Assignment: WESTERN CIVILIATION DISCUSSION QUESTION
Why did monasteries become the most important center of European learning in the early Middle Ages? What resources were available there that made them an obvious place for learning?
Do you think the learning systems we have in place today would have worked in the Middle Ages? Why, or why not?
SOCIOLOGY DISCUSSION QUESTION
To what extent does gender, sexual orientation, race, and/or ethnicity influence opportunities and obstacles in a person's life? What role do you see gender, sexual orientation, race, and/or ethnicity playing in society and making possible influences in a person's life?
WESTERN CIVILIATION ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the emergence of Islam in the seventh century. What do Muslims believe? What was early Muslim culture like? What were some of the accomplishments of early Muslim culture?
2. Detail the course of the Crusades of the 11th through 13th centuries. Why did these wars occur? What were the results of these wars? Why were the Crusaders ultimately unsuccessful?