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In the Politics and Rhetoric
course we took, what used to be a straight discussion of
theoretical text about politics and rhetoric,
and this time we decided to embed some curriculum to career aspects
and some outside practitioners. So we still did the discussion of
Plato's Gorgias or Aristotle's Rhetoric, but we also
added quite a few alums as well as
other outside practitioners that I knew. So in the first part of the course, we had
four different guest speakers who
came and talked about their work as campaign consultants
as opposition researchers, and journalists. So they came in and spoke with
students, had lunch with students, held office hours with students, so they really got a
chance to have one-on-one discussions. And then in the second part of the course, we
moved to
extended campaign simulation and in that
segment of the course we had five embedded practitioners,
four of whom were alums from Mount Holyoke,
all of whom are active political figures. They took part in the course
serving as mentors for the students as they embarked on
on these political campaigns. So each week they give them extensive written
feedback
and then the very last week all five of our
outside embedded practitioners came to Mount Holyoke's campus and
had a panel discussion with the students about what they thought worked, directions they
might go in the future, how
this experience in the liberal arts classroom translates into
career options in their own professional paths forward outside of Mount Holyoke.
I learned so much. Having been on SGA for the past four years,
I thought that I had some sort of idea of how
campaign election would turn out to be, but I was totally thrown off,
pleasantly surprised.
It was really great to see scholars who are simultaneously practitioners in
the field that we are learning about
coming into our class and talking to us about their real-life experiences.
I think as a liberal arts graduate, figuring out how to apply theory to
practice is always the challenge.
I think it actually draws into the classroom more directly something that
when I was a student I probably experienced as an extracurricular activity.
Here you're actually meeting experts right in the classroom incorporating it
into your academic work and I think those opportunities are critical
and I hope we see more of them.
Well, this class was a lot different from anything I've done just because we had to talk more
specifically about policy in actual
things that affect people's day to day lives. It was very difficult,
but I'd say it was worth it because of the skills that I gained
in terms of working with other people to create something like this. I've never
done anything like this
at this level and it was absolutely worth it. One of the things I loved the best was that they
were actually
pivoting and improving within the class and I think it is
training that could take you into any profession but particularly for politics.
What is crucial to think about is in the future as they go out into the world and
to work on political campaigns, and quite a few of them are going to do that
beginning
now, to keep thinking about the course
and that it's an iterative process and that they will keep changing and their
understandings and their values and their practices
will change over time. So it's not just a
thing you did in college, that it's part of your daily practice of being a citizen,
of being a political actor. I definitely feel like this course has pushed me
and it's helped point me in the direction of the types of people and things I
should be doing now.
How to do it, just hearing their stories, was
extremely helpful.