Where Does it Fit?

Where does this book fit in the undergraduate curriculum?

Most colleges and universities have special programs for incoming freshmen. Some focus on remedial work to bring student skills up to college level. Others provide a mind stretch for brighter students, and it is here that Matters of Consequence is able to make a real contribution. For all the reasons outlined in Why this book?, Matters of Consequence could be the centerpiece of an exciting Freshman Seminar. One of the values of the seminar approach is the opportunity for in-depth discussion of a large number of relevant topics and issues — see the Discussion and Essay Topics list.

Some schools provide incoming students with a list of books they are expected to read during the summer before they enter college. Matters of Consequence is worth considering for such a list.

Writing courses are another possibility. At Rollins College, for example, the book is being used as an idea stimulator in a personal writing course. The professor has students read a chapter and then compose a "letter to the author" about what they read.

Beyond the freshman year there are interdisciplinary programs and courses such as Environmental Studies and World Problems where this book could be of value. The book addresses many of the issues dealt with in these programs while making an even wider interdisciplinary sweep than courses of this kind normally do. It relates such issues to both the small-picture personal and the giant-picture evolutionary/cosmic.