Current Events and Social Issues
This MIT Experimental Study Group seminar pairs weekly discussion of breaking news with deeper dives into scheduled controversies. Each session opens with student-led talk about that week's headlines, then moves to a prepared topic such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, marijuana regulation, criminal punishment, the Rwandan and Sudanese genocides, social security's future, or the Arab-Israeli conflict. Readings, films, and guest speakers supplement the conversations, and students are pushed to follow international news sources rather than relying on a single outlet. The format stays informal, closer to a moderated discussion group than a lecture course, with no exams described. Materials available through MIT OpenCourseWare include the syllabus and topic schedule. It suits students who want structured practice arguing through contested political and social questions rather than a deep content lecture sequence.