Small Towns

The anatomy of a First-Year Seminar

by Karol Crosbie

In small towns near Wooster, cars and trucks often make way for Amish carriages on the town streets and highways.

One of the first choices incoming Wooster students make is to select their favorite topics from a line-up of 36 enticing and diverse (albeit mandatory) First-Year Seminars. For example: Cheeseburger in Paradise; The Drugs We Drink; Representations of the Holocaust in American Popular Culture; The Religious Roots of Political Violence; The Art of Love; Vice, Virtue, and Contraband: Reforming Reproduction.

But no matter what subject they teach, all first-year seminar professors have similar goals for their students.We thought you’d like to see how one professor used her seminar topic—Life in the Small Town—to develop essential skills.

The subject of the small town was perfect for the seminar process, said Anne Nurse, associate professor of sociology and department chair, because it afforded the opportunity to study a spectrum of social questions, from the Wal-Mart effect, to juvenile crime, to prejudices. It was also a good personal fit for Nurse. “It was something completely new for me that I could get excited about. I wanted to convey my own excitement about the region.”

Objective: Think critically.

Activity: Students used census data to describe the demographics and economics of a small town; many chose their own hometowns. Prof. Nurse: “We’re not used to looking critically at the places where we grew up.We take them for granted.We generally feel pretty good about our towns, and we don’t think about why they are the way they are. It’s been interesting to see students suddenly think about their towns in new and sometimes disturbing, sometimes exciting ways.”

Objective: Observe critically.

Activity: The students used the online global positioning tool, Google Earth, to analyze towns’ layouts. They visited Loudonville and Shreve, two small, nearby towns, to discover how differences in spatial arrangements affect town life.

Objective: Consider different points of view.

Activity: Students read and discussed Worlds Apart:Why poverty persists in rural America by C. M. Duncan and developed a budget for a low-income family during class. Said first-year student Larkin Yackulic, “I grew up in a suburb in Seattle and went to a small private high school. The book was shocking and eye-opening. I hadn’t imagined that there would be so many disparities between the haves and havenots. It was incredibly sad.”

Objective: Write often, write well, write about what you care about. Become accustomed to using statistical analysis.

Activity: Students were asked to choose an attitude they wished to study; their topics included attitudes towards homosexuality, women’s roles, gun control, bankruptcy, and atheism. Using data from the General Social Survey, they compared attitudes of residents in a small town with those of residents in a large city. Said Prof. Nurse: “I’m really dedicated to giving students basic statistical competency as soon as they get here.”

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