Conversation is a traffic; and if you enter into it, without some stock of knowledge, to balance the account perpetually betwixt you, the trade drops at once.
--Laurence Sterne

Honors 115: Joining the Conversation. One way to think of the scholarly life is to see it as a conversation.  Individuals share their views, and others respond in a (usually) cordial fashion. Thoughts are passed back and forth, refined, defended, expressed again, and reflected upon. And along the way, learning takes place: people leave the conversation having a fuller understanding of the issue, a new perspective and appreciation. The goal of Honors 115 is to develop in Honors Program students those skills that are essential to being able to take part in the scholarly conversation: critical thinking, critical writing, research, and oral presentation skills.  The course has a traditional academic focus (and, depending upon the specific professor, can be counted as core credit).

Honors 216: Honors Colloquium.
The Honors Colloquium is designed for second-semester students in the Florida Southern College Honors Program and will integrate those students into meaningful co-curricular events on and near the FSC campus. The Colloquium will combine reading, research, writing, and presentations as students prepare for and participate in events like the Festival of Fine Arts Series, the Florida Lecture Series, the Willis Lecture, and other culturally rich offerings in and around the Lakeland area. Small group discussion of the critical issues associated with each of these cultural, historical, religious, and political events will allow members of the Honors Program to explore the deeper significance of these events.

To the point, students in the Colloquium will develop (1) critical reading skills through active research, (2) critical writing skills through the composition of analytical essays, (3) critical thinking skills through active analysis of research and observed events, and (4) oral presentation skills by making at least three formal presentations to the class. Students will also develop a greater sense of academic and intellectual maturity as they decide what events to see—and on what timetable.