The Class

The Stevenson core course, titled "Self and Society", is the only 2-quarter core course out of all the colleges (all others are only 1 quarter long). The course has two parts: the seminar sections (generally classes of about 20 people, meeting 3 times per week) and the weekly core lecture (all core students attend in the Stevenson dining hall).

Focus and Goals

As the title suggests, the course focuses on how humans see themselves and act within their societies, in historical, religious, philosophical, scientific and cultural contexts, as well as in the presence of adversity. The course texts provide a basis of knowledge which students use to develop analytical thinking and writing skills.

The course is also designed with the thought in mind that this will be many students' first introduction to university-level schoolwork, and thus works to provide students with tools for writing university papers and analytical thinking skills. Writing tutors are available for free during drop-in hours to help students with assignments, whether for the core course or not.

The Credit

Both quarters of the course are required for Stevenson students who enter as freshmen. For transfers from another UCSC college, usually your original college core course will satisfy your graduation requirement.

The Materials

The course requires usually 10 or more books to be purchased each quarter. However, most of the books you will probably not read all the way through. Several of the texts are also very popular and can be found for free on the internet, at McHenry Library or the Santa Cruz Public Library, but you may find them to be good books to keep in your personal library. Some people choose to share books with their roommates since all first-year students must be enrolled in this course.