Critical Reading and Argumentation with Dr. Drogalis

This article was part of a series by the Board of Student Academic Support Services (SASS) that interviewed OHS teachers about the classes they teach. We hope these articles will be a useful resource for students who are selecting courses for following years.

SASS: What is your favorite thing about teaching CRA?

Dr. Drogalis: The range of philosophical topics that we get to discuss is one of my favorite aspects of the course. It’s hard to choose an area of philosophy that I like best, so getting to look at so many topics makes the class exciting. It’s also been really fun to get to teach students at the end of the sequence of Core classes. Seeing all of the philosophical skills that we’ve been working on for several years come together is really exciting.

SASS: What challenges students the most in CRA? How would you recommend that students overcome these challenges?

Dr. Drogalis: The success of a CRA class depends a great deal on student engagement. The classes are a little longer than other Core classes (90 minutes instead of 75), and most of the class is spent in discussion. This means that students need to come to class with their own questions and comments about the text and be willing to engage in thoughtful discussion with their classmates. This can be tricky, especially because some of the readings and arguments are quite challenging! I recommend that students who find the course challenging come to office hours and talk through the struggles that they’re having. Your instructor can give you some suggestions about how to approach the readings or work through the papers. As students gain confidence in doing the readings, it’s usually much easier for them to come to class with questions and comments that they feel comfortable sharing.

SASS: Why do you think CRA is a core class and not just an English class?

Dr. Drogalis: While CRA does occasionally engage with philosophical works of fiction, the class isn’t focused on rhetorical analysis, like an English class would be. Rather, CRA focuses on identifying and reconstructing claims and arguments made by authors and then evaluating the rational force of those claims and arguments, both verbally and in writing. This gives it more in common with a Core class than an English one.

SASS: What types of students do well in CRA?

Dr. Drogalis: Because CRA covers many different topics, lots of different kinds of students do well in the course. Some students find certain topics more interesting than others, but as long as a student is willing to engage in respectful, thoughtful dialogue and think carefully about challenging philosophical questions, he or she can do very well!

SASS: What does the average workload for each week look like?

Dr. Drogalis: Students can expect to spend several hours each week reading and working on writing assignments. Each week involves at least one reading assignment for each discussion and either a short homework assignment or reading response that will be due before class. Every few weeks, there will also be a paper due, so some weeks will be a little busier because of that.

SASS: How do you recommend that students prepare for exams in CRA?

Dr. Drogalis: There are no exams for CRA this year.

SASS: How is the participation grade for CRA determined?

Dr. Drogalis: Participation is 15% of the final grade, and an additional 5% comes from serving as an expert presenter on one day of class. Students who come to class fully prepared, who play an active role in discussion and advance and support the conversation with comments and questions are considered to be excellent participators.

SASS: How is a student’s overall grade in CRA determined? What percentage of a student’s overall grade is determined by exams, homework, quizzes, participation, etc.?

Dr. Drogalis: This semester, grades are determined as follows: 20% for homework assignments, 10% for reading responses, 15% for participation, 5% for expert sessions, 25% for a project called the Moral Experiment, and 25% combined for two other papers. This could be different in future years.

SASS: What materials do students use in the course (textbooks, lectures, online resources, etc.)?

Dr. Drogalis: Students are asked to buy a few books for the course, and we primarily rely on readings from one Introduction to Philosophy textbook. Other readings for the class are posted on Canvas.

SASS: Are students expected to be on camera for the entire class?

Dr. Drogalis: This varies from instructor to instructor.

SASS: Have you had any experiences with students in CRA that could encourage those who think they cannot excel with this material to take the class?

Dr. Drogalis: Philosophy can be a little intimidating and challenging when you’re new to it. I’ve taught many students, both in CRA and other classes, who struggle with following the argument in the readings or who hesitate to jump into discussions because they worry that they won’t have the perfect thing to say. In fact, I was one of those students in my first CRA-style class in college! I barely talked at all at first. But I find that any student who is curious, patient with the learning curve of reading philosophy, and willing to try out questions or responses in class can push beyond those initial feelings of doubt. In my experience, many of the students who contributed the most to discussion and produced some of the most interesting work didn’t initially think that they could do very well in a class like this.

SASS: What about CRA interests so many students?

Dr. Drogalis: In my experience, the readings and the discussions tend to be really fun for many students. We spend a year reading some of the best arguments in the history of philosophy about problems that many of us worry about already. For example, we think about what it means to be a morally good person, ask whether it’s possible to make an argument in support of God’s existence, and discuss what, if anything, makes us the same persons over time. There are not many forums in our lives where we get to have thoughtful and careful conversations about big picture questions like this, so many students enjoy the opportunity to do so.