Undergraduate /
Intellectual Adventure with Block Plan - Colorado College supplemental essay [3]
Prompt: The Block Plan at Colorado College has a tradition of innovation and flexibility. Please design your own three-and-a-half week intellectual adventure and describe what you would do.Ancient History is not a subject to be taken lightly. Our knowledge is poor due to limited evidence and conflicting theories. To understand it, immersion is the best course of action.
Week one of the Local Ancient Civilizations course begins with preparation for an excursion to the Florissant National Monument to give students a glimpse of the past. The preparation is brief; there is some required reading and in-class discussion in the first class, and by the second class the students are ready to go into the field. At the park the students are greeted by a park ranger, who explains the meaning of seemingly insignificant markings on the rocks that today serve as a nesting spot for local squirrels. It turns out that the lines engraved into the stone mean that grains were grown and stored here thousands of years ago. There are other rocks that present evidence of berries, leaves, and tools; each is examined by the students as they listen to their instructor.
At the end of that day the professor declares that it would be grand to have a meal in the style of the ancients. She instructs the students to research the food that was consumed in the time period of study. Every student must bring one appropriate recipe for the next class, accompanied by an essay detailing the gathering of ingredients and preparation of food in years past. She lists a number of books and articles that will help the students with this assignment, and the class is dismissed.
The third and final class of the week is a feast. The professor has arranged a table laden with nuts, berries, rough bread, and strips of dried meat that she claims she cured herself. During the course of the meal the class discusses the relationship between food and early civilization. This segues into a lecture about the social structure of societies past and present, how they are related, and how, in some ways, the thousands-of-years-old structures were better than what exists today. The professor assigns three textbook chapters to be read over the weekend, and the first week comes to a close.
The fourth lesson opens with a pop quiz based on the reading material. Then the professor moves on to the religious habits of ancient societies: how religion began, how it changed, and how the ancient peoples became dependent on it. The rest of the week passes in much the same way, with reading and quizzes and discussion; the professor explains that she is "really an old fuddy-duddy" and not all of her lessons are going to be as exciting as the first three were.
The third week holds surprises. For the seventh class of the block period the professor has invited an eminent historian who specializes in the ancient native people who lived in this area and their connection to natural elements. He talks about the lake that once sat nearby, the effect the presence of the lake had on its surroundings, and how the people who lived here changed when the lake disappeared. He touches upon the subject of the mountains but says has run out of time to discuss them in depth. The professor reminds him that there is no time limit; the class will go on as long as he talks. The historian smiles and continues, and the class ends only at two in the afternoon.
The next class focuses on the interaction between groups of nomads and settlers; wars are described and peace treaties examined. There is another guest: an expert in weaponry of the old ages. He demonstrates the making of arrowheads, and the method of attaching arrowheads to sticks to create spears. The students attempt to imitate him, but, being untried in the ways of ancient weapon-work, fail miserably. The expert laughs and says it is all for the best, as weapons are not allowed on campus.
There is more reading homework, and an extra credit project announced: students have the option to create a visual display of an element, or elements, of ancient life, to be presented at the beginning of the final week. The last class of week three is spent once again at Florissant; this time students examine a re-creation of a settlement, complete with life-sized sculptures of humans and animals. The last hour of this lesson is devoted to explanations and questions about the final examination, due to take place during the last lesson of the block.
On the second-to-last day, those students who chose to complete the extra-credit assignment present their projects. One student has arranged pictures of her peers dressed in period clothing on a sheet of construction paper. Another displays a panorama of molded figures made out of clay and paper. This penultimate lesson is all review; some students remain into the evening to study. The exam takes place on the eleventh and final day, and the block period is over.
