Values in Social Services and Health Care

Boston College - PL 233 - Fall 2001

Thursdays 4:30 – 7:00 p.m. - Room Location: Carney 003

David W. Manzo, Lecturer 451-5264 (Home) or 524-2333 ext. 225 (Work)

e-mail: davidmanzo@compassinc.com

Web Site for PL 233

http://216.48.234.2/values/pl233.html

Web Site for my Spring Class PL 216 – Boston An Urban Analysis

http://216.48.234.2/cities/pl216.html

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Student Assistants: Meghan Kane, Keith Maley, Kate Meny, Bernadette O’Keefe

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Brief Course Description:

"But you know, there are no children here.

They've seen too much to be children."

LaJoe Rivers, There Are No Children Here

"Homelessness in America begins at home."

Kathleen Hirsch, Songs From The Alley

"When a patient thinks his or her doctor is wrong and insists on a different, perhaps unwise, course of treatment, what should a physician do?"

Fred Friendly, Ethics in America

"We can degrade people by caring for them;

and we can degrade people by not caring for them."

Steven Marcus, Doing Good

"That's not fair!"

Probably your first moral judgment, Age 3

Through readings, lectures, discussions, and written work, we will pursue some of the questions raised by the facts, philosophies, and statements listed above. We hope to do more, too. Among the objectives for Values in Social Services and Health Care are:

to communicate an understanding of the social services and health care delivery system;

to explore ethical problems of allocations of limited resources, regulations, experimentation, the press, the homeless, and the responsibility for the dependent person;

to consider possibilities for positive changes in the social service and health care system.

 

 

 

 

Course Procedures: The class meets on Thursday afternoons from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. for lectures and from 6:15 to 7:00 for discussion groups. The discussion groups will be led by the instructor and student assistants, who will also, in consultation with the instructor, evaluate papers and journals.

 

 

Texts:

Economic Apartheid in America

By Chuck Collins

Doing Good: The Limits of Benevolence,

by Willard Gaylin et al

There Are No Children Here

Alex Kotlowitz

Songs From The Alley

by Kathleen Hirsch

A Home in the Heart of a City

by Kathleen Hirsch

Ethics in America - Source Reader

by Lisa H. Newton

The Cathedral Within

by Bill Shore

Grading:

Option A

Option B

Option C

PULSE Student

4Boston Volunteer

Others

Field Placement - 40%

   
 

Final Paper - 30%

Final Paper - 45%

 

Presentation of Final Paper - 5%

Presentation of Final Paper - 5%

Exam - 30%

Exam - 35%

Exam - 35%

Journal - 15%

Journal - 15%

 

Class Participation &
Discussion Group - 15%

Class Participation &
Discussion Group - 15%

Class Participation &
Discussion Group - 15%

 

PULSE Students will participate in an approved PULSE field project or an approved independent PULSE project. In addition, you will keep a weekly journal of the project and course involvement, incorporating readings, lectures, and field experience. Journal entries are to be emailed to your discussion group leader with a copy to me (davidmanzo@compassinc.com) prior to each discussion group. Journal entries cannot be made up at a later date.

 

4Boston Volunteer will participate in an approved 4Boston project. In addition, you will keep a weekly journal of the project and course involvement, incorporating readings, lectures, and field experience. Journal entries are to be handed in at each discussion group Journal entries are to be emailed to your discussion group leader with a copy to me (davidmanzo@compassinc.com) prior to each discussion group. Journal entries cannot be made up at a later date. 4Boston Volunteers will write an 8-10 page paper addressing a critical issue that you have faced at your placement. Please e-mail your topic to me by September 30, 2001 for approval. You will present the final paper in a 7 to 10 minute presentation near the end of the semester.

Non-PULSE Students (i.e. those not working in a PULSE field project) will write a well researched and documented paper (15-20 typewritten pages, due November 29, 2001) on a specific issue related to the health or social service system. Please e-mail your topic to me (davidmanzo@compassinc.com) by September 30, 2001. After your topic has been approved your must e-mail me a one to two page developmental outline of the paper, including your reading list and a list of people you intend to interview to me by October 25, 2001. You will present the final paper in a 7 to 10 minute presentation near the end of the semester.

Exam on the readings and lectures will be given as a take home. The tentative date for distribution is November 1, 2001. You will have two weeks to complete the exam which will include all texts and lectures through the classes of November 8, 2001.

Discussion Sections will be lead by the instructor and the student assistants. In addition to lectures and readings, topics will be drawn from field placement involvement. I expect that you come to class with an understanding of the readings and the ability to enter into discussion.

 

Course Calendar and Reading List

Date Topic & Speaker

September 6 Introduction

David Manzo

September 13 Special Needs

John Verre, Director of Consulting Services

COMPASS

Required Readings: (Doing Good) 67 – 96 Rothman

(No Children Here) Intro - 145

September 20 Social Conflicts in American Society

Dr. Timothy Callahan, Executive Director

Brandon Residential Treatment Center

Required Readings: (Doing Good) 41-66, Marcus

(Doing Good) 99-168 Glasser

(No Children Here) 146-193

 

September 27 Retributive Justice

Honorable Paul Heffernan

Somerville District Court

Required Readings: (Source Reader) 68 – 72 Genesis

(Source Reader) 97 - 103 Aquinas

(Source Reader) 104-110 Hobbes

(Source Reader) 123-124 Jefferson

(Source Reader) 151 - 154 M.L. King

(No Children Here) 193- End

October 4 Dangerous, Provocative Behaviors

David Hirshberg, Ed. D, Germain Lawrence

Required Reading: (Songs) Prologue – 167

October 11 Health Services to the Homeless

Barbara McInnes,R.N. & Jim Greene

The Pine Street Inn

Required Readings: (Source Reader) 43 - 61 Aristotle

(Source Reader) 110-114 Locke

(Source Reader) 182-189 Mills

(Songs) 168 –276

October 18 Inner-City Adolescents, Gangs &

Violence Prevention

Reverend Raymond Hammond

Founder, 10 Point Coalition

Required Readings: (Source Reader) 14-18 Plato

(Source Reader) 75-77 Deuteronomy

(Source Reader) 86-87 Luke

(Songs) 277 - 319

 

October 25 Mental Health System - William O'Brien L.I.C..S.W. – Executive Director UMASS Memorial Behavioral Health System

Required Readings: (Doing Good) 3 - 35 Gaylin

(Songs) 319 -End

November 1 The Cathedral Within

Bill Shore, Founder of Share Our Strength

Required Reading: (The Cathedral Within) 1- End

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 8 Truth on Trial

Henry Clark, Esq. Clark Hunt and Embry

Required Readings: (Source Reader) 72-73 Exodus

(Source Reader) 81-85 Mathew

(Source Reader) 126-138 Kant

View at O’Neil Library: Film, Truth on Trial (PBS Series – Ethics in America)

 

November 15 Social Service Challenges

David Manzo

Required Reading: (Home in the Heart of a City) (xi - 91)

November 29 A Home in the Heart of a City

Kathleen Hirsch, Author

Required Readings: (Home in the Heart of a City) (91- End)

December 6 Towards a Fair Economy

Chuck Collins, Co-Director,

United for a Fair Economy & Author

Required Readings: (Economic Apartheid in America)(1-End)