As one of Lawrence’s most interesting academic experiences, Freshman Studies provides an overview of the academic, artistic, and musical realms through investigating a spectrum of works that encourage the study and correlation of all three. All students, regardless of proposed major or degree program, are required to take Freshman Studies, which runs for the Fall and Winter term of your freshman year.
Though the works studied in Freshman Studies are modified every year, some mainstays – such as Plato’s Republic, which has been in the curriculum since 1945 – connect you, as a Lawrence student, to a tradition of studying essential literature (as well as connecting you to generations of Lawrentians who also hacked through Plato as a freshman).
Lawrence’s approach to studying the works in Freshman Studies is unique as well, in that although the class itself is a thirteen-to-sixteen person, discussion-based seminar, every freshman student reads, looks at, or listens to the same works at the same time.
Additionally, professors are randomly assigned to classes – you might have a Classics professor one term, and a jazz professor the next. Thus, you will gain a unique perspective on the works, based on the knowledge of the professor and the input of your fellow students. Freshman Studies, then, is an opportunity for you to develop both individually – as a writer and a thinker – and as a part of an intellectual whole.
The Freshman Studies booklist for the 2007-2008 school year is:
Fall Term
Winter Term
In studying these works, you will gain both a base level of knowledge that you will draw upon for your time in college and beyond, and gain exposure to the many intellectual opportunities available to you at Lawrence. In addition to acquisition of knowledge, the format of Freshman Studies also encourages the development of discussion skills and an introduction to college-level writing.