Enduring questions of politics

Why another readings book for the introductory course in political science? The editors of this volume reply that it is an attempt at innovation. Several years of teaching this course to freshmen students have convinced us that there is a need for thought-provoking commentary in a book of readings, in order to give coherence to what appears too often to be a mass of unrelated bits and pieces. We feel that entering freshmen should not be overburdened with materials which they have difficulty in digesting. The consequence is often rejection of the book by the students regardless of how excellent some of the selections may be. For this reason it seemed to us better to offer fewer readings and to introduce the selections for each chapter with comments designed to evoke the student's interest in the subject matter and to place the selections in the context of discussion. Through this technique we hope to arouse the student's curiosity sufficiently to induce him to read the selections with alacrity and care. If we succeed in this objective, we will have made a significant contribution to the student's learning process.
The choice of readings was also crucial, of course, and had to take into consideration the prospective readers. In most cases the entering freshman has had only limited contact with the many-splendored, as well as muchmaligned, thing called politics. In high school the student received only a passing acquaintance with politics in his civics course, which concentrated primarily on the basic processes of federal and state government.