FOUNDATION: Essentials CORNERSTONE
QUESTION
Cornerstone (IND 2100) The Cornerstone block is the first course that all students take upon entering Quest. The purpose of Cornerstone is twofold: to introduce students to Quest, and to investigate a significant question through a variety of academic perspectives. This year, the question for Cornerstone is: what is knowledge? By investigating this question, we explore the unexamined principles and assumptions that underpin our views on science and culture. When we classify something as knowledge, we are implicitly appealing to a system of values: what is knowable is worthwhile, if not for its own sake, at least for its utility. For example, we believe that astronomy expands what we know, but astrology does not. But why? To respond that the former is science while the latter is nonsense merely reiterates the view that the one is knowledge and the other not, and so fails as an answer. We make progress on this question by investigating three sub-questions: (i) what assumptions do we have about knowledge; (ii) what is scientific knowledge; (iii) what is knowledge itself? In answering each of these, we are better able to say what knowledge is.
Question (IND 2300) Toward the end of their Foundation Program, Quest undergraduates work with their course instructor and a faculty mentor of their choosing to develop a statement of their Question: a proposal for how they will study a topic of special interest to them. The Question guides students’ attention in a sustained and rigorous intellectual inquiry during the final 16 Concentration blocks. During Question block, students reflect on their educational experience and set goals for the coming years. They begin their inquiry into their Question topic, and craft a comprehensive proposal that outlines their future area of study, courses, and touchstone readings. Questions range from the broad to the focused—What is honour? What is beauty? What are the elements of successful habitat restoration? How can we manage infectious disease outbreaks?—and are often framed in terms of several disciplinary approaches, key works and thinkers, or subquestions that will be addressed. By designing their own Questions, students construct an academic program that suits their intellectual interests, allowing them to cross disciplinary boundaries. We expect there to be as many different questions as there are Quest students.
RHETORIC
KEYSTONE
Rhetoric (IND 2200) After the Cornerstone block, all students take a required block in Rhetoric. The theme for the Rhetoric block varies according to the individual Tutor, but all sections of this block are designed to give students the opportunity to work intensively on good writing and effective public speaking at the outset of their Quest career. Skills involved include: 1) The ability to respond to texts with attention to their strategies, effects, assumptions, and other aspects of rhetorical situations; 2) Identifying the writer’s craft in a range of genres with attention to purpose, audience, and aesthetics—emphasizing techniques for writing cogent, persuasive, university-level papers; 3) The understanding of and practice in writing and research processes as well as peer review and citation practices; 4) Attending to both cognitive and social dimensions of writing; 5) Increased versatility as a reader and writer in order to analyze diverse contexts for writing and respond to them effectively. Students are also given the opportunity to create and deliver effective presentations in front of their peers. The lessons of both cogent writing and oral presenting will serve students throughout their university career and lives.
Keystone (IND 3000) The Keystone course is required of all graduating students, and takes place in the block immediately preceding the Commencement ceremony. It has four main purposes: 1) students put the finishing touches on their Keystone projects; 2) students prepare and deliver a public presentation about their Question to the University community; 3) students take some time to reflect more broadly on their education—both prospectively and retrospectively—in hopes of understanding how a liberal arts and sciences education has changed them, and how they will integrate that learning into their future plans; and finally, 4) the time honoured ritual of Commencement involves special activities, such as invited guest speakers and formal dinners.
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