From: Margaret Groarke
Date: 4/19/99
Time: 12:48:05 PM
Remote Name: 148.84.2.205
I read the three presentations on textbooks. I have used a textbook every time I have taught American Government ( I THink this is the 15th semester), although I have usually used other readings to supplement it. Even after all that time, and even though I recognize that my students DON'T know all the basics already, I remain highly ambivalent about AG textbooks. I've used Lowi and Ginsberg, Wasserman, Miroff, Greenberg and PAge, and currently, Janda Berry and Goldman. Clearly, I switch constantly, and I constantly think about abandoning them altogether. The main reason I didn't take AMerican Government myself in college was that the professor used a textbook (one he himself had written).
I don't think that any of us -- students or faculty -- read textbooks with the same kind of attention that we do "real" books, and I suspect that more analytic discussion can be generated from other kinds of reading. And it does sometimes occur, when I assign those additional readings. But I face two problems with the "textbook plus" approach -- the cost of textbooks limits my ability to require additional books for purchase, and my students, many of them working parents, have limited time to read.
How many people out there have taught AG without a textbook, and what was your experience?