FTS-100: The Game of Go (Fall 2005)

Overview

Each first term seminar serves as an introduction to a liberal arts college environment. We'll strive to develop your ability to think analytically and critically, and your ability to communicate your thoughts through writing and speaking with greater quality and clarity.

This course satisfies one of your three writing (``WRIT'') course requirements.

Reaching me

All course handouts, as well as some supplementary materials, will be available through my web page. A link to for this course is in my homepage http://www.gustavus.edu/~wolfe/.

Primary FTS Goals

Each FTS provides you with opportunities to improve your writing skills. You will write five essays and will receive feedback on each. Although the first essays are straightforward, rest assured the later ones will challenge most of you. Two of the essays will go through a revision process. Note that revision literally means to see again. It is enough simply to correct spelling mistakes and make local corrections when you revise, but you are challenged to convey your ideas in a new, clearer and more engaging way.

FTS is structured to encourage you to develop your speaking skills. This is done primarily through participation in class discussion. You will also give one brief PowerPoint presentation on a topic related to the course. In each class, you should feel free to express your own views. Don't be afraid to disagree with others, but always do so respectfully. By the end of the course, you should be able to comfortably participate in class discussions and be able to do so with clarity and depth. In this course, the quality of your class discussion will not impact your grade heavily provided you give it the old college try.

Each FTS will also address questions of values. Each individual approaches any activity with his or her own set of ethical, social and aesthetic values. Go is no exception. We'll investigate our own aesthetic values in the context of the game. We'll compare Asian aesthetic, social and ethical values in the context of our readings on Asian culture. You'll go into more detail in your investigation of values in a research paper contrasting Eastern and Western values in the context of an activity, behavior or art form of your choosing.

As your first term seminar instructor, I have the responsibility of advising you in your first year at Gustavus. Often, I will take initiative in bringing up issues (academic and non-academic) which all students might face as they become accustomed to the Gustavus community. I also expect that you will take initiative in bringing up any issues or challenges you face as you get to know your way around Gustavus.

Texts and references

The first five books are required:

• The Everyday Writer, by Andrea Lunsford
• Go! More Than a Game, by Peter Shotwell
• Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go, by Kageyama, Toshiro
• The Master of Go, by Kawabata, Yasunari
• First Kyu, by Dr. Sung-Hwa Hong
• (Optional) Go: An Asian Paradigm for Business Strategy, by Yasuyuki Miura
• (Optional) The Girl Who Played Go, by Shan Sa

Go! More Than a Game introduces the basics of Go play. Shotwell's attempts to introduce more advanced concepts than most introductory books, and the book features a brief but well-researched chapter on the history of Go. I read Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go many times as I advanced through the kyu ranks. Due to masterful writing, each time it reads as a totally different book, bringing me new insights into the game.

The Master of Go is a novel describing the tensions surrounding a match between a revered older player and an up-and-coming younger player. Kawabata won the Nobel prize for literature. First Kyu chronicles a young player's addiction to Go (Baduk) in Korea.

Miura's book asserts that Asian is to Western as Go is to Chess. Miura, a high-level executive from several Japanese firms with major operations in the States, states his case in the context of business strategy in Japan. The Girl Who Played Go follows the paths of two Go players, one a Japanese soldier and the other a Chinese girl, during escalating hostilities between Japan and China. (I have both these books in my office.)

Honor

For any assignment, you should cite any help you receive, whether it be from a reference or a classmate. (You need not cite my help, nor discussions from class.)

Any cheating may lead to failure in the course and notification of the Dean. This includes copying anyone else's work, deliberately facilitating copying and failing to give credit for information you received from another person or outside reference.

Any grade disputes should be lodged before the scheduled time for the final exam. I will fix obvious grading errors promptly (and will thank you for pointing them out). For students especially fond of debate, I reserve the right to regrade a whole paper, exam or journal.

Gustavus's academic honesty policy is stated on page 31 of the Academic Bulletin. The following code will be written in full and signed on every examination and graded paper:

On my honor, I pledge that I have not given, received, nor tolerated others' use of unauthorized aid in completing this work.

Writing assignments and Grading

1. (5%) Why I signed up for a course on Go. An informal one-page essay which will be graded leniently, but assessed critically.
2. (10%) How to play Go. A 2-3 page essay whose audience (a prospective Go player) is reasonably well defined.
3. (15%) Movie review. A 2-3 page review of the movie The Go Masters. The 15% is broken down into 5% for the first draft, 10% for the final paper.
4. (25%) East meets West. In this 4-7 page paper, you will choose one activity, behavior or art form performed in both the East and the West. Discuss how the performance of the activity differs in each culture and how these differences reflect differences in values. Each student will review a classmate's draft. The 25% will be broken down into 5% for the paper you review, 20% for your own paper.
5. (optional) Go as a metaphor. In this 3-5 page paper you will explain one way how Go acts as a metaphor for life. The more specific you can be, the better. You can discuss how a specific aspect, strategy or idea in Go recurs in life, or you might explain how Go provides guidance for how to succeed in some specific (but common) real-life situation.

In addition, you will be asked to submit daily assignments related to the course by e-mail. The messages should be in plain text (not a Word file), and use attachments only when absolutely necessary (such as when you include a Go game.) Sometimes the daily assignment is spelled out, but in general for each day on which there is a reading assignment, you should e-mail me any thoughts or questions you have related to the reading. If you have no thoughts, then be creative: Compose a Go problem, write a short poem, song or joke, report on an interesting game in the news or a web site, or anything you wish, so long as it is related to the course.

You are free to allow your daily assignments to vary in length and depth. Some days they might be short, some days long. But I will reduce the grade of a student who writes short, quick entries the overwhelming majority of the time. I expect each student to write a more extensive (page or two entry) a few times during the semester, at times of the student's choosing. I'll mark these with a star and each student should earn a minimum of two during the semester. You'll typically receive 0, 1 or 2 points for each day's assignment. Two points means the assignment was taken seriously; I'll make no assessment of the quality of your writing in your daily assignment (so long as I can read it.)

During the semester, and before the last day of classes, you should attend:

• At least one student production, i.e., a group performance which is well-rehearsed. This could be a play, a dance performance, or a concert.
• At least one off-campus artist who performs on campus. (Usually this would be a music performance from the Artist Series.)
• At least one student recital (music).