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Home > Offices > Academic Affairs > Paideia > Paideia 111/112: Enduring Questions
Home > Offices > Academic Affairs > Paideia > Paideia 111/112: Enduring Questions

Paideia 111/112: Enduring Questions

Enduring Questions is a two-semester course that Luther students take in their first year. This common element is vital—all sections share a syllabus. Throughout the year, all Luther first-year students read the same works (though the class assignments related to the works may vary). The best class discussions extend into residence halls and cafeteria tables.

Enduring Questions sections allow face-to-face learning, with no more than 19 students per section. The course is taught by faculty from every academic division—studies works drawn from across the disciplines. It provides a base of skills you will use throughout your college experience.

It models the ideals of the liberal arts because:

  • The most important questions draw on a range of perspectives for their answers
  • The best answers draw not only on facts but on the wisdom of a well-developed sensibility
  • Education develops your potential, not just for a job, but for an active social, political, and inner life

Research projects are part of every student’s experience of Paideia 112. Each spring, select students present their Paideia projects at the Learning at Luther Showcase.

Last Year's Syllabi

Paideia 112 Spring 2023

“In a divided society, how do we live in community?”

The work of the historical researcher in understanding divided communities:

The Confessions of Nat Turner (1831) and Related Documents

Wednesday, Feb. 1
  • Introduction to the unit (Reader 18–24)
  • (Reading questions are in the Reader, pp. 25–26)
  • Common Lecture: Mark Guerci, Valders 206
Friday, Feb. 3
  • Greenberg introduction: “The Text” (5–11): “The Confessions of Nat Turner” (Greenberg 36–56)
  • Notes grid for Nat Turner Sources (make your own copy to fill in)
  • Reading Questions #2-5
Monday, Feb. 6
  • “The Richmond Compiler, August 24, 1831,” “The Constitutional Whig, August 29, 1831,” “The Richmond Enquirer, August 30, 1831,” and “The Liberator, September 3, 1831” (59-70);
  • “Trial of Lucy” (95–96);
  • “Nat Turner’s Trial Record, Excerpt from the Court Records of Southampton County, 1831” (98–100);
  • Excerpts from the Diary of Virginia Governor John Floyd (101–107)
  • Letter from Virginia Governor John Floyd to South Carolina Governor James Hamilton, Jr., November 19, 1831 (107–109)
  • Reading Questions # 6–13
Wednesday, Feb. 8
  • Thomas R. Dew, Abolition of Negro Slavery, September and December 1832 (110–118);
  • David Walker, Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, 1830 (119–134)
  • Reading Questions #14–17
Friday, Feb. 10
  • Reading Response draft due
  • Nat Turner
  • Review and Writing Workshop

The Research Unit: The methods and community responsibility of research

Monday, Feb. 13–Wednesday, Feb. 15
  • Research Unit
Friday, Feb.1 7
  • Research Unit
  • Nat Turner Reading Response due
Monday, Feb. 20–Wednesday, Feb. 22–Friday, Feb. 24
  • Research Unit
Monday, Feb. 27–Wednesday, March 1–Friday, March 3
  • Research Unit
Monday, March 6–Wednesday, March 8–Friday, March 10
  • Research Unit
Monday, March 13
  • Research Unit
  • Version 1 of Research Paper due
  • Share and reflect on research experiences

Seeking Community among Humans, “Others,” and the Natural World in Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein (1818)

Wednesday, March 15
  • Introduction to the Unit (Reader 27–31)
  • Frankenstein (4–36)
  • Reading questions #1–3
  • (Reading questions are in the Reader, pp. 31–33)
  • Common Lecture: Amy Weldon, Valders 206
Friday, March 17
  • Frankenstein (36–41)
  • Reading question #4
  • Close Reading: The Birth of the Creature
March 18-26
  • Spring Break
Monday, March 27
  • Frankenstein (42–72)
  • Reading questions #5–6
Wednesday, March 29
  • Frankenstein (72–92)
  • Reading questions #7–8
Friday, March 31
  • Frankenstein (92–111)
  • Reading questions #9–10
Monday, April 3
  • Frankenstein (113–140)
  • Reading questions #11–12
  • Reading/writing instruction
Wednesday, April 5
  • Frankenstein (140–160)
  • Reading questions #13–14
April 7–10
  • Easter Vacation
Wednesday, April 12
  • Frankenstein (160–177)
  • Reading questions #15–17
Friday, April 14
  • Writing Workshop

Human and non-human communities and climate change: E.O. Wilson’s Half-Earth (2019)

Monday, April 17
  • Frankenstein reading response due
  • Introduction to the Unit (Reader 34–36)
  • Half-Earth (1–44)
  • Reading Questions #1–3
    (Reading questions are in the Reader, pp. 37–39)
  • Common Lecture: Todd Pedlar, Valders 206
Wednesday, April 19
  • Half-Earth (47–99)
  • Reading Questions #4–6
Friday, April 21
  • Half-Earth (101–166)
  • Reading Questions #7–9
Monday, April 24
  • Half-Earth (167–212)
  • Reading Questions #10–13
Wednesday, April 26
  • Bram BĂĽscher and Robert Fletcher, “Why E.O. Wilson is Wrong About How to Save the Earth
  • Reading Questions #14–16
Friday, April 28
  • Synthesis: Discussion and reflection: In a divided society, how do we live in community?

What is the duty of an educated person toward their communities?

Monday, May 1
  • Introduction to the Unit (Reader 40–41)
  • Plato “Allegory of the Cave” Reading Questions #1–7
  • (Reading questions are in the Reader, pp. 41–42)
  • Common Lecture: Storm Bailey, Valders 206
Wednesday, May 3
  • Reread Plato “Allegory of the Cave”
Friday, May 5
Monday, May 8
  • Plato, The Apology of Socrates
  • Introduction to the Unit (Reader 43)
  • Reading Questions #1–8
  • (Reading questions are in the Reader, pp. 44)
Wednesday, May 10
  • Plato, The Apology of Socrates
Friday, May 12
  • Exam review
May 15-18
  • Final Exam Week: final essay due at the exam

Paideia 111 Fall 2022

Unit 1: Human Dignity and Community

Summer Reading: CantĂş, The Line Becomes a River (2018)

Monday, Aug. 29
  • Francisco CantĂş, The Line Becomes a River
Wednesday, Aug. 31
  • Review Introduction and Reading Questions (In the Summer Reading Brochure, and the Paideia 111 Reader, pp. 22–24)
  • Q and A with Author CFL Main Hall
Thursday, Sept. 1
  • Convocation and Lecture by Francisco CantĂş
Friday, Sept. 2
  • Review CantĂş
  • “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Paideia Discussions” (Reader, p. 5)
Monday, Sept. 5
  • Review CantĂş
Wednesday, Sept. 7
  • Simon Romero, “Border Patrol Memoir Ignites Dispute: Whose Voices Should Be Heard From the Frontier?” The New York Times. May 19, 2018.
  • Writing Center handout: “Integrating source material into paragraphs”

Unit 1: Human Dignity and Community (cont.)

Sophocles: Antigone (5th c. BCE), and Uribe, Antígona González (2018)

Friday, Sept. 9
  • Common Lecture by David Thompson: “Appropriate Behavior: Antigone and Her Descendants”
  • Sophocles, Antigone pp. 57–66, lines 1–179
  • Introduction (Reader, pp. 25–26)
  • Reading Questions (Reader, p. 27)
  • Response paper due
Monday, Sept. 12
  • Sophocles pp. 67–92, lines 180–700
  • Reading Questions (Reader, p. 27)
Wednesday, Sept. 14
  • Sophocles pp. 92–109, lines 701–1089
  • Reading Questions (Reader, pp. 27–28)
Friday, Sept. 16
  • Sophocles pp. 110–128, lines 1090–1470
  • Reading Questions (Reader, p. 28)
Monday, Sept.19
  • Sara Uribe, AntĂ­gona González (Read all)
  • Reading Questions (Reader, pp. 28–29)
Wednesday, Sept. 21
  • Sara Uribe, AntĂ­gona González (Re-read all)
Friday, Sept. 23
  • Paper 1 Writing Workshop
  • Little Seagull Handbook, 53–58 (“Arguments”)
Monday, Sept. 26
  • Reread selected passages

Unit 2: Moving Up?

“Folding Beijing” (2016) and Parasite (2019)

Wednesday, Sept. 28
  • Common Lecture by Christy Vrtis: “Busting Through and Moving Up: Envisioning Movement through Social and Economic Divisions.”
  • Hao Jingfang, “Folding Beijing” (Reader, pp. 51–74)
  • Introduction (Reader, pp. 30–33)
  • Paper 1 due
Friday, Sept. 30
  • Reread “Folding Beijing”
  • Reading Questions (Reader, p. 34)
Monday, Oct. 3
  • Review “Folding Beijing”
Wednesday, Oct. 5
  • View the film Parasite (2019, directed by Bong Joon-ho)
  • Introduction (Reader, p.32)
  • Reading Questions (Reader, p. 35)
Friday, Oct. 7
  • Review Parasite
  • Reading Questions (Reader, p. 35)
  • Optional: read this Review by Andrew Chan
Monday, Oct. 10
  • Paper 2 Writing Instruction: Developing paragraphs
  • Writing Center handouts: “Introduction and conclusion paragraphs,” “Developing body paragraphs,” “Topic sentences”
Wednesday, Oct. 12
  • Writing Workshop
  • Paper 2 first version due
Friday, Oct. 14
  • Paper 2 final version due
Monday, Oct. 14–Wednesday, Oct. 19
  • Fall Break

Unit 3: Open Unit

Friday, Oct. 21–Wednesday, Nov. 11
  • Open Unit and Library Visit
Friday, Nov. 4
  • Paper 3 Writing Workshop
  • Writing Center handout: “Transition sentences and devices”
  • Little Seagull Handbook, 27–39 (“Developing paragraphs”)

Unit 4, “I, Too, am America”

Part 1: Voices of the Harlem Renaissance (1920s)

Monday, Nov. 7
  • Common Lecture by Martin Klammer: “I Too, Sing America: Voices of the Harlem Renaissance”
  • Introduction (Reader p.39)
  • Langston Hughes, “I, Too”
  • Biography and Reading Questions (Reader, p. 41)
Wednesday, Nov. 9
  • Paper 3 due
  • Langston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “The Weary Blues”
  • Claude McKay, “The Lynching”
  • Countee Cullen, “Incident”
  • Biographies and Reading Questions (Reader, pp. 41–43)
Friday, Nov. 11
  • Zora Neale Hurston “How It Feels to be Colored Me” (Reader, pp. 73–75)
  • Georgia Douglas Johnson, “The Heart of a Woman” and “Smothered Fires”
  • Biographies and Reading Questions (Reader, pp. 43–44)
Monday, Nov.14
  • Hurston, “Sweat”
  • (Reader pp. 76–84)
Wednesday, Nov. 16
  • Richmond Barthe, “African Dancer”
  • Aaron Douglas, Aaron, Aspects of Negro Life, Panel #3: “The Idyll of the Deep South”
  • Palmer Hayden, “Midsummer Night in Harlem” 1936
  • Sargent Johnson,, “Forever Free.” 1935
  • William H. Johnson, “Minnie” 1930
  • Archibald Mottley, “Blues” 1929
  • Augusta Savage, “Gamin,” 1930
  • Hale Woodruff, “Repatriation of the Captives” from The Amistad Murals, 1938

Unit 4, Part 2: Rhetoric of the Civil Rights Era (1960s)

Friday, Nov. 18
  • Common Lecture by Mike Garcia “To Save the Soul of America: The Rhetoric of the Civil Rights Movement”
  • Introduction (Reader, p. 45)
  • Biography and Reading Questions (Reader, p. 46)
  • Fannie Lou Hamer, “Address to the Credentials Committee of the Democratic National Convention” (1964, 8:10) (transcript)
Monday, Nov. 21
  • Martin Luther King, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963)
  • Biography and Reading Questions (Reader, pp. 46–47)
Wednesday, Nov. 23–Sunday, Nov. 27
  • Thanksgiving Vacation
Monday, Nov. 28
  • Malcolm X, “Message to the Grass Roots” (1963, 46:00) Transcript
  • Biography and Reading Questions (Reader, pp. 47–48)
Wednesday, Nov. 30
  • King, “A Time to Break Silence” (1967, excerpts) (transcript)
  • Reading Questions (Reader p. 48)
Friday, Dec. 2
  • El Movimiento: The Chicano Movement and Hispanic Identity
  • Dolores Huerta, Proclamation of the Delano Grape Workers
  • Reading Questions (Reader, pp. 48–49)
Monday, Dec. 5
  • Paper 4 (revision paper) due
  • Billie Holiday, “Strange Fruit” (1939) (Lyrics)
  • Charles Mingus, “Fables of Faubus” (1959) Lyrics
  • Sam Cooke, “A Change Is Gonna Come” (1963) Lyrics
  • Marvin Gaye, “What’s Going On” (1971) Lyrics
  • Felipe CantĂş, Corrido de CĂ©sar Chávez
  • Reading Questions (Reader, p. 49)
Wednesday, Dec. 7
  • Review and synthesis of Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights texts
Friday, Dec. 9
  • Final exam review