On January 1, 2022, I completed 43 years of teaching at Emory University. It was a great run and great fun. Along the way, I accumulated more pieces of paper than was necessary, among them every syllabus and reading list, class rolls, course evaluations, and bibliographies assigned. Collectively those guide posts for teaching have reminded me that undergraduate students have enormous, if not unlimited, capacities to absorb information and concepts about history; give them a chance to unfurl what happened with reliable and nonpolemical sources before them. Actualizing learning may be convenient, but delving into processes that address underpinnings is substantive, longer-lasting and substantial. If I may say so, I believe that is why students enjoyed learning with me.
At Emory, for about a quarter-century most of the teaching faculty have taught small freshman seminars, 12 to 18 students per class. I taught this freshman modern Israel seminar 20 times, with students repeatedly commenting how interesting the course was, “fascinating to learn the history behind the headlines, … so much more complex that I thought.” Students delved into concepts, context and perspective. The syllabus, Modern Israel, is presented here with dust removed!
The syllabus originally was designed for 26 to 30 hours of in-class work or engagements. I have added some new materials, including videos, teaching tools, online readings and source documents. These were not available electronically 16 years ago. The syllabus can be used for self-teaching, group engagements or experiential settings. All ages from teens upward should find the syllabus a usable guide. The CIE website also has other course guides and syllabi, all with detailed readings, book selections and topical suggestions for discussions.
— Ken Stein, January 4, 2022
