The Woodsworth One program has been successfully launched. We have admitted over 70 students and the Registrar’s office has been busy delivering tailored academic advising sessions throughout the summer to help this first cohort of Woodsworth One students prepare for an engaging academic year.
We have also organized exciting co-curricular activities. These will include: a movie screening of a landmark experiment that spiraled out of control when a high school history teacher tried to demonstrate the Nazi disciplinary order of the Third Reich in his classroom. We will follow with a conversation with the producer and director who were part of this experiment. We have invited a number of speakers who will give talks on the Arab Spring and the international financial crisis, the work of Doctors Without Borders in war torn countries, and the United Nation’s efforts in crisis prevention and recovery. We will hold a workshop with students from the Inside Out Prison Exchange Program to consider what we think we know about crime and justice. These activities form part of our experiential learning strategy and offer students a complement to the material we discuss in our core course on Order and Disorder.
Order and Disorder will be delivered through two half-year courses. The first half will deal with different ways we conceptualize and create order. The second half will focus on the social and political challenges to established orders. We will consider perspectives from Political Science, Sociology, History and Philosophy on issues such as human nature and social order, individual freedoms versus collective goods, and the legitimacy of authority.
The combined advising, academic and pedagogical strategies of the Woodsworth One approach promises to deliver a unique and rewarding experience to our first year students. We look forward to a great year.