My first year seminar class was in the Government department here at Dartmouth titled “Does Democracy Work?” The course introduction reads:

Ordinary people are a crucial part of a democracy—in terms of their beliefs and attitudes
as well as the political actions they do or do not take. Indeed, some scholars go so far as to
describe voters as the starting point of a democracy. But are citizens up to the task? This
first-year seminar investigates the topic of voter competence, which refers to the beliefs,
attitudes, and behaviors that support a functioning political system. We will consider what
is required of citizens in a modern democracy and discuss the standards by which we
evaluate how well people fulfill their democratic duties. Course readings focus on public
opinion and political behavior in the American context. As part of the first-year writing
program, this course involves analytical writing and small group discussions. Students will
write and revise two 3-page papers with significant class time devoted to writing
challenges and giving/receiving feedback in peer groups. The seminar also involves a final
6-page paper.

I’ve loved this class from beginning to end. For one, I enjoyed it because of the people in it, but I also loved it because of the content. Just to give you a little insight into the material we learned about, I’ll provide you with one of my (3 page) papers. For this one, the prompt reads, “To what extent are citizens influenced by information from the political world versus being beholden to prior attitudes or dispositions (e.g., partisanship)? In answering this question, you are expected to draw upon the readings we have discussed to this point in the class (no external reading is required).  Your paper should be 3 pages, double-spaced.”

The paper itself can be found at this link.