This page defines the implementation of the third goal of the course: A critical interpretation of how modern civilization resists, even obstructs, sustainability.
Learning Module #3 introduces the global crisis, but as an empirical context within which world sustainability might unfold. Learning Module #3 remains neutral about larger implications and interpretations. Not so here: Learning Module #3 poses a daunting question: Are there specific institutions and interests vested in maintaining a system that creates a disabling situation for ourselves and for others? Does our culture inhibit our gaining control over our lives?
Learning Goal #3: A critical interpretation of how modern civilization resists, even obstructs, sustainability: Students will explain how modern civilization creates barriers that resist sustainability. Part III, the disabling analysis, asks students to write an essay counting 20 points that explains how the disabling occurs in their own lives and on a global level.
Critical thinking reflects upon and questions our prevailing belief systems, clarifying the assumptions underlying our knowledge, perspectives, and opinions. Critical thinking in our context enables us to examine economic, environmental, social, and cultural concepts within the context of world sustainability.
Two Learning Objectives are pursued here:
The student will begin to understand how people become trapped within circumstances not of their own making. This can occur through culture or through institutions we take for granted. We explore how here. Please study the following:
Disabling circumstances also occur on a larger, impersonal scale, transcending the private and local realm of our own lives. Here, economic globalization in particular must be examined. The student will comprehend how global dynamics can produce dysfunctional outcomes. Please study the following:
The assignment for Learning Module #3 is due on November 20. Send them to our class e-mail account, enst209@gmail.com. Please save your documents as MS Word 2003 documents. We do not use MS Vista, so we may not be able to open documents saved in .docx format. We cannot open documents saved in other formats, so strictly avoid them. If you are stuck, use RTF (Rich Text Format).