. He makes lectures fun and interesting, and his class is pretty easy…”

“Great professor.  His lectures are very interesting, and he makes the material fun.  He definitely cares about his students and his class is one of the best classes to take at Wash U.  I definitely recommend it!!”

“Easy, fun, and full of awesome anecdotes (most of which are relevant.)  Just make sure to take note whenever he mentions political trends or current events–they’re probably going to be on the test.  I didn’t, and I got an A-, despite this class being an easy A.”

“Awesome guy, with some great stories.  He makes it easy so you’ll major in PoliSci. … I didn’t do the reading really, and got an A.”

“One of the best profs at WU. Very clear lectures, important you go to class because majority of the test is based on lecture. the reading could be skipped, but it just reinforces class ideas. definitely take this class if you get a chance. prof is great, class is easy, and interesting!”

“This was a good class. Easy. Informative. A breeze but still appreciated. Don’t take if you really want a challenge, but if you want to take a quick dive into politics without too much effort, take this class.”

The only comment I will make about this is that I highly recommend reading Prof. Jacobs paper at this link Why the Demise of Liberal Arts (And, Thus, Clear Thinking) Matter For The Future of America

In the meantime, I will look around for Pol. Sci. courses elsewhere.