NYU Shanghai’s staple freshman course has garnered itself quite a reputation over the past three years. The Class of 2020 has heard not the nicest things from the GPS-ers before them: “You don’t even need to show up to class,” “As long as you write the essays you’re fine,” “You don’t actually need to do the readings they’re such a waste,” just to a list a few.With a landmark year for NYU Shanghai underway, one of its original traditions has undergone a makeover. The duration of the class has been shortened to one semester, meets twice a week, and previous instructor Jeffrey Lehman has stepped down. Duane Corpis has taken his place.Many freshmen had previous judgements about the class based on scuttle they heard from upperclassmen in the library. But as the first few lectures have passed, many have found themselves “surprisingly” enjoying it. The content itself is fascinating; offering a broad horizon of content from the globalization of Shanghai, to ancient Mesopotamian epics, to the effects of capitalism.However, the class’s work load proves to be hefty. The condensed time frame means more reading, therefore more of a time commitment. The readings are dense, not necessarily lengthy, but are stocked with philosophical jargon, making the assignments difficult for students. Chinese students especially have pointed out their difficulties with the readings.“There are many words we are not familiar with and the sentence structure is complicated, which makes it very hard for us to analyze. We aren’t used to reading in such great quantity before university. One of the readings took me three hours.” said Chinese student Elaine Wang.While the readings are often complex, Professor Corpis does a nice job breaking down the content. His lecture style is enjoyable, but his melodic voice and soft spoken nature lulls some to sleep instead of peaking their interest to get their brains working.“The class is interesting, but he speaks very fast and the information goes over my head. Eventually you can’t really tell what he’s saying and you get sucked into the monotone of his voice. It’s almost like white noise,” said American student Evelyn Patrell-Fazio.The year has just begun, so there’s no telling what direction GPS will take. But for now, students seem to be finding their way just fine. This article was written by Isabel Adler. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Ben Tablada