WRT

180 Humanities Final Exam

Fall 2018: Three short final responses:

A. Although the scenes of A Man For All Seasons tend to follow the historical progression - conflict between Henry and More, complications involving More’s family and friends, lengthy imprisonment, trial and eventual execution – it remains, after all, a play, the conclusion of which is More’s death. In designing the play the playwright Robert Bolt has created a series of often powerful and dynamic scenes to portray human actions during this sequence of events.

Which of these scenes is, for you, most meaningful and significant? Choose and analyze a single scene from the play that engaged you, and/or enhances the play’s significance.

B. As a concluding exercise, I’d like to return your attention to the sentiments of the syllabus for this course and encourage you to consider in what ways and to what degree you found the six readings instructive. In short, how – if at all – have the readings been worth your while?

I stated in the syllabus that our approach to these works would be to examine the actions and behaviors of their central characters, particularly the ways each addresses three of Life’s fundamental questions (they can be found in the Syllabus in Course Documents, if you’ve forgotten them). There was also a fourth question: “To what extent and in what respects are responses to these three questions interrelated – for you today, as well as for the individuals in the works considered?”

Consider your response to the following (C) prompt a personal one, and approach it as you see fit.

C. Over the more than a decade or so that I’ve been presenting AUCW 180 here at the University of Hartford, the social structure – as well as the academic structure -- of this country, as well as the University of Hartford, has changed rapidly and drastically – as it has, I suspect, in most societies of the Western World.

It seems obvious, though it is reluctantly being acknowledged at most universities, what has long been viewed as “traditional classroom instruction” is on its last legs throughout this country. The question before us is what will replace it. I don’t think fiddling with one’s phone for 75 minutes will do the trick. Though online courses will apparently be a key player in the immediate future, will their ubiquitous presence be an enhancement to student engagement, or will it be a curse?

I’ve posed the question to you already on the first day of classes: If everything you need for a course such as this is available on the Internet, what becomes of the activities of the traditional class?

What, if anything, worked for you in a class such as this? What might have worked better for you? What changes would you suggest? What should be changed before I meet my Spring 2019 classes in the mid weeks of January ?