Course on 1960s Transcends Generations
"Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young blares through the sound system as students clad in sweatshirts and flip-flops trickle into the lecture hall with mocha lattes and iPods. They settle in for a class that has been taught longer than they’ve been in school about a period in history that is two generations removed from their own.
Yet, the course has remained popular and, some argue, relevant all along.
This marks the 15th academic year that Archie Loss, professor of English and American studies at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is teaching American Studies 105: American Popular Culture and Folklife, a course about 1960s America that was first offered at the college in 1993.
“The American 1960s were a decade of diversity, chaos and change,” said Loss, who has taught at Penn State Behrend for nearly 35 years. “The best way to learn about the significance of this historical time is to do so through the first-hand accounts of those who experienced it. That means music, visuals, guest speakers, and group discussion and interaction.”
The three-credit course places a heavy emphasis on music, movies and the media. The technology has changed, but the course subject matter has remained consistent since the class began. The syllabus stresses music legends Bob Dylan and the Beatles, films such as Rebel without a Cause, The Graduate, Easy Rider, and Apocalypse Now, and a personal account of the Ohio National Guard shootings at Kent State in May 1970—by a local resident who was a student at the time.
“I think the class is popular because college students can relate to it,” said Brie Fleming, who took American Studies 105 during her second semester and returned to the class for three more semesters to serve as a teaching assistant (TA). As the course grew in popularity and, consequently, enrollments, Loss opted to have upper-level students who have been successful in the class facilitate small break-out groups.
“College is the first time students are away from home and on their own; they’re going through a very challenging period of growth both emotionally and intellectually,” said Fleming, who will graduate this December with a bachelor’s degree in English literature and a minor in women’s studies. “Then you take this class that blasts the Beatles at 9 a.m. and tells you about all the crazy stuff that people our age were doing and going through 40 years ago. It just really makes an impression.”
Steve Wize, a senior psychology student, also took Loss’s class as a freshman.
“It was my first class in college and, when I walked in, Dr. Loss had Bright Eyes—an indie folk band—playing over the speaker system,” said Wize, a self-proclaimed hippie. “I learned about the popular music and movies of the ’60s, the rules of the 1950s and nuclear families, the Civil Rights Movement, the counterculture, the Vietnam War and its relation to the Iraq war, and the general history of the ’60s and how the media was so influential in presenting it to the American public.”
As a teaching assistant for the class, Wize strives to create parallels from the 1960s to today. “It’s my goal to have each student that I lead in discussion be able to apply what they’ve learned from the ’60s to their values and decisions today,” he said. Wize served as a TA for three semesters and will resume his role in the classroom one more time for the spring 2009 semester. “I started college with Dr. Loss’s class and that’s the way I want to go out as well!”
Loss wrote “Pop Dreams: Music, Movies, and the Media in the American 1960s” (Harcourt, 1998), which is used in American Studies 105, and is working on a new book with two collaborators from Penn State Harrisburg on the history of American popular culture from its beginnings.
Throughout his tenure at Penn State Behrend, Loss held positions as associate and assistant professor and served as head of what is now the college’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences. He has written or co-authored more than 30 articles as well as four books, and presented numerous papers at technical and professional meetings. He earned his Ph.D. and master’s degrees in English and art history from Penn State University Park and a bachelor’s degree in English and social studies from Millersville University.
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is a comprehensive residential college offering 34 bachelor’s, six associate, four pre-professional and two graduate degree programs with 22 minors to more than 4,600 students. Focused on providing a student-centered environment, Penn State Behrend connects its students to a major research and land-grant institution on a campus enriched by more than 110 clubs and organizations, 21 NCAA varsity teams and 19 intramural sports.
Penn State Behrend is named in recognition of a donation by Mary Behrend, widow of Ernst Behrend, who founded the Hammermill Paper Co. in Erie in 1898. The Behrend family lived on the 400-acre Glenhill Farm, which is the core of the Penn State Behrend campus today.
For more information, visit behrend.psu.edu.