Lynne's English 101 blog

an amazing conversation

2005-03-25T11:41:00.000-05:00

I just did a quick keyword search in USCAN to see how many books on globalization were available in the USC library system and was struck by the recency of texts: out of 500 titles listed, 200 titles were published in the past year (2004) and almost 50 titles have 2005 publication dates. It seems significant to me to note that so many people are all so invested in this debate!

the real war by thomas freidman

2005-03-24T14:26:00.000-05:00

Friedman, T. (2001). The real war. In Moser & Watters (Eds.)
Creating America 4th ed. (pp. 519-521). NJ: Pearson / Prentice Hall.

Friedman, T. (2001). The real war. The New York Times, 27 Nov. 2001, A19.
Retrieved Mar. 24, 2005, from Expanded Academic ASAP database.

Some background on Friedman: Thomas L. Friedman is a journalist with the NY Times and a three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. He received a Master of Philosophy degree from Oxford University in Modern Middle Eastern Studies in 1978; from 1979-1984, he reported for the Times from Beirut, Lebanon, and from 1984-1988, he reported from Jerusalem where he served as the Times' Israel Bureau Chief. He is Jewish. His most notable longer work is The Lexus and the Olive Tree (2000).

Summary: According to Friedman in The Real War (2001), the United States is fighting in Iraq to "defeat an ideology: religious totalitarianism" for which "terrorism is just a tool" (p. 519). He compares this war to our prior struggles against "secular totalitarianism" during the Cold War when the U.S. fought against Communism and Nazism. Because this new struggle involves religion, Friedman argues that the war must be conducted in religious leaders in "schools, mosques, churches, and synagogues" as well as by armies. In particular, Friedman argues for an "ideology of plurality" that accepted "multiple" truths which are held by "all faiths that come out of the biblical tradition" (as suggested by Rabbi Hartman quoted in Friedman, p. 520). Friedman asserts that advocates of both Jewish and Christian faiths have been able to "reinterpret" sacred texts to accommodate modern perspectives such as a "multilingual view of God"; however, he also asserts that Moslems have not yet been able to make this significant shift to recognize the validity of other faith systems. He concludes with an appeal to "mainstream Moslems" to "realize" that they too must "interpret their past" so as to live peacefully in "this integrated, globalized world" (p. 521).

Pattern of organization: The op-ed genre is a specialized form of argument; see CCL, "The Genres of Public Debate," in Chapter 5, pp. 180-182. Editorials and op-ed's typically generate letters to the editor in reaction to an author's strongly stated opinions. Friedman is relying on an ethos that he has cultivated over his professional career to make his case as well as relying on authorities such as Rabbi Hartman. This is an example of an argument based primarily on ethos or authority.

For further analysis: Find letters to the editor that responded to Friedman's op-ed by doing a dated search; use the date of Nov. 27, 2001 as your starting point to see if you can find out how readers reacted to this particular column.

samuel huntington

2005-03-23T09:50:00.000-05:00

Huntington, S. (1993). The clash of civilizations? In Watters (Ed.)
Global Exchange (pp. 226-251). NJ: Pearson / Prentice Hall.

Huntington clearly states his thesis: "It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict…will be cultural" (p. 226). He calls the conflicts of the past "century and a half" (initiated with the Peace of Westphalia and ending with the secession of the Cold War) the "Western phase" of international politics: currently, the "centerpiece" of politics has become the relationship between the non-West and the West (p. 227). Huntington defines civilization as "cultural entity" (p. 227) which describes a collection of communities and countries: for instance, Europe shares a culture the West while China shares cultural norms with Japan and other Asian / Oriental countries. Huntington describes his analysis as "descriptive" (p. 248) so as to "consider implications" for peaceful co-existence during a period of time when distinctively different civilizations and values must share a common earth.

Huntington notes that historians such as Toynbee assert that there are currently six contemporary cultures (p. 228). These distinctive cultures are politically at odds. Huntington explains six reasons why modern warfare will be based on differences between civilizations (as opposed to difference between nation / states).
· First, basic differences between cultures such as Western, Islamic, Hindu, and Latin American cultures have historically "generated the most prolonged and the most violent conflicts" in world history (p. 229).
· Secondly, immigration and modern technologies have pushed different civilizations with different values together which has fostered deep-seated animosities (p. 229).
· Third, economic modernization has "weaken[ed] the nation state; just as Barber has noted, nations are less powerful than corporations. In turn, fundamentalists have increasingly begun to resist the secularizing tendencies of McWorld (p. 230).
· Fourth, the "elites" of most non-west civilizations are now proponents of indigenous resurgences (p. 230).
· Fifth, ideologies have become more significant than nationalism, and ethnic identities have become politicized. As Huntington notes, "A person can be half French and half Arab… [but] it is more difficult to be half-Catholic and half-Muslim" (p. 230).
· Sixth, countries that share belief systems have begun to form economic blocks (p. 231) which along with regionalism and ethnic identification, tends to create an "us" versus "them" relation (p. 232).

In Huntington's examination of the "fault lines" that have begun to appear in the New World order, he asserts that the tensions (and potential earthquakes) created along these lines "occur at two levels": at the "micro-level, adjacent groups…struggle, often violently, over the control of territory and each other. At the macro-level, states from different civilizations compete for relative military and economic power…[and] struggle for control of international institutions and third parties" (p. 232). In particular, Huntington examines the re-emergence of the historical divisions between major religions: Western Christians, Orthodox Christians, and Moslems, along the fault line which he draws between the ancient "Hapsburg and Ottoman empires" (p. 233).

Huntington characterizes peoples to the "north and west" of this fault line as peoples who descend from Europeans, the beneficiaries of the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution, and who are thus "economically better off" (p. 233). In contrast, Huntington characterizes peoples to the "east and south" of this fault line as beneficiaries of the "Ottoman or Tsarist empires," who are "much less likely to develop stable democratic systems" because they have historically been ruled by dictators and tyrants, even in more recent times since the Iron Curtain has given way to the Velvet Curtain. Huntington briefly outlines a broad sweep of historical events during the past 1300 years, to examine the waxing and waning tensions along this historic fault line, outlining the major wars of Europe and the Middle East to conclude that Desert Storm (in 1990) is the most recent (in 1993) illustration of the "centuries-old military interaction between the West and Islam," which Huntington asserts is "unlikely to decline" and which he predicts "could become more virulent" (p. 234). In some areas along this particular fault line (Iran and Iraq), anti-Western forces have become increasingly stronger; additionally, immigration of Muslims has led to racism particularly in Europe (p. 235). Huntington quotes Akbar, to predict that "the next confrontation … is definitely going to come from the Muslim world" (p. 235).

A second fault line can also be found between "Arab Islamic civilization" and Africa. Huntington again briefly outlines a broad sweep of historical conflicts to illustrate "the probability" of continuing struggles between Muslims and Hindus and between Muslims and north African Christians. In short, "Islam has bloody borders" (p. 237).

Next, Huntington examines the predictable reactions of nation / states to these historic conflicts by asserting that Greenway's description of "kin-country syndrome" can be examined as an explanation for emergence of new coalitions. Huntington further explains that in a "world of clashing civilizations," people will inevitably use a "double-standard" when cooperating with "kin-countries" (p. 238). Again, Huntington briefly illustrates his assertions by examining a broad sweep of historical wars and struggles to conclude that "the next war…will be a war between civilizations" (p. 240). This is a dire prediction indeed, and it's difficult to argue against Huntington's predictions even when we note that Huntington asserted in 1993 that there has been "virtually no violence between Russians and Ukrainians" (p. 240), an assertion which we know a decade later is absolutely false.

Huntington turns in his analysis to examine the dominant role of the West in the UN and other international institutions to assert that the West has increasingly attempted to "run the world in ways that will maintain Western interests…, political and economic values" (p. 241). Huntington characterizes Western values as "individualism, liberalism, constitutionalism, human rights, equality, liberty, the rule of law, democracy, free markets, [and] the separation of church and state" (p. 242). However, these values which are "most important" to Westerners are "least important worldwide" (according to Triandis, as footnoted in Huntington). Huntington describes three kinds of "responses" by the "non-West" to the West: 1. isolation (i.e. North Korea); 2. "bandwagoning" or "attempting to join the West and accept its values and institutions"; and 3. "balanc[ing]" by adopting some modern ways while denying Western norms (pp. 242-243).

Finally, Huntington examines the "torn countries" that he describes have been created by "bandwagoning" and "balancing": in particular, he points to Turkey, Mexico, and Russia as prototypes of "torn countries." Huntington asserts that "a torn country must meet three requirements": 1. the "political and economic elite" have to support any movements towards Westernization; 2. the general public has to accept these movements; and 3. all of the other countries within the "kinship area" have to "embrace the convert" (p. 245). Huntington believes that Latin American and East European countries will have little trouble with joining with the West, while Russian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist countries will have more difficulty (with the notable exemption of Japan). Huntington turns his attention to Western relationships with "weapon states" (p. 246) to explain that arms control, particularly regarding nuclear weapons, has become increasingly significant, especially since China has become a "major exporter of arms and weapons technology" as a "Confucian-Islamic military connection has thus come into being" (p. 247). Ultimately, Huntington asserts that his "descriptive hypotheses" lead to "implications" for "short-term advantage and long-term accommodation" (p. 248). Most importantly, Huntington asserts that "the West" must "develop a more profound understanding of the basic religious and philosophical assumptions underlying other civilizations and the ways in which people in those civilizations see their interests" (p. 249).

affluenza

2005-03-21T16:10:00.000-05:00

Today, as I got dressed, I took note of the countries where my clothes had been made: my sweater comes from China, my blouse from Vietnam, my skirt from Hong Kong. My other articles of clothing come from Mexico and Guatamala. The towels that I used originated in India and Pakistan.

In class, I showed students all of the printed ad materials that showed up along with my Sunday paper: Easter sales for all kinds of clothing, shoes, candies, and other consumer items entice us to buy, buy, buy. Credit cards make overspending so easy... until the bills come.

I encourage you to investigate further... check out the web site listed above. (For those in the 11:00 class, you got to see part of the video; those of you in the 10:00 class will view a selection of the video in class on Wednesday, now that the overhead light switch has been fixed. By the way, the technician who fixed the light switch acknowledged that these switches aren't "worth a dime; they break all the time." Another feature of our throw away society.

Post some comments to your blogs.

benjamin barber

2005-03-18T09:40:00.001-05:00

Barber, B. R. (1992). Jihad vs. McWorld. In Berndt & Muse (Eds.)
Composing a civic life (pp. 370-380). NY: Pearson / Longman.

Summary: According to Barber in Jihad vs. McWorld (1992), we face "two possible political futures - both bleak, neither democratic... [either] a Jihad in the name of a hundred narrowly conceived faiths against every kind of …social cooperation and civic mutuality, [or] one commercially homogenous global network: one McWorld tied together by technology, ecology, communications, and commerce" (p. 370). Barber asserts that "the forces of Jihad and the forces of McWorld operate with equal strength in opposite directions" so as to create a "centrifugal whirlwind" that competes with a "centripetal black hole" (pp. 370-371). Neither outcome is desirable.

Pattern of organization: Contrast and comparison in support of problem / solution

After setting up the opposing forces of McWorld and Jihad, Barber begins with the force with which most of us are most familiar; he first develops the forces of McWorld by exploring "four imperatives" (p. 371).

Barber asserts that McWorld has "eroded" national boundaries because "all national markets" have become "vulnerable" to free trade and international banking / currency exchanges that allow and privilege transnational and multinational corporations and entities like the World Bank. On the surface, peace is fostered by open markets. Religious and racial markers become less important when the more important characteristic of being human is seen as being able to shop and consume.

Furthermore, no one country can sustain itself as an ""autarky" anymore; we are all interdependent. Even wealthy countries like the United States depend on resources (like oil) found in other areas of the world (p. 372). The flow of goods is paralleled by the flow of ideas across boundaries because of modern developments in science and technology, particularly in the integration of "computer, television, cable, satellite, laser, fiber-optic, and microchip technologies" that have given us access to information and people all of the time in all places (p. 373).

Like James Watson, Barber acknowledges that the concepts associated with multinationals such as McDonalds, Disney, and Coke are more powerful than military force: "What is the power of the Pentagon compared with Disneyland? Can the Sixth Fleet keep up with CNN? McDonalds in Moscow and Coke in China will do more… than military colonization ever could" (p. 373).

Barber warns us, however, that capitalism and democracy "have a relationship, but it is something less than a marriage" (p. 374). Particularly in ecological and environmental matters, capitalism has created "greater inequality" because the modern world can not afford to allow developing countries to consume natural resources at the increasingly devastating rate that we see occurring in the current consumer markets.

Turning to the forces of Jihad, Barber relies on analysis of political headlines. Barber expects that his readers (of the Atlantic Monthly) will be quite familiar with the litany of political events mentioned in his discussion; for instance, he employs Lebanon metaphorically to examine literally hundreds of "subnational factions in permanent rebellion" (p. 374). He asserts that Jihad (which literally translates as "struggle") typically implies religious and parochial zealots who are "angry… proselytizing, deistic, ethnocentric" (and note that this article appeared in 1992, just after the first Gulf War, and just before the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993; note also that Barber makes reference to Saddam Hussein's "fatal mistake" of having invaded Kuwait when he asserts that "[d]espots who slaughter their own populations are no problem, so long as they leave markets in place and refrain from making wars on their neighbors" (p. 376). Barber draws parallels to the "Eastern European revolutions" (after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989) and to "Havel's velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia" (p. 377) to assert that democracies in these new nations can be very tentative and can easily be "traded away" by "anxious…new rulers" who seek to create solidarity; "the result has often been anarchy, repression, persecution, and the [return] of very old kinds of despotism" (p. 377).

Ultimately, ironically, McWorld and Jihad share dangerous characteristics: both are "antipolitical" and "antidemocratic" (p. 377). Barber proposes a "Confederal option" to counter both the "indifference" of McWorld and the "antithetical" tendencies of Jihad; although, he admits briefly that McWorld will probably prevail; "Jihad may be a last deep sigh before the eternal yawn of McWorld" (p. 378). Barber acknowledges that "confederations" modeled after the American Articles of Confederation that "stitched together" the American colonies after the American Revolution might be a preferred model to foster "decentralized participatory democracy" (p. 378). Barber thus urges those who wish to build democracies to "see out indigenous democratic impulses" and to be patient with the slow development of democracies that have to develop locally. Barber suggests that the "tortoise" of slow development is more likely to "win" the race than the "hares" who attempt to impose democracy all at once (p. 379); Barber thus concludes by quoting Rousseau, who wrote, "Freedom… is a food easy to eat but hard to digest" (p. 380).

Further analysis: In this particular case, the Internet is probably the better source for additional info on Barber: see http://www.benjaminrbarber.com/

Barber has most recently published another analysis entitled Fear's empire: war, terrorism, and democracy (2003) in which he examines US foreign relations since 2001. The themes of the newer text are similar to his assertions in his earlier work, however: "You can't export McWorld and call it democracy" and "You can't export America and call it freedom" (USCAn). Available through inter-library loan.

watson and mcdonalds

2005-03-18T09:40:00.000-05:00

Watson, J. L. (2000, May/June). China’s Big Mac attack. In Berndt & Muse (Eds.)
Composing a civic life (pp. 359-370). NY: Pearson / Longman.

Summary: According to Watson in China's Big Mac Attack (2000), fast food restaurants have made significant inroads in Chinese culture; therefore, he asks the question: "Is globalism - and its cultural variant, McDonaldization - the face of the future?" (p. 360) - an important question as we initiate our study of western influences on the rest of the world. Watson answers his own rhetorical question by

Pattern of organization: Cause and effect (and a hint of problem / solution)

First Watson claims to review the literature and the theorists who "argue that transnational corporations like McDonald's provide the shock troops for a new form of imperialism that is far more successful, and therefore more insidious, than its militaristic antecedents" (p. 360). But instead of academicians, he highlights op-ed writers such as Ronald Steel and Thomas Friedman, who has noted that no countries with McDonald's have ever fought each other in a war (p. 361).

To further investigate the secrets of the successful inroads made by fast food industries, Watson next explores the history of McDonald's in Hong Kong (a British consulate where McDonald's was "promoted… as an outpost of American culture" (p. 361). Because of changes in family life and traditional family values in China, Watson notes that McDonalds has taken advantage of an emerging focus on the "needs and aspirations" of the modern Chinese family, particularly given the "lavish attention" being given to the single child, the "little emperors and empresses" who are particularly vulnerable to the entertainments of "Uncle McDonald" (p. 363).

Admittedly, there are resisters who "grimace"; Watson points out that McDonald's has become a target for public protests against America, which has increased the "symbolic load" carried by the golden arches (p. 365).

However, McDonald's has responded by "disciplining" its work force and its customer base, and in so doing, has appealed to an "elite" group emerging within the modernized, consumer-based cultures that are developing in markets around the world. McDonalds has cleverly embedded itself into the local cultures in such a way that "it is increasingly difficult to see where the transnational ends and the local begins" (p. 369).

Further analysis: Watch for the war images and metaphors: "shock troops" and "outpost" indicate that Watson believes that international corporations have an imperialist design; they hope to conquer new territories and occupy new markets.

Note too that this essay is the intro to a collection of analyses on the inroads of fast foods in the Asian market: see USCan for further info / authors who have contributed to this collection edited and introduced by James Watson.

Barber, B. R. (1992). Jihad vs. McWorld. In Berndt & Muse (Eds.)
Composing a civic life (pp. 370-380). NY: Pearson / Longman.

Summary: According to Barber in Jihad vs. McWorld (1992), we face "two possible political futures - both bleak, neither democratic... [either] a Jihad in the name of a hundred narrowly conceived faiths against every kind of …social cooperation and civic mutuality, [or] one commercially homogenous global network: one McWorld tied together by technology, ecology, communications, and commerce" (p. 370). Barber asserts that "the forces of Jihad and the forces of McWorld operate with equal strength in opposite directions" so as to create a "centrifugal whirlwind" that competes with a "centripetal black hole" (pp. 370-371). Neither outcome is desirable.

Pattern of organization: Contrast and comparison in support of problem / solution

After setting up the opposing forces of McWorld and Jihad, Barber begins with the force with which most of us are most familiar; he first develops the forces of McWorld by exploring "four imperatives" (p. 371).

Barber asserts that McWorld has "eroded" national boundaries because "all national markets" have become "vulnerable" to free trade and international banking / currency exchanges that allow and privilege transnational and multinational corporations and entities like the World Bank. On the surface, peace is fostered by open markets. Religious and racial markers become less important when the more important characteristic of being human is seen as being able to shop and consume.

Furthermore, no one country can sustain itself as an ""autarky" anymore; we are all interdependent. Even wealthy countries like the United States depend on resources (like oil) found in other areas of the world (p. 372). The flow of goods is paralleled by the flow of ideas across boundaries because of modern developments in science and technology, particularly in the integration of "computer, television, cable, satellite, laser, fiber-optic, and microchip technologies" that have given us access to information and people all of the time in all places (p. 373).

Like James Watson, Barber acknowledges that the concepts associated with multinationals such as McDonalds, Disney, and Coke are more powerful than military force: "What is the power of the Pentagon compared with Disneyland? Can the Sixth Fleet keep up with CNN? McDonalds in Moscow and Coke in China will do more… than military colonization ever could" (p. 373).

Barber warns us, however, that capitalism and democracy "have a relationship, but it is something less than a marriage" (p. 374). Particularly in ecological and environmental matters, capitalism has created "greater inequality" because the modern world can not afford to allow developing countries to consume natural resources at the increasingly devastating rate that we see occurring in the current consumer markets.

Turning to the forces of Jihad, Barber relies on analysis of political headlines. Barber expects that his readers (of the Atlantic Monthly) will be quite familiar with the litany of political events mentioned in his discussion; for instance, he employs Lebanon metaphorically to examine literally hundreds of "subnational factions in permanent rebellion" (p. 374). He asserts that Jihad (which literally translates as "struggle") typically implies religious and parochial zealots who are "angry… proselytizing, deistic, ethnocentric" (and note that this article appeared in 1992, just after the first Gulf War, and just before the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993; note also that Barber makes reference to Saddam Hussein's "fatal mistake" of having invaded Kuwait when he asserts that "[d]espots who slaughter their own populations are no problem, so long as they leave markets in place and refrain from making wars on their neighbors" (p. 376). Barber draws parallels to the "Eastern European revolutions" (after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989) and to "Havel's velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia" (p. 377) to assert that democracies in these new nations can be very tentative and can easily be "traded away" by "anxious…new rulers" who seek to create solidarity; "the result has often been anarchy, repression, persecution, and the [return] of very old kinds of despotism" (p. 377).

Ultimately, ironically, McWorld and Jihad share dangerous characteristics: both are "antipolitical" and "antidemocratic" (p. 377). Barber proposes a "Confederal option" to counter both the "indifference" of McWorld and the "antithetical" tendencies of Jihad; although, he admits briefly that McWorld will probably prevail; "Jihad may be a last deep sigh before the eternal yawn of McWorld" (p. 378). Barber acknowledges that "confederations" modeled after the American Articles of Confederation that "stitched together" the American colonies after the American Revolution might be a preferred model to foster "decentralized participatory democracy" (p. 378). Barber thus urges those who wish to build democracies to "see out indigenous democratic impulses" and to be patient with the slow development of democracies that have to develop locally. Barber suggests that the "tortoise" of slow development is more likely to "win" the race than the "hares" who attempt to impose democracy all at once (p. 379); Barber thus concludes by quoting Rousseau, who wrote, "Freedom… is a food easy to eat but hard to digest" (p. 380).

Further analysis: In this particular case, the Internet is probably the better source for additional info on Barber: see http://www.benjaminrbarber.com/

Barber has most recently published another analysis entitled Fear's empire: war, terrorism, and democracy (2003) in which he examines US foreign relations since 2001. The themes of the newer text are similar to his assertions in his earlier work, however: "You can't export McWorld and call it democracy" and "You can't export America and call it freedom" (USCAn). Available through inter-library loan.

defining global citizenship

2005-03-15T12:39:00.000-05:00

As we saw in class, we can think of ourselves as global citizens or as global consumers, and depending on our different perspectives, we are either concerned about issues such as education and the sustainability of our environment, or about how much we can buy, easily and cheaply. In many ways, being a global citizen involves completely opposite values from being a global consumer. A global consumer won't really care much about where a product is made as long as she can buy it at an affordable price. A global citizen will stop and ask if a child in a sweatshop had to work for ungodly hours in inhumane conditions just so that the product was made available through imports so that it would be available for wealthy people a world away.

I find myself questioning how much I can really know about cultures in other parts of the world especially when I read selections like Thiong'o on page 353 in CCL: "I was born into a large peasant family [with a] father, four wives and about twenty-eight children...." and yet I can identify with the same author's statement: "English became the measure of intelligence and ability" (p. 355), which allows a child to "progress" - and the language of English has become an important western import to the developing world.

I recently read that South Koreans encourage their children to watch western TV so that they will learn more English. When Watson (pp. 359+) questions why Chinese parents would encourage their children to eat in McDonald's, and quotes Yan, a UCLA anthropologist who "discovered that working class Beijing residents save up to take their children to McDonald's" (p. 362) as a step of preparation towards Harvard or MIT, this is revealing of the change in attitudes that the Chinese now have towards their children, as "full scale consumers" (p. 364) not unlike American children.

The changing of cultural norms because of westerns expectations (impositions?) is further illustrated in Watson by discussion of "the line" which is first mandated by managers but later self-inforced by "regular customers" (p. 365); ironically, "public civility" is now associated with western norms in Asian cities like Beijing.

The cultural contrasts between fast food establishments in America and Beijing becomes more apparent, however, in Watson's discussion of how "consumers" in the Far East have turned the fast food restaurants into community centers where they can safely visit, read, or entertain.

Watson's analysis of McDonald's in China does digress into critique of the "little emperors / empresses" who he predicts will become so very selfish and indulged (after all, one child doted upon by four grandparents is a universal formula for disaster). Watson crosses over into economic predictions (the dismal science) when he writes that "like their counterparts in [AARP], future retirees in China are likely to be a vociferous, agressive lot who will demand more" consumer goods and benefits (p. 368).

As we have already seen in discussions of changing families and values in the U.S., globally, these changes are taking root in many parts of the world, so that these debates between being a consumer or a citizen take on global implications. Six billion people consuming at the same rate that Americans now consume would inevitably lead to environmental destruction and disputes would lead to wars over natural resources. As Watson acknowledges, the question is no longer simply "whose culture is it" that dominates; the more important question is what will be the outcome of "adventurism associated with rising affluence" (p. 365) as markets are opened and imports (and the Internet) make shopping a world-wide event?

defining family notes

2005-02-28T13:54:00.000-05:00

Notes taken on Defining Families (notes on CCL chapter 7)

Getting started: Images which I have in connection with family include family photos consisting of husband and wife; or of father, mother, daughter, and son; grandparents with grandchildren – or sometimes of extended families such as reunions, weddings, Christmas dinners and the like. On my dresser, I keep pictures of myself with my husband taken on our 25th wedding anniversary, as well as a photo of our whole family taken (at Olin Mills’ of course) when our daughter and son were young, as well as other photographic shots: our daughter and son in law after their wedding, our son dressed for his senior prom. My family fits the traditional image of family.

The grouping in the Rolling Stone photo of a “new” American family strikes me as the type of less committed group that I associate with Hollywood and pop culture. The “show” of family seems to be less real than fantasy, staged, designed, imagined.

Advertisements and television contribute to both extremes: nuclear and traditional families are certainly portrayed (as I type this, the television runs a United Air ad showing a retired man who decides to take his wife on a trip, followed by a father who considers how he will send his children to college by investing with Merrill Lynch – hardly a non-traditional attitude, but the Oscars are also being featured with all of the Hollywood pairings and splits that movies seem to inspire).

Monday, February 21: Pipher’s text, “Beliefs About Family” is taken from The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding Our Families (1996, available through inter-library loan). To analyze Pipher’s text, I first note that her thesis is an expanded definition and thus she deals with an issue of substantiation; she seeks to define "family" and thus deals with an issue of "disputed facts, definitions, causes, and consequences": According to Pipher, “Family is a collection of people who pool resources and help each other over the long haul” (237). In our society, one is “very lucky” if one’s family, so defined, is the one that one “is born into”; instead, more often, one forms a “family” of sorts. Pipher notes, however, that the security of family is not easily recreated. Therefore, her argument is one of substance, of definition. She uses examples of young men who recall being so beaten by fathers that they were forced to leave home, or of young women abandoned by mothers, to advocate the Sioux definition of family as extended community, where all adults were responsible for all children, as the most “healthy” for a community.

The context for Pipher's debate has been an on-going discussion in America about whether families are "broken"; we have long argued over particular issues that are implicated by changing gender roles such as the consequences of women in the workforce, day care, aging parents and nursing care, single parenting, divorce, and other volatile issues. Value-laden stereotypes are involved. Typically, religious and conservative voices have called for more traditional roles to be maintained; more liberal and non-traditional voices urge for more acceptance of different viewpoints. Pipher's intended readers would lean towards the more conservative views.

Pipher's reputation at the time of this writing depended on her publication of Reviving Ophelia (1994); ironically, Laura Bush a decade later is focusing her attention on the same kinds of concerns regarding adolescent boys.

As evidence and backing, Pipher examines the destructive influences that break down families: from idealized versions on television, to dysfunctional versions, the “culture of narcissism” and the pressures of contemporary culture on adult children who “after a certain age, … no longer have permission to love their parents” in a type of “socialized antipathy” (239). As enabling assumptions, Pipher notes that many cultures do not encourage children to abandon families for mates; however, western norms and especially Americans do value independence, to an extreme (240).

Pipher claims that we have now reached the “limits” of pushing individual rights to the point that “the rules of civility” are “crumbling”; “rudeness is everywhere” (240). Pipher ends by asserting that our culture has become so money-driven and so intent on the bottom line that “doing what is meaningful” as a family has become lost in the “commitment… to the self” and “doing what is reimbursed” (241).

In an Educational Leadership article (May 1998), Pipher adds to the discussion that we find on pp. 237+ by examining the impact that media portrayals have on our common expectations about family (which run to extremes of perfect to dysfunctional). Add notes here about this text???

I find myself remembering both my own “going away to college” and reflecting on my children’s experiences with separation from home; it’s never easy and perhaps it is harder on parents than on the children who leave. Parents are left “behind” while their children meet new friends and experience new ways of thinking. College students often do reach a point where they “prefer a community of friends to their biological families” (p. 238); but, as Pipher also acknowledges, “friends are harder to make in a world where people are busy, moving, and isolated” (p. 239. I recall having the luxury of spending time with new friends in the dorms, in college apartments, and during college activities; I often wonder what the experience of going to college would be like for my students who still live “at home” or who see college as just a matter of attending classes before going to work. I do agree that most American parents do hope that their children will be self-supporting and thus tend to encourage “leaving the nest” but I have also been fortunate both as a young adult who was supported by parents and as a parent who has been able to support my own children.

Wednesday, February 23: In this comparison of images, I’m actually more bothered by the depiction of the Scheibners (p. 245) because of the number of children: I deliberately had two children because I have strong beliefs about the fact that globally, our population needs to be held in check. The allusion to the “Onward Christian Soldiers” anthem of the crusades also begs analysis; the growing trend of home schooled students is of interest to me as an educator, especially since the evidence points undeniably towards the fact that home schooled students come to college better prepared for the rigors of academic study. Like Talbot, I question the extreme restrictions on these children, and I note the ironies of Talbot’s decisions not to explain why she and her husband have different last names or the implications of a growing cluster of advertisements for a Christian lifestyle.

Compositionally, Riedell’s photo centers the father in front of the big white house, surrounded by pretty children while his pleasant looking wife is pictured to the right; Seliger’s photo for Rolling Stone centers the mother (looking very natural with flowers in her hair) surrounded by other women and feminine allusions, while David Crosby as the lone male figure is situated to the right. It’s fairly obvious that in Riedell’s photo, the father is in control; whereas in Seliger’s photo, Melissa Etheridge has control of the set.

Both photos are promotional; the intention of the photographer is to entice the reader to examine the extremes of male / female dominations within family groups. (Ironically, even though I see my own family as much more traditional, most of my own family portraits are also female centered… humm.)

Note the statistics on www.childstat.gov; the number of children living with single parents is rising and the number of children living in poverty is also rising; anecdotally, I hear friends who are elementary teachers complaining more and more about children who are unable to learn. A friend who teaches third grade at a local elementary school told me yesterday that she's so tired of working with children who simply don't care to learn, because of parents who simply do not value education at all. She noted that these children don't even care to learn about their state (she's particularly interested in social studies and SC history) or the places that they might call home.

Anna Quindlen’s “The Good Enough Mother” contrasts the “new standards of mothering” with reflections on her own mother, who – according to Quindlen – might be seen as “neglectful” judged by today’s standards, but Quindlen’s point is that because “we live in a perfection society now,” no mother can measure up to “manic motherhood” as an “super-mom” who becomes a martyr. As Quindlen notes, “martyrs die” and it’s much more important to remember the fun times of family. Quindlen’s primary concept of her own mother was of a “safe place” which gave her freedom to roam, explore, and laugh.

Friday, February 25: In contrast to previous examinations of family (and most of these are really focused on mothers' roles - what about fathers?), James McBride’s mother, described in “Black Power” seemed to the young boy to be lacking in personal safety even though she was obviously in control: her refusal to answer his questions about her own background, however, and this son is bothered by a number of his mother’s denials: her “refusal to acknowledge her whiteness” (p. 262), her inability to give any quantity of time to any of the twelve children (two marriages are acknowledged on page 265), her insistence on “absolute privacy” and her distrust of all outsiders in general, her contradictory stances on issues such as welfare.

Monday, February 28: In conclusion, I’m struck by the extremes and the muddy middle; the mothers (and fathers?) who are idealized with all of their imagined picture perfect traits, and by all of the mothers and fathers who are actualized with all of their contradictions. In the end, we all have images of mothers and fathers and families who don’t quite get everything “right” even if we have a fixed image of what might even be called “right” – I recall again my own special father and his attempts to hold a family together after our mother’s tragically early death, as well as images of friends who had other problematic features in their families, and ultimately, I do agree that families serve to sustain and to support most of us throughout our lives.

The real “paradigm shift” that has occurred is that of moving away – physically – from the extended family of rural days; with children moving so much further away from mothers and fathers (perhaps exacerbated by divorce), and with fewer elderly parents staying in the homes of their children (fostered by an entire culture of assisted living arrangements), I believe that families are endangered. The cultural pressures on families are real; the environmental stresses are immense.

Every Sunday, I look over the pictures of young couples announcing engagements or recent marriages. Often, I’ve taught one or more of these young adults (and I especially look to see when they’ve graduated from USCA’s various degree programs and where they now have jobs). Most of them are about the same ages as my own adult children, so I sometimes know these young adults personally because of their prior involvements with my own family. I do think that it is possible to bring up the topic of family without polarizing debates about public policies, to cast family in terms of hope and compassion and support. I do think that a good place to examine families can be in analysis of the televised and advertised images in our culture, as well as to analyze current rhetorical debates (I heard President Bush this morning addressing the country's governors about the needs of families!).

Doing well on essay tests

2005-02-01T16:43:00.000-05:00

Doing Well on Essay Tests

Certain skills are necessary to succeed on an essay exam.
1. You must understand how to take good notes during the class lectures and assigned readings.
2. You must understand how to organize your notes, to anticipate essay questions.
3. You must understand how to mentally revise an essay question into a manageable answer.
4. You must be able to organize your thoughts quickly.
5. You must be fairly fluent in school dialect.
6. You must have quick editing skills.

This handout and overview can help you with skills 1, 2 & 3. You will have to practice writing essay exams to master skills 4, 5, & 6. (And practice is best done before the test situation. You can practice for essay exams by setting up a testing situation for yourself. Take the time, while studying for an exam, to practice writing up two or three potential essay answers in a timed environment, like the Writing Room.)

Background assumptions: Essay tests in college typically call for more than retelling what one has read or heard. Application, analysis, and synthesis are critical thinking skills that are valued here. To illustrate, here are some model notes on a lecture, which are then applied towards a model essay question, followed by some time-honored suggestions for students who must take essay exams.

Teachers who give essay tests assume that the students have a rich store of material from the class lectures. Lectures in these classes will usually be organized to highlight the main ideas, and students must learn how to recognize these main ideas, as well as how to use supporting examples and illustrations to clarify and explain these primary concepts.

In the actual test situation: First, it is important to read the actual essay question carefully, to understand the imperative command. Pay attention to the verb; what is the question asking you to do? You do not want to just "dump" everything that you know about a subject. You must address the directions implied in the essay question. For instance, to "describe" implies that you must provide specific details. To "explain" implies that you must provide definitions. To "analyze" implies that you must take something apart to see what it is made of. (To more fully appreciate the differences between these modes of discourse, I suggest that you become familiar with the patterns of paragraph development discussed in the Brief Handbook, chapters 2 and 3). For the most part, essay exams rely on expository patterns (definitions, examples, illustrations, reasons, comparisons, contrasts, causes and effects).

Secondly, it is important to realize the time constraints of the essay test. You will need to do a quick scratch outline so that you can spend the allotted time writing a good first-draft answer. You should allow some time at the end for rereading and editing. You should leave ample space (for instance, skip two or three lines between paragraphs) to add neat revisions.

Note that expectations will differ for a 20-minute essay contrasted to expectations for a 45-minute essay. In 20 minutes, you should be able to write three focused paragraphs (about a page or two). In a 45-minute essay, you should be able to generate a fuller essay (about four pages, typical bluebook length).

DO NOT TRY TO WRITE FIVE PARAGRAPHS UNLESS THE QUESTION CALLS FOR THREE SPECIFIC POINTS.

For more information about taking essay exams, review the Brief Handbook, chapter 42 (in the section appropriately titled "College Survival Skills" which also includes good advice on the "habits of successful students" and "active reading strategies").

Paraphrase of David Bloom's "Ideals and Reality"

2005-01-26T10:21:00.000-05:00

Brooks, David. "Ideals and Reality." New York Times on the Web. 22 Jan. 2005. 26 Jan. 2005. On Thursday, January 20, 2005, when President Bush idealistically spoke of America’s high calling, many people who despise America around the world pointed to the fact that millions of dollars were spent on inaugural balls, wet bars, and glamorous gowns, among other materialistic indulgence. According to editorialist David Brooks, many accuse Americans of being overly “materialistic”; however, Brooks asserts that America’s ideals are not just “sham” or a “cover” for behaving badly. Brooks believes that idealistic rhetoric provided by our founding fathers in our Constitution, and our “high ideals” about the importance of freedom – in spite of our frailties and our material vulgarities - have become a “practical and true” foundation for our wealth and power as a nation. Unfortunately, Americans are no better as human beings; we still see our youth engaging in drunken revelries, and many Americans act greedy, wasteful, and stupid. But, quoting Santayana, Brooks asserts that American privileges are founded in worthy ideals about freedom. We hold these truths to be self-evident, and therefore Brooks believes that the realities of wealth and power which are founded in our assumptions of life, liberty, and our individual pursuits of happiness are our birthrights.

summary of winn's reading and television

2005-01-18T16:39:00.000-05:00

According to Marie Winn, in "Reading and Television" (excerpted from The Plug In Drug, 1985), reading is more satisfying than watching television because the child has more control over the written words than the visual images. First, the child who reads naturally must create mental images that are more flexible and inventive, so the child is in control of this inventive process of "seeing" the characters in his or her mind. In this age when so many children are influenced by the "virtual eclipse" of dominant images from television, many teachers are beginning to question whether some children have lost their creative imaginative skills. Additionally, children who read are in control of the pace of the process. These children can reread or look up additional information or even skip ahead. Perhaps most importantly to Winn, the emotions that are generated by reading or viewing are substantially different. As Winn notes, "[on TV] images move too quickly… to invest the people and events portrayed … with personal meanings." The child's needs for continuity and relevance are secondary to the "immediacy of sights and sounds." If someone else disturbs the "thread," the child cannot turn away from the program without losing some of the meaning: "The greetings must wait, for the television program will not." Ultimately, the reader is more in control, both physically and emotionally. As Bettelheim notes, "A good book both stimulates and frees the mind" (qtd. in Winn).

reading diagnostic example: the right to fail

2005-01-12T14:27:00.000-05:00

Summarize the essay: Identify the writer's thesis, main point(s), and/or claims.

According to Zinsser in "The Right To Fail" (excerpted from The Lunacy Boom, 1970), during the "fluid years of youth," young people should not be so afraid of being labeled a failure that they fail to explore the many "side trips" that life offers them to take; even though parents and society at large might expect them to conform to a particular way of defining success, Zinsser - at the time of this essay's publication - is hopeful that society might opening up to more "individual visions" of success, and might be more accepting of young people who decide, for instance, to take time away from climbing the corporate ladder, to volunteer for a few years' service in VISTA, in particular. Underlying Zinsser's advocacy of "dropping out" is a tacit approval of such volunteer service.

Analyze the structure of the essay: Discuss the types of organizational pattern(s) and/or the rhetorical appeals that the writer has used to develop the main ideas.

This essay is a classic argument, a "problem to solution" essay. Zinsser begins with a startling statement that he likes the word "drop out" to introduce a problem that he thinks needs to be solved: "the right to fail is one of the few freedoms that this country does not grant to its citizens." Zinsser states that because of this lack of freedom, young Americans do not have the individual right to explore their dreams or to express their dissent to the commercialized concept of the American dream of success, the one that advertisers play on to sell their secular version of salvation, in their "hymn[s] of material success."

Next Zinsser begins to suggest a solution: through contrast and examples, he first contrasts the active 18 year old Vista volunteer to the middle aged TV addict; he also lets his reader "hear" the questions of the young ("What if we fail?" and the definitive answer of their parents ("Don’t). As his own answer, Zinsser states his own thesis / assertion and answer: "Don't be afraid to fail." He states that history is full of "eminent dropouts."

As proof and evidence, Zinsser provides the following examples. First, he calls on the image of Holden Caudfield, in Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. This literary figure would have been very familiar to Zinsser's audience in 1970 (presumably an audience reading the NY Times). In 2005, Holden - as a character - has been around for over 70 years, and today's young people have probably lost touch with him. The other references to literary authors and characters and to history - George Eliot and T.S. Elliot, Casesar & the Helvetii - might be similarly obtuse allusions in 2005, even to most college students. Zinsser's comparisons of "failures" to most artists, however, might still ring true. The same assertion: "Writers, playwrights, painters, and composers work in expectation of periodic defeat" might be extended to musicians, athletes, and scientists / engineers as well. Zinsser's references to "hippies" and to "VISTA" have a dated feel to them, but presumably students in 2005 can still appreciate this advocacy for public service: see http://www.americorps.org/vista/. Zinsser's stance is primarily a call for public service.

He anticipates counter-arguments by admitting that there is no one "right path to the top" because colleges have only a "partial answer" (particularly for students who find the courses to be "vapid") and "obviously business does not have the answer" - in the 1970's, of course, the counter-culture was indeed "scornful" of corporate America.

Zinsser concludes that only the individual can decide what is best for himself; there is no clear plan of action, but he urges Americans - particularly middle aged parents and adults - to be more forgiving of young "failures" because these failures are often necessary for individuals to grow (and if these young people should decide to join VISTA, so much the better!).

Interpret the meaning of the essay: Consider the writer's intentions (purpose and/or awareness of audience).

Deb Potee, AmeriCorps*VISTA Placement Officer in Boston and former VISTA (Boston 1992-93) contributes this bit of research on the origin of VISTA and national service (see http://www.friendsofvista.org/vhistory.html) . "The idea of creating a national service program was developed soon after the Peace Corps was created. President Kennedy organized a small group of people to determine the feasibility of a domestic volunteer service program headed by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Many of the ideas thrown around at that time are still integral parts of what we know today as VISTA, including having the program be available to people of all ages, keeping it relatively small, a one year commitment and a modest pay to cover basic living expenses. The National Service Corps, after being approved by the Senate, met with a hostile Congress and was tabled. VISTA was not actually realized until the Johnson Administration under the Economic Opportunity Act in 1964 in his 'War on Poverty' legislation. Along with HeadStart and other anti-poverty programs, VISTA's goal was to eliminate "poverty in the midst of plenty by opening to everyone the opportunity to work and the opportunity to live in decency and dignity."

According to the Friends of VISTA, http://www.friendsofvista.org/vfaq.html "In the early 70's, with the passage of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act, VISTA and several other programs, including the Peace Corps, were merged into a new agency called ACTION, the Federal Domestic Volunteer Agency. In 1993, the National Service Trust Act combined three entities -- ACTION, the Commission on National & Community Service, and the White House Office of National Service -- into the Corporation for National Service, and VISTA became part of AmeriCorps. The formal name of the program is now AmeriCorps*VISTA.
VISTA has a colorful, political, and sometimes painful, history. Two books on the history of VISTA are 'In Service to America,' by Marvin Schwartz, detailing the history of VISTA Volunteers in Arkansas, and 'The Politics of Peace Corps & VISTA', by T. Zane Reeves, which chronicles the political forces that shaped the administration of the domestic & international service programs."

With this knowledge, students in 2005 who are reading Zinsser's essay should become more aware of the cultural background that shadows the stance of this author. As a noted academic, Zinsser's biography can also be referenced through DISCUS / Biography Resource Center; students can also examine USCan to see what works by Zinsser are available on our shelves or through intercampus loans. (Unfortunately, the 1970 text, The Literacy Boom, isn't represented in our holdings.)

Evaluate the usefulness of the essay: Comment on how you perceive that the passage or selection might be useful in a personal or academic sense.

Fortunately, a student in 2005 doesn't really have to have read Catcher in the Rye (1951; Aiken PS3537. A426 C3), or even be aware of VISTA volunteers to identify with Zinsser's primary argumenst: "In the fluid years of youth, the only way for boys and girls to find their proper road is often to take a hundred side trips." We do need - as a society - more tolerance of "mavericks and dissenters and dreamers," and we need to encourage more service to our communities and less fear of failure. Unfortunately, there is less resistance to the national idolatry of materialism and the "right to fail" is still rarely granted as a freedom of youth. To take a year "off" from school in service to our national needs is rarely chosen as a path by today's young people. But, the fact that most high school students in my own classes do go directly to college without any real understanding of why they are doing so, except as preparation - they hope - for a well-paying job, is indicative of a cultural shift, a loss of the "dawning awareness" of "when the country was younger" and there were alternative routes to definitions of success.

Waste

2004-11-16T13:50:00.000-05:00

In the excerpt entitled "Waste" by Wendell Berry (1990), the author explains that soloving our "waste problem" requires a more complex understanding of "how much waste of human life is involved in our waste of material goods." He argues that the problem is created by producers of flimsy goods as well as by lazy and self-indulgent consumers.

Berry begins by describing the pollution that he has personally witnessed due to seasonal flooding of the rivers that feed his bottomland fields. As a farmer and a countryman, he bemoans having to deal with the various ruinations of plastic, aluminum, and glass; furthermore, he has personally witnessed the dumping of used appliances and gadgetry all over the Kentucky countryside. He must acknowledge, however, that he is himself a consumer, and try as he might to avoid waste, he too must "shop" and thus he too must admit that he is forced to contribute to the every growing waste flow. While he is "angry" at producers who encourage profligent ways, he is also congizant of the fact that most people have no way of growing enough food to feed themselves. He argues finally, in a cause and effect pattern, that young children and the elderly could be more profitably employed in a return to the patterns and daily life of a family farm. Thus the apparently unrelated concepts of packaging waste, meaningful education, and usefulness in one's declining years are all addressed as parts of the whole: with more families growing food, fewer children and elderly would be cast aside, and waste would be naturally diminished.

Rhetorically, Berry is advocating a more communal and agrarian lifestyle. He interprets the "social ideal of mininal involvement" as the least liberating results, ironically, of our affluence. The more dependent that we become (for our food and well being) on the industries that produce goods cheaply for us to buy, the more waste (of both product and human potential) will occur.

Berry is thus a proponent of a "simple life" by advocating a return to "good work" such as community farms and farmers' markets. As a landowner myself and a gardener, I do agree that more of us might be encouraged to grow our own foods and to share our garden's abundance.

silencing the idiot box

2004-10-29T07:31:00.000-05:00

Here's a tidbit of info from the Nov. 1, 2004 issue of Newsweek: p. 16.

American has a love-hate relationship with television. HBO and the Discovery Channel, mostly good; reality TV and cable news, often bad. But no matter which shows people watch, everyone agrees that television is becoming more pervasive. Anywhere you go - a restaurant, bar, airport, etc. - a TV can be found. Now San Francisco engineer Mitch Altman - who compares TVs in public places to secondhand smoke - has what some might call a vigilante solution to the problem: TV-B-Gone, a $14.99 infared gadget that can remotely shut off about 1,000 models of TV sets. The device struck a nerve: Altman's initial stock sold out in just two days. (N'Gai Croal).

Sample essay answer to the in-class test question:

Television has become an increasingly present force in American culture over the past sixty years and most American families have at least one TV in the family room. More often than not, most Americans have multiple TV sets that interfere - if only in the background – with quality time in their family life. To further examine the influence of TV on families, Earley’s essay (or story) "Somehow Form a Family" and Mulholland / Martin’s report, "Tune Out" arrive at the same dispiriting and discouraging conclusions: TV has been more of a negative influence on families than a positive one.

Earley’s essay might be more correctly labeled a work of fiction, taken from a collection that is subtitled as “stories that are mostly true” (p. 521). Earley’s narrator describes growing up in a Mayberry sort of place, except that his family is fractured and crass, and while his family role models are drawn from sitcoms like the Brady Bunch, the actual family described in this essay is much less attractive. At first, he categorizes his family as poor because they didn’t have a color TV (and he uses a pun to indicate how different his family really was from the Brady Bunch family by commenting about the Frady dog). The first indication that Earley blurs the line of distinction between fantasy and reality occurs when he recalls watching the 1969 moon walk: “The moon as I remember it was full, although I have since learned that it wasn’t” (p. 522). Indirectly, Earley demonstrates that even newsworthy and historical events can become distorted by TV. This memory also prepares us for the distortion of truth in his personal life. When his sister, Shelly, pretends to walk on the moon, he says that she is beautiful, but later when he casually mentions her death in an automobile accident, he displays no emotional connection with his sister at all.

Over the course of a few pages, Earley’s narrator “grows up” with TV, through a list of channels – east, west, south, and north. This compass of shows encompasses his entire being and wastes family time. He comments, “It had taken (his mother) all afternoon to get the color just right” (p. 523), which indicates how much control the TV has over the family, especially when the mother and father begin to fight. The father moves out and back in; neighbors die, the son rebels, Shelly dies, and meanwhile the television “stared like a diseased eye into the living room” where the parents “turn off the lights so that they could see better” (p. 527). The irony of the family’s despair is illustrated in the son’s checkups for narcolepsy, mental illnesses, and even his consideration of suicide, culminating in his conclusion that he would have believed a fictional character named Alice (The Brady Bunch maid) if she had just said to him, "Everything's going to be alright," because he had "grown up in front of a television" (p. 528).

Early demonstrates through his story that television provides an escape from reality not unlike that of drugs or alcohol. A person can slip away into the fantasy world offered by television programs and effectively impede the pressures and anxieties of their own lives. This is similar to 'going on a trip' induced by drugs or alcohol.” We accept the fact that families can be torn apart by drug and alcohol addiction; most of us have not considered that families are at risk from television addiction. In this piece of writing, Early develops an argument against the content of TV shows, primarily, and secondarily he seems to argue that families spend too much time watching the idiot box.

In contrast to Earley's literary approach, Mulholland and Martin’s report employs a scholarly, scientific approach. As students who decide to do research on the influence of television, their report starts with journals and then moves into field research. They rely on statistics given on a website: http://www.killyourtv.com/ to set the stage for their own observations. They triangulate their data: First, they each record and report on their own viewing habits, by categorizing their use of television. Secondly, they record and report on their decisions to stop watching TV for a month. Again, they categorize the results. Thirdly, they attempt to broaden their conclusions, drawn from personal observations, that television negatively influenced their social lives with family and friends by conducting surveys of 100 college age students, followed up with more detailed questionnaires of students who agreed to abstain from watching TV for one week. They run into problems finding anyone to commit to their requests for students to abstain, so they recruit outside sources, to find that “eight out of ten” couldn’t forego TV watching for even one week. They finally conclude that "TV has a negative effect on how we socialize" (p. 533). Their conclusion seems less important, however, than the discussion of how they discovered time to “read more, complete… projects, and converse… more with those around [them]” (p. 531). In conclusion, Martin and Mulholland address the quantity of TV viewing primarily, but they are less concerned (and in fact do not address at all) the quality of the shows that are watched. Their conclusions are based entirely on statistics amounts of viewing time.

Thus, in contrasting narrative and scientific formats, both of these articles – structured as essay / story / report - inductively conclude that TV has a negative influence on family life in America. By providing details through story and through report, both articles illustrate a wide range of influences and by concretely using examples that most of us can “see” in our minds’ eye, both articles “argue” for the problem and – by implication – to urge each of us to turn off before we “tune out.” Contrasted to the standard argumentative format of thesis / support or problem / solution, a reader might feel more emphatic or more connected to these works than to a researched argument. On one hand, a reader might be more inclined to see these two stories as “their problem.” It’s easier to dismiss personal accounts than it is to dismiss reliable, valid and fair research. Anecdotal stories and personal reports always run the risk of being too individual to “count” as representative. On the other hand, reports run the risk of being too abstract, too lacking in emotional quality to create a sense of identity with the reader.

For myself, though, after reading both of these two excerpts, I found myself wanting to simply shut off the TV background noise and spend some quality time with my family.

analysis of klein's polling essay

2004-10-28T16:21:00.000-05:00

Klein, J. (4 Oct. 2004). The trouble with polls and focus groups. Time, 29.

Entering the controversy - "a long-standing Hollywood fantasy about how to succeed in politics" - we find debate on an issue of evaluation: Are polls effective or ineffective?

Obviously American politicians (and their managers) have come over the decades to rely on polling; reference http://www.pollingreport.com/focus.htm. Klein implies that this accepted practice should now be challenged.

Concessions: Klein admits that Clinton was "a master" at using polls; he also acknowledges that "the modern tricks…are not inherently malevolent" but "most pols aren't so clever" because they tend to rely "on ancient market-tested formulations." Note that Klein implies that markets and economics are not very good measures for civic assessments!

The intended readers are regular readers of Time who are interested in following the political process (including those of us familiar with the films mentioned!). We are being asked to reconsider an "established fact or belief."

The rhetorical stance: Klein starts out with "what we know" by appealing to recent memories about political campaigns and in so doing, Klein contrasts the film versions with reality: John McCain and Howard Dean both lost out when they became impassioned in their campaigns. Klein also admits problems inherent with polling. But Klein also interjects emotional appeals through diction choices: "wizardocracy" and "malevolent" and "banal"- and through syntax and allusions: "take polling, please" (reminiscent of the Honeymooners' ?? comic line of "take my wife, please." Logical appeals also appear in statistics ("90%") that are sometimes combined with ethical appeals ("have told me privately").

Use of evidence includes analysis of voters who refuse to answer questions in telephone polling or who are unreachable (young people with cell phones) or who are new voters or inconsistent voters (who might be inclined to vote because of the Iraq war) or who might be frustrated by the lack of qualified candidates.

This final voter frustration gets emphatic attention in the essay when Klein describes a group of undecided voters in Kansas City in order to arrive at this final assertion that "true leadership means taking the country to a new place and describing the journey in words that are new and fresh, specific and true." Common knowledge, yes. Klein's enabling assumption is that such a person surely exists, but that the political system doesn't encourage this kind of person to run for national office. The implicit stance is that somewhere, somehow, Mr. Smith (a fictional character) might be still found, but the implied backing is that this fantasy isn't about to come true at least in the short run.

Qualifiers: Klein reports speaking to a group in Kansas City who opens his eyes to "a revolutionary message" which undermines "the very purpose of the focus group" and this personal observation / story thus reinforces Klein's assertion that political polling has outlived its usefulness and that Hollywood's fantasy of an outspoken and liberated candidate is still a desirable, if illusive, model for the American presidency.

Ultimately Klein's main claim is that opinion polls and focus groups don't "count" because what is truly needed is a president who will "stand up" and "do what… is right."

analysis of iPod essay

2004-10-18T07:18:00.000-05:00

The "problem is, American politics are un-American."

Documentation of source: Poniewozik, J. (2004, 27 September). The age of iPod politics. Time, 84.

Introduction of problem: The problem is introduced by way of analogy: "Imagine America is a car…, an SUV." Poniewozik uses the image of a spacious SUV to illustrate how members of the American family can each "have it" in one's own ways, co-existing on our trip as consumers where "diversity of preference" is "mandatory." Because we have become so accustomed to making our choices without regard to other ways of thinking, and because we are able to live in this state of "happy apartheid" without actually communicating with each other, we have grown use to the assumption that "we should be catered to!" even in our choices of a president. The problem is thus defined: As Americans we are trying to force the same patterns of thought when contrasting our consumer behaviors (choices of TV shows, food, clothing, hobbies) with our civic choices (election of a president). More explicitly, the problem is that our political choices are not the same as our consumer choices. Yet public perception is political reality.

Consequences of not solving the problem: If this problem of perception is not solved, our patterns of thinking simply lead us into more partisan beliefs: "so the losers become more aggrieved in defeat and the winners less generous in victory."

Introduction of solution: Why cannot we just all get along?

Audience awareness: This solution is aimed rhetorically at a particular age group of citizens. Poniewozik asks his readers to remember how we "managed to ride" in an earlier version of automobile, which he describes as" a 1964 Chrysler with bench seats and no drink holders and one radio." He reminds his readers of a certain age (those who can remember such a vehicle!) that at one point in our history, we managed to live in a semi-peaceful way during family trips. I can recall those bench seats and automobile games in which we counted cows or identified signs that used up the letters of the alphabet, during which we shared packed treats as well as dozing on each others' laps and shoulders. We weren't always comfortable with the volume of the music or the wind rushing though hot air from open windows, but we were all aware of how we had to tolerate the conditions and each other in order to get to where we wanted to go. We could not "happily [obliterate] the unpleasant evidence of one another's existence."

Acknowledgement of counterarguments: Poniewozik uses color imagery to evoke and visualize his potential opposition as "stark, black silhousettes tethered by our brilliant white earbuds, rocking out passionately and alone." He refutes and contests our modern approaches to traveling without speaking to each other by asserting that unless we find ways to "surrender our headsets" (connected to individual iPods), we will not be able to notice the darkening storm gathering outside. Moreover, if we focus on asserting our individual rights in "this damn thing" by dogmatically driving or counter-protesting in the back seat, we'll also miss out on the "vast prairies and scenic prospects" that move past us.

Presentation of a clear plan of action: There's no clear plan of action to implement the solution; in fact, the essay ends rather pessimistically: "It's going to be a bumpy ride." Of course, there's a note of irony / sarcasm in this conclusion as well; the line definitely recalls Mae West and thus takes on a dramatic approach to the "plan of action" that might be implied. Earlier in the essay, Poniewozik recalls that in our last attempt to choose a president, it took "five out of nine Supreme Cournt In the short term, Poniewozik indicates that we - as a society - will probably continue in our rhetorical attempts to "drown each other out."

Evaluation of argument: Even though the essay lacks a "clear plan" I find the essay to be rhetorically effective. It may be less effective as a true "solution" oriented text, but "The age of iPod politics" is still an interesting, amusing, ironic, and ultimately thought-provoking essay.

additional info to guide you in choosing an environmental problem for your problem / solution draft

2004-10-08T08:54:00.000-05:00

Possible research questions for a problem / solution paper on environmental concerns - Be aware that this is probably the most difficult paper that I will ask you to write this semester. You will need to refine your topic to develop an effective research path. As you do exploratory reading, look for particular problems that have several well-defined solutions. As you start to take notes, follow the advice given in the Brief Handbook on pp. 112: the checklist on page 115 is particularly helpful. You will in all likelihood have to find out more about these areas listed below than you already know, but you will certainly want to start your focused exploration on a topic based on your own interests and your own experiences with a more particular topic!

??? Are you interested in finding out more about Leopold, the history of conservation, or land use issues? Are you interested in exploring the actions that are currently on-going to stop urban sprawl or old growth forest destruction, to preserve natural places, and / or to protect particular species?

Ø Do some additional research on creation of national parks and forests, or on the activities of organizations like the Sierra Club, Audubon, the Nature Conservancy, American Forests, or Greenpeace, or on efforts to save particular species like manatees, red-cockaded woodpeckers, or others that you know are endangered. Or do some investigations about local or national initiatives such as land trusts, heritage corridors, and reclamation projects. Be sure to investigate the history of environmental protections such as the Endangered Species Act.

??? Are you interested in finding out more about climate changes and predictions about global warming? Are you interested in finding out more about possible solutions to problems with water and air pollution?

Ø Do some additional research on the histories of Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, and the United Nations' efforts to create protocols like the Koyoto agreements; look for current information about new technologies for automobiles (like hybrids), or efforts to reduce emissions - such as debates about the future of hydrogen fuel cells.

??? Are you interested in finding out more about America's addition to material goods? Interested in finding out more about reducing personal debts and saving more?

Ø In many ways, your own personal consumption habits will provide enough evidence, particularly if you regularly use credit cards or if you find yourself working more hours to pay for a new automobile or for cell phones or for any number of consumer goods. But you might additionally research to find out up to date info about personal debt, bankruptcies, and marketing influences (remember that the Affluenza video provides info that is current to the 1990's). Look for added material from authors like Juliet Schor and other voices from the video. For instance, Schor has published several relevant books: Born to Buy (2004); Do Americans Shop Too Much? (2000); and The Overspent American (1998).

??? Do you have an area of environmental interest that doesn’t seem to fit in the areas listed above?

Ø Email me with your ideas and I'll give you some additional guidelines or suggestions for research.

summary of orr and quinn

2004-10-06T07:54:00.000-05:00

Orr, David W. (21 April 2000). Saving future generations from global warming. In Berndt and Muse (Eds.), Composing a civic life (pp. 409-411). NY: Pearson/Longman.

As chair of environmental studies at Oberlin College, Orr's editorial (first published in the Chronicle of Higher Education) begins with reference to Orwell's classic 1984. He identifies the problem of "global warming" through dire predictions ranging from "super storms" to "disease…, loss…, [and] bitter conflicts" over resources (p. 409). To solve this problem, Orr calls for a long-range perspective on global warming, relying first on contrast as he presents a series of rhetorical questions in which he condemns current policy decisions [such as the recent U.S. rejection of the Koyoto Protocol]. By comparison, he asserts that our society's inefficient consumption of fossil fuels is based on the same arguments that once defended the institution of slavery: our economic system would be destroyed without it. He states that our "tacit" claims that buttress this assertion include our rights to choose our lifestyles and our beliefs that the climate can adjust. He also exclaims that future generations will pay the costs of our refusal to act: "We are placing [future generations] in bondage" (p. 410). He relies on Leopold's land ethic by paraphrasing Leopold's assertions to assert that we have no right to impose the consequences of our instable and unlovely over-use of bio-fuels which he calls an "irreversible form of remote tyranny"; he also relies on Jefferson's arguments that the "dead" should not "rule the future" (p. 410). The solution to this problem, in Orr's view, lies in education. He urges all universities and schools to lead by example, to take actions before so much evidence has been accumulated that there is no turning back. He examines three possible types of objections: those who want more evidence, those who argue costs, and those who argue that schools have other concerns. To meet these objections, he proposes a series of steps: an energy audit, detailed planning to upgrade facilities to use renewable energy sources, and a 20 year plan to implement these plans (p. 411). In conclusion, he returns to his analogy of slavery to assert that failure to act now will result in continued "bondage" (p. 411).

Quinn, D. (1992). From chapters seven and eight of Ishmael. In Berndt and Muse (Eds.), Composing a civic life (pp. 424-432). NY: Pearson/Longman.

In the novel, Ishmael, Quinn fictionalizes possible solutions to global problems. The reader of Ishmael would have already been introduced to a story in which a man answers an advertisement in a newspaper that reads "Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world" (p. 424). The teacher is actually a gorilla named Ishmael who uses the Socratic method of instruction to guide his pupil, who is addressed as "you" (p. 425). In this excerpt, Ishmael instructs "you" on the "peace keeping law" by presenting a "puzzle" in which "A's are eaten by B's … [who are] eaten by C's" in such a way that "all is perfectly democratic and friendly" (p. 425). The reader is to figure out what universal law governs the society through methodical observations; "you" conclude that no matter what, "you" cannot completely eliminate any species. "[Y]ou may compete but you may not wage war" (p. 431). To further extend the "law" Ishmael continues to explore the consequences through counter-arguments: because "diversity is a survival factor" when the law is not followed, the logical results would lead to a loss of diversity, and the entire "community" would thus become "ecologically fragile" and "highly vulnerable" (p. 432). In a nutshell, Quinn condemns human beings as "takers" who are "destroying the world because we are [literally and deliberately] at war with it" (p. 432). Like Leopold and Orr, Quinn implies that we must evolve in our land ethic to see ourselves as participants in the natural world, instead of conquers of it.

thinking about my relationship with nature

2004-10-03T17:19:00.000-05:00

There are few hummingbirds in the yard now; most seem to have headed south. According to my North American Wildlife guide, the ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) is the “only species” out of 15 kinds of hummingbirds that “regularly nest north of Mexico” which breeds “east of the Great Plains” (p. 117). I put one last cup of sugar water into the feeder yesterday, and as I sit on my back porch this afternoon, I have only heard one buzz nearby. I haven’t found any nests this year, but I’m sure that several pairs raised their young in their tiny lichen nests in the groves of dogwood, pines, and oaks that line the back yard. The guide tells me that these tiny jewels create their nests out of spider silk and plant down; I know that they also weave the dog hairs from my Boykins and Labs into their itsy-bitsy nurseries. The guide also says that the female feeds her young without any help from her mate.

I’ve never seen hummingbird young in the nest. Unlike the bluebirds who build their nests in the bluebird boxes, or the Carolina wrens that nest in every conceivable spot or crevice in the garage or back porch (including regular nests in the dog food bag), or the finches that nest in my hanging ferns, or the cardinals that nest in the grapevine arbor - the hummingbirds are more secretive, or perhaps my eyes are just not sharp enough to spot their nests while the leaves are still green on the trees. Usually, in late winter, we will spot a hummingbird’s abandoned lichen nest nestled in a V between two branches, typically when we prune the crepe myrtles – left behind by tiny migrants to Mexico.

The guide also tells me that hummingbirds are “unique to the New World” and that European explorers were amazed to find these “tiny glittering creatures that zipped up, down, backwards, and sideways with blurred wings.” According to the guide, the hummingbird collects nectar, tree sap, insects, and spiders. Other hummingbird species like the Rufous and Anna’s hummingbirds sometimes seem to breed in colonies. The Black-chinned hummingbird (which summers in the western United States) actually performs “set figures” in courtship flights. Amazing.

Once we had a hummingbird get its beak caught in the screen on the back porch as it zoomed away from another hummingbird that gave it chase around the feeder, and we had to push it back out of the screen mesh while it chattered angrily at the indignity of having been momentarily immobile. Hummers are incredibly territorial and incredibly persistent. I have seen eight or ten hummingbirds in constant competition for the sugar water on summer days, to the extent that I would have to add two cups of sugar water to the feeder every couple of days. Once we had a “hummer” get caught in my husband’s shop; she flew around and around at the top of the building, unable to find the large shop door opening through which she’d flown to get in, until exhausted, she’d fallen to the floor where we scooped her up, took her outside, and dropped water into her beak; she revived and zoomed away again. But for the moment, we could hold her in our hands and marvel at the tiny iridescence of this living creature that seemed totally weightless and insubstantial and yet so strong and energetic.

We’ve “rescued” other birds; the most interesting was a baby ball of white fluff that became a screech owl that we named Archimedes, who learned how to fly by perching on furniture in my living room and who inhabited my back screen porch for three months while we taught him to eat meat by cutting up chicken gizzards until we were satisfied that he could fend for himself. But most of the birds in my yard don’t really depend on the sugar water or the seed feeders that I keep stocked. They’ve gotten accustomed to having the easy food, especially the wrens who build their nests just a few feet away from the suet that they fed to their young. But the birds are all capable of finding their own food and water. I know that in many ways, “my” birds are smarter than I; for instance, it’s something of a miracle to me to watch a mating pair of wrens or bluebirds constructing a nest.

The birds are not so brilliant that they always survive, though. I hate to see a nest of young birds destroyed, for instance by the black snakes who sometimes find the nests just before the young ones fledged, and I wonder why the occasional egg doesn’t hatch, left behind in a cold nest after the parents cajole their fledglings out into the world. I laugh at the young cardinals and finches who tease their parents into feeding them long after they have learned to feed themselves, and I wonder when the patient father who persists in feeding his demanding charges finally loses his patience and leaves them to fend for themselves. I wonder on dark, cold, or wet days how they cope, for even though I know that birds fluff themselves up with protective layers of warm air, feathers don’t seem substantial enough and sometimes they aren’t because birds do freeze or starve. Nature isn’t always kind or even caring; it’s basically survival of the fittest or the luckiest because even the most conscientious bird parents cannot watch over their young for very long, and most are generally indifferent to their own offspring after a very short summer season. In the scheme of things, it’s the constant cycle of raising young and following the dictates of genetic coding which ensures survival.

The lone hummingbird sits at the feeder, briefly, and then takes off again. Soon, even this last mite of a bird will head to Mexico – how will she make that perilous journey of thousands of miles, high in the air, across the open waters? What will guide her – sunbeams, starlight, those air currents that circle the earth miles above the ground? What will tell her when she’s arrived? How many more summer seasons will she know in her tiny life of two summers per year? Next March, when I fill my feeder again, will she be back with the first arrivals?

I hear the owls down in the swamp starting to call; the light of afternoon is fading into early twilight and the small rabbits and quail will be coming out to feed, and the owls will be feeding too on the rabbits and the quail that are not alert or fast enough to hide from them in their soundless flight. Once I had a huge owl soundlessly fly just over my head. The little bats soon will be coming out to feed on mosquitoes and gnats in the open spaces high above the grassed yard while the little birds flock to their pine perches; the night crickets have started their chorus; down the swamp I hear a hunter taking late afternoon shots at doves. (There are a dozen dressed out doves in my refrigerator too; my husband brought them back from his shoot yesterday, and he’s gone out this day after deer. An hour after dark I’ll know when I hear his voice over the cell phone whether he will be dressing out a deer tonight or – more often than not – if he’s seen or heard the buck but couldn’t get a shot off.) A dove flutters away from the sunflower seeds on the deck; a noisy woodpecker fusses at some hidden menace in her desire to find bugs in the flower beds. I cannot begin to decipher the “hidden meaning” of the birds as they call to each other in these last rays of sunshine, but as Leopold puts it, I “know it’s there” – “implicit in a hundred small events” that play out every day in my own backyard.

I don’t wish for dullness in my desire for “safety, prosperity, comfort, long life” (p. 89); I only wish for continued bird company as part of “peace” in my time.

link to case study articles

2004-09-21T12:10:00.000-05:00

Try to access this link to an article in the State.

notes on Levine, Sacks, and Garrison

2004-09-20T12:15:00.000-05:00

Levine, A. & Cureton, J. (1998). Collegiate life: An obituary (orginally published in Change, reprinted in Berndt & Muse (Ed.) Composing a civic life (pp. 295-303).

As a researcher for the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education, this excerpt compares statistics on who attended college in 1992-1997 with prior samples taken during the 1960’s and 1970’s. According to Levine and Cureton, the traditional liberal arts curriculum taken by the traditionally aged (18-22 year olds) at traditionally residential colleges is “moribund…., dead or dying at most campuses today” (p. 295). To examine and explain this conclusion, Levine and Cureton note that fewer college students are spending all of their time on their studies, noting that in 1995, 54% of college students were working in addition to attending college, and that the percentages of non-traditional students attending college had risen to 55% (p. 296). Because of this changing population of college students, Levine and Cureton assert that “what students want” from colleges has become driven by economics; in short, students treat college as a consumer good or service to be purchased. As a result, fewer students care about the extra-curricular activities or even the social events of college life; furthermore, student activities have experienced a type of “mitosis” (an interesting evolutionary metaphor), and student organizations have been fractured into “deeply divided lines” of special interests, resulting in far less civility and social cohesion on campuses (p. 299). Academically, student goals have evolved and fractured as well; “formulating values and goals” were important to students in the 1970’s, while “getting a well-paying job” became the more important reason for attending college in the 1990’s (p. 300). More access for diverse groups also resulted in fewer students being prepared, academically, for the rigorous challenge of the traditional liberal arts curriculum. Levine and Cureton end their statistical analysis by examining the most troubling divide, academically, between contemporary professors (who were themselves students in the 1960’s / 70’s) and their students in today’s classrooms: “[students] value the practical and the immediate…; faculty, on the other hand, prefer the global to the particular; are stimulated by the realm of concepts, ideas, and abstractions, and assume that students, like themselves, need a high degree of autonomy (my emphasis) in their work” (p. 300)

Levine and Cureton sum up their analysis of current (1990’s) college students by describing them as “tired” and overwhelmed by money problems (pp. 298, 301). Their hope in the American Dream is seen by these researchers as “fragile and gossamer-like” (p. 301). Ironically, the state of their despair is created by the “democratization” of college; even though 65% of all high school students go on to some form of higher learning, “four years of living in residence [has become] a luxury few can afford” (p. 302). Levine and Cureton conclude that incorporating more “service learning” into the curriculum while providing more “financial aid” are strategies that many administrators at today’s colleges can use to benefit today’s student (p. 302).

Business Week, April 28, 2003 available in Discus:“Where America Goes to College”

Type # of institutions Enrollment Tuition costs Cost of educating Earned degrees after 5 yrs
Community 1101 5.7 million av. $1,735 $5,000-$9,000 7% go on to 4 yr schools)
Public 4 year 612 4.8 million av. $4,081 $7,000-$25,000 47%
Private 4 year 1,676 2.2 million av. $18,273 $12,000-$80,000 62%
For profit 808 403,000 thousand av. $11,043 $8,000-$10,000 1% (57% earn associate degrees)

How can you find out the answers to these questions?

USCA Enrollment ? Tuition costs ? Costs of educating ? Earned degrees after 5 yrs ?

Freshmen in five sections of AEGl 101: Working 1-10 hours a week ?
Approximately 100 students Working 11-20 hours a week ?
Approximately 20% of entering freshmen Working 21-30 hours a week ?
Working 30+ hours a week ?
Commuting 5+ hours a week ?

Sacks, P. (1996). The sandbox experiment (originally published as a chapter in Generation X Goes to College; reprinted in Berndt & Muse, CCL, pp. 309-317).

Note that Sacks was a journalist who was teaching at “a large, suburban community college” (p. 309) who starts his narration in the “middle” of a prior discussion, apparently about becoming full time as opposed to holding adjunct status. Define the different levels of adjuncts, instructor, tenure-track assistant professor, tenured associate and full professors. Define the “Big Committee” (the promotion and tenure committee) and explain the process of gaining tenure. Explain the importance of SET (student evaluation of teaching). He and his friend, Sandy, devise a scheme for getting high evaluations from students: in a nutshell, he will amuse his students, expect no work, and give high grades (p. 312). He determines that ethically, he is only participating in the inflationary grading scheme of the “rest of the College” and that everyone else is “watering down standards” anyway (an interesting metaphor, if one thinks of good instruction as the “hard stuff”), and that everyone was “pandering to students” anyway (p. 312). His scheme works, and he gets extremely high student evaluations; sadly, only the occasional student who might have been challenged by a tougher approach criticizes his ability as a teacher in the “sandbox” approach.

For further research, interview / survey professors at USCA to find out their opinion of students today. (Note that there will be campus-wide forums starting this week on “faculty expectations / standards”).

Garrison, R. (1959). Why am I in college? (originally published as a chapter in The Adventure of Learning in College; reprinted in Berndt and Muse, CCL, pp. 317-324).

Note the difference in audience; the typical college student in 1959 (and note that Garrison was at Briarcliff?) would be male, white, on the GI Bill or from a privileged background. What can you find out about Briarcliff and its programs / mission?

Garrison interrogates his audience directly: “Where are you aiming your life?” (p. 317). He claims, “Education, fundamentally, is a moral enterprise” when one discovers “what it means to be a man” (p. 317). Garrison uses the example of becoming an engineer to illustrate the difference between “being trained” and “being educated” (p. 318), and further asserts that no technical education is “adequate” without a “liberal” exposure to enduring questions about human history, economics, and social issues. Garrison recalls being challenged himself as a sophomore to think more deeply about history when a professor had accused him of “dilettanting” in a paper (p. 320), and he further challenges students to consider additional reasons – beyond a paycheck - why they are motivated to train or educate themselves in certain disciplines (as a chemist, for instance; p. 321). Garrison asserts that developing “character” should be more important to students in their pursuit of a degree (p. 321), and that developing “imagination” and “moral courage” and generosity of mind and spirit are essential to being educated. “What kind of human being do you want to be?” (p. 321). He defends this question by asserting that once a student has turned 21, society expects the young person to work well with others, behaving and expressing oneself in a courteous and knowledgeable way. He admits that attending college doesn’t guarantee maturity, but by exploring the self, the college student will develop “excellence” and thus “be changed” (p. 323). He concludes that students who only possess a “veneer” or a “varnish” of education will lack the durability to resist “cracking” when exposed to the forces of “weathering” that – over the long run – will “expose the bare surface beneath” (p. 324).

For further research, find out what happened to the National Great Teachers Seminar. Also examine the USCA mission statement: go to the web site for USCA (www.usca.edu) and click on the link for Student Life. Here you will find a link to the Student Handbook which contains a section entitled “Institutional Purpose.” Comment?

Scoring guide for in class essay practice test

2004-09-15T14:28:00.000-05:00

Even though Susan B. Anthony's speech (1873) was rhetorically powerful, she did not live to see ratification of the Constitutional Amendment which gave women the right to vote in 1920. Identify and explain several reasons that her speech failed in its intentions, and discuss the events that led up to the final passage of the amendment in 1920.

Given the two parts to this question, an excellent answer would identify and explain at least three of the following (taken from lecture notes) for each part of the question. Additionally, an excellent answer would be unified in development, structurally coherent, and correct in grammar and usage.

I. Identify and explain several reasons:
· Partisan politics played a role because Democrats feared that women would vote Republican because of the women's movement had grown out of the abolitionist movement which was associated with Lincoln and the Republicans;
· Internal conflicts rose between radicals like Anthony and Stanton, who turned on moderates after the Civil War when the ballot was extended to semi-literate black men but not educated and socially well-to-do white women:
· Southern politicians of both parties opposed extension of the ballot to black women in particular and thus opposed the amendment;
· Northern politicians were influenced by the influence of urban machine bosses who represented the liquor industry because they rightly feared that women would vote against the sale of alcohol;
· Western territories like Wyoming who had earlier offered the ballot to women as early as 1867 were not yet represented in the Congress;
· Other? A student might possibly present a well-reasoned answer not represented above, such as having raised awareness about the movement's expenditure of energies in state by state campaigns, which were costly and inefficient uses of the movement's leadership and which led to lots of nasty public media exposure.

II. Discuss the events that led to final passage:
After Anthony's and Cady Stanton's deaths in the early 1900's, new leaders like Carrie Catt and Alice Paul continued both the state by state and the national efforts to pass the "women's right to vote" amendment.
Woodrow Wilson had hinted in 1916 that he might support the campaign; to force the issue, Alice Paul picketed the White House for 18 months and then, in jail, started a hunger strike;
World War I had started, and when women moved into the roles of factory workers and other jobs that supported the war effort, many argued that they deserved the right to vote as well;
Globally other countries such as Great Britain, Canada, the Soviet Union, Germany, and Australia had already extended the franchise to women;
By late 1920, Tennessee became the site of the final vote to ratify; Harry Burns, a 24 year old legislator, cast the deciding vote because his mother had written him to "be a good boy" and "support" the women's movement.
Charlotte Woodward was the only woman who had attended the Seneca Falls gathering (as a teenager) who lived to cast a vote in November 1920.
Other? A student might possibly present a well-reasoned answer not represented above, such as more information taken from the PBS website on the movement.

A good answer would include 1 or 2 of the reasons / events listed above and / or might ramble a bit.

A satisfactory answer might only address part of the question, or it might include irrelevant material, so that there is noticeable lack of focus and coherence, but the student demonstrates at least partial control.

An unsatisfactory answer would indicate little control of evidence or language.

essay exams

2004-09-14T15:40:00.000-05:00

A student's guide to essay exams

Professors give essay exams to test your knowledge, your understanding, your thinking skills, and your ability to express yourself coherently in a limited amount of time. Professors who give essay exams are MORE INTERESTED in content than they are in expression. Realize the time constraints of the testing situation; physically, you can only write so much in a given time period. Concentrate on being clear, simple, and direct. Generalize about the Big Picture of the course, and connect the details to these generalizations.

Essay exams differ from traditional "essays" in two fundamental ways: they are answers to specific questions, and they are tests. Therefore, you must answer the question and you must demonstrate that you have learned the relevant course material.

An effective essay exam answer has several characteristics:
§ it has a formal three-part structure (an intro, body, conclusion);
§ it is fully developed and concretely references the course material;
§ it is unified, coherent, and logically organized;
§ it is free from grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors.

Unless you are superhuman, you cannot sit down and write an successful essay in a timed situation without thorough preparation; however, you can plan and practice how to write a successful answer. BEFORE YOU TAKE THE TEST, you have to understand exactly what you are going to write and how you are going to produce your answers during this testing situation. If the professor gives you potential questions in advance, PREPARE your response. If the professor doesn't give you these questions, then at least prepare short opening paragraphs for a number of options. You should be able to ferret out several potential questions from your notes.

Studying for the exam:
§ Review the syllabus. The professor often provides an outline of the "major themes" or the "important topics" in a course description. You may be able to predict the sorts of essay questions from a syllabus review.
§ Review the textbook outline and / or the preface of the textbook. Textbook editors often provide the connections that you can use when examining the Big Picture.
§ Make an outline summary for each topic (or chapter) that you have covered and add notes from lectures (an on-going process that should be taking place during the lecture period between tests, and finalized in the week ahead of the test - more on this one later in this handout).
§ Review your notes (obviously), and compare your notes with others in the class. Form a study group and quiz each other several days ahead of the test.

Taking the exam:
§ Look over the exam and determine length and time allotments.
§ Read and outline the questions. Interpret the topics and the tasks.
§ If you have choices, don't agonize; choose quickly and star or check these choices.
§ Start with short answer questions, but watch your time and start on the longer answers at a specific point in the course period.
§ Be deliberate about the beginning, middle, and ending of the longer answer. Reword the question in your introduction, write specific body paragraphs on each part of the question, and conclude by repeating your key points. A scratch outline can help.
§ Write only on the front of a page, and skip lines.
§ Allow yourself time to proofread and correct. Make neat corrections and insertions. If you need to add content, make a marginal note and use the back of the page to do so.

After the exam:
§ Learn from your mistakes (a painful admission but a necessary one!). Fully understand why points were taken off, and next time, you should be able to correct these deficiencies when you study and when you test. Common mistakes include misreading the question, not being prepared and therefore having incomplete or incoherent answers, spending too much time answering a particular question, or your essays were illegible or grammatically distracting.
§ If you really don't understand what went wrong, set up an appointment with the professor. Go into this conference as a student willing to learn. Don't be defensive; don't argue for points; don't cry; and don't beg. Do ask if someone in the class can help you - a peer tutor might be available. Do ask if you can set up a study group or have a discussion session before the next test. Do take on the responsibility of doing better.

My summary and analysis of Ellison

2004-09-02T16:40:00.000-05:00

Ellison, R. "Proloque from Invisible Man." Composing a Civic Life. Eds. Berndt & Muse. NY: Pearson / Longman. 31-36.

Ellison's fictional narrative, The Invisible Man (1952), is considered to be a "classic of American literature" (31). In the prologue to the novel, Ellison's narrator, described as "an African-American anti-hero," begins to "define himself and his place in American society" (31-32). The narrator announces that he is "invisible" - not because he isn't "of substance," but the prejudices of whites who discount him because of his ethnicity, their "inner eyes," create situations in which he is ignored. He sometimes fights back against being denied a presence; in fact, he vividly describes beating a white man who insults him (33), but often he fights back more subtly by taking advantage of being ignored and "invisible" such as when he lives "rent-free," paying nothing for the electric service which he basically steals from the utility company who doesn't know he is delighting in his extravagant use of electricity in his basement "hole" (34). He justifies his use of electricity by asserting that he is simply "protecting" himself, and getting even with those who have - in his mind - ignored him or taken advantage of him. He acknowledges and even agrees that the reader will justifiably call him a "bastard" (35); he asserts, "[W]ait until I reveal how truly irresponsible I am [because] responsibility rests upon recognition" (35). In other words, as long as the black man is "invisible," meaning as long as whites discount the worth of the black man, Ellison's narrator argues that the white man must accept the responsibility of being nearly murdered by his own blind prejudices.

As a writer of fiction, Ellison argued that he intended to "deal with the moral core of a given society" (qtd in Berdt 36). Ellison is deliberately using his character's lack of status - his invisibility - as a symbol of how difficult it was for black Americans to be seen as equal in the 1950's. Historically, this period of American history forces black Americans into separate and unequal facilities. Their educational, economic, and political opportunities were limited by the laws of the land (called "Jim Crow" laws). By the 1960's, activists such as Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, and leaders of the Civil Rights movements like Martin Luther King spoke more plainly about their despair and desire to be seen as equally invested in the American Dream. Therefore, Ellison's narrator has become both a historical contrast to our current understanding of minority voices, but there is still enough "reality" to his civil disobedience to make this fictional speaker still quite representative of the ignored realities of the poor and disenfranchised in our society.

At the time of the novel's publication, the problem of unequal treatments had to be illuminated to the public eye. The invisible discrimination had to be thrust upon the American consciousness. According to Tracy Wyman-Marchand (in The Explicator, Spring 2004 v62 i3 p175(3) - found through a Discus search: General Reference Center: keywords ellison and invisible man): "this is not to say that [Ellison] offers a prescriptive fix to the system, but only to suggest that he reveals the system's insidious operations."

At the time that Invisible Man was published, Ellison's "revelation of the system's insidiousness" was his intention and exactly the point that he, as a novelist, wanted to make.

critical reading and notetaking for Rhodes' Wed. class

2004-08-30T11:49:00.000-05:00

Start any analysis of a source with a bibliographic reference (MLA format for a selection from an anthology is used here; see Brief Handbook, p. 188, format #6):

Ellison, R. "Proloque from Invisible Man." Composing a Civic Life. Eds. Berndt & Muse. NY: Pearson / Longman. 31-36.

Summarize: Identify the thesis / intention of the reading and outline the main points. Note that often the editorial comments that accompany the selected text provide outlines and questions to guide you in this kind of comprehension exercise. Whenever you copy directly from a text, you should acknowledge your borrowed material with quotation marks and page numbers. (Good examples can be found in the Brief Handbook in chapter 9.)

According to Ellison….

Analyze: what patterns of organization can you identify? (A good review of essay patterns is available in the Brief Handbook in chapter 2.)

Use what you already know about the novel form and the speaker's persona, and also look at the editorial comments about writing style that follow Ellison's excerpt to help you out. Notice the structural flow of the paragraphs: Ellison starts with definition, then narrates a story as an example which helps to define his assertion that he is an "invisible man."

Analyze: what uses of figurative and emphatic language can you point out? (Some brief definitions of simile, metaphor, analogy, and personification) are available in the Handbook on page 356.)

Hint: the concept of "invisible man" is an analogy, an extended metaphor.

Evaluate: Who is the audience and what is the context for this particular writing? (The head notes to the excerpts in CCL can provide some context for answering this kind of question; sometimes additional research will be needed. USCan, Discus, and the Internet can all provide information to help in this kind of evaluation)
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This is a good place to jot down web addresses and USCan references. You can even block and copy selected references into the file, for further use.

Evaluate: what biases or flaws in logic can you identify? (Some examples of logical fallacies can be found in the Handbook in chapter 4, especially on pages 88-89.) What questions do you still have regarding the text?

Have confidence in your own abilities to form judgments and to ask good questions.

Practice using this model: Set up a word file with this outline, and use the outline regularly for taking your notes on the reading assignments in CCL

Rockwell's Four Freedoms and narratives of citizenship

2004-08-25T10:26:00.000-05:00

If you have already written out some reactions to Rockwell's images, you are ready to add some notes to your personal blogs. Once you feel comfortable with posting to your blog, go ahead and compose these notes and publish them. Remember that you can also go back and edit at any time. (I find that to be so reassuring!)

Here is some info for Friday's class.

Narratives of citizenship

"The plight of the unemployed writer, and indeed anyone who could qualify as a writer such as a lawyer, a teacher, or a librarian, during the early years of the Depression, was of concern not only to the Roosevelt Administration, but also to writers' organizations and persons of liberal and academic persuasions. It was felt, generally, that the New Deal could come up with more appropriate work situations for this group other than blue collar jobs on construction projects. To the Administration's liking were plans generated from a series of meetings held in 1934 between Jacob Baker, Harry Hopkins' chief Civil Works Administration assistant in charge of special and professional programs, Henry Alsberg, Bakers' assistant, Katherine Kellock, a writer familiar with international and social organizations, and others. The outcome of these sessions was a project for all the "arts," (labeled Federal One), divided administratively by each specialty and headed by professionals in the field. The Writers' Project, later characterized by some as the federal government's attempt to "democratize American culture," was approved for federal monies in June, 1935. Baker chose his assistant, Alsberg, as director. As the Project continued into the late thirties, the director was powerless to stop increasing criticism by reactionary Congressmen who were intent on shutting down the enterprise. In October 1939, the Project's federal monies ceased, due to the Administration's need for a larger defense budget. After 1939, emasculated, the Project sputtered along on monies funded to the states, closing completely one year or so after America's entry into World War II."

"The Writers' Project staff variously described the life histories as life sketches, living lore, industrial lore, and occupational lore. The narratives were meant to reflect the ordinary person's struggle with the vicissitudes of daily living."

"The Library of Congress collection includes 2,900 documents representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states. Typically 2,000-15,000 words in length, the documents consist of drafts and revisions, varying in form from narrative to dialogue to report to case history. The histories describe the informant's family education, income, occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, diet and miscellaneous observations. Pseudonyms are often substituted for individuals and places named in the narrative texts."

Just for fun, take some time to explore: go to the WPA Federal Writers Project website and pick a state, and then select stories to read / compare. For instance, I looked at "Better A Tent Than A Mortgage" and "Chillen Home" (#16 & #19 in the list of SC titles).

WPA Federal Writers Project is located at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/wpahome.html

In order for Karl to add you to the course blog, you also need to send him an email message. Here is Karl's email address: karlf@usca.edu. Be sure to give him your name and the title of your blog.