Willard Gaylin argues that the "inner man" of intentions (possibly unfulfilled) of a basically "good" nature does not really exist and that everyone should be judged based on his outward actions alone. He claims what we pretend to be, what we are perceived to be by others is our real self. While this makes it easier to describe someone, by his actions, by what he says, without having to know what he thinks or what he intends, it also lessens our perception of ourselves to what we can accomplish and does not take into consideration dreams, frailties which do not define us, or the ability to change over time. Of course, I wanted you to think about describing someone by actions and words because those are concrete and specific details about someone. But I would also hope that you wanted to argue against Gaylin, not in some idealistic ways like Father Flanagan, but in recognition of his limitations and especially with respect to the change that time can bring. I would also hope that this article got you thinking about how you are perceived, how you intend to be, and if there is any conflict between the two. If you do try to characterize yourself, you may come up with insights that would be interesting in your paper.
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Sternberg's three kinds of intelligence, componential (Alice, the book-smart intelligentce), experiential Barbara, the creative intelligence), and contextual (the street-smart intelligence), validate several different kinds of students. Since I rarely have all book-smart people, this lets you know that I can value whatever your strengths are, whatever will help you become successful. In many ways, this helps those who are not straight-A students to believe in themselves again, to realize that their own characters can be seen as "good" as a student in certain contexts. It also suggests in what areas you could try to improve, how to use different kinds of "smarts" in different situations. It is an excellent analysis essay using hypothetical examples (does anyone believe the coincidence of three women named Alice, Barbara, and Celia--A, B, and C--who just happen to exemplify his three kinds of intelligence?) This essay should also give you some idea about what intelligence tests can evaluate, and possibly what they cannot, so you don't assume an IQ test indicates now and forever your absolute worth. It is creative and original in that he does not accept the traditional IQ tests as evaluating "success" completely. It is profound because we all want "success," are judged by various means to see if we are predicted to be or we are successful, and often our self-esteem is wrapped up in scores on tests which measure only one kind of intelligence. I hope that articles like this one which challenge standard practices in logical and reasonable ways may encourage you to challenge accepted opinions and look for other possible interpretations (sort of like Golding's grade one thinkers).
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Herb Goldberg in his essay "In Harness: the Male Perspective" suggests that men are harnessed by the roles society expects of them, that although we may think they are in control, and they may think they are in control, that actually they are more controlled by society than women are even. Women have gone through a revolution to be able to act in more stereotypically male ways, but men are stuck by their own expectations. He punctures the balloons of the idea that a man is happiest when he is most "macho," seducing several women (though Goldberg says this is not satisfying), marrying a woman because she is perceived as desireable by other men, clawing to the top of the career ladder while meantime drinking too much and unhappy but not able to admit to being unhappy because he has achieved what is perceived to be the ideal masculine model. He suggests this man (himself) is unhappy because he is forced to conform to a stereotyped role, put in harness to society's expectation of him. And he should be reacting with fear and anger, which would be a way of breaking out of the mold he is poured into, but he is fooled into complacency by his own "success," as defined by others. He wants to strip away the idea that man is privileged over women because of his power; he wants us to believe men are less powerful because they do conform to society's roles. Like Shooting an Elephant, this essay is interesting because it takes a common belief (that men are in control of the world and are therefore happy and fulfilled), and shows his view that men are even more victims of conventionality than women. Of course, many of my male students believe the 1990's man has broken out of his harness, can express his emotions, is not condemned to the role of sole breadwinner, husband/father, successful businessman.
As an example of an analysis essay, it tackles a profound topic and analyzes causes and effects and even solutions well. It takes an unusual approach, shows the subject in a new way. It has strong connotations for "harness" which reminds us of slavery and gets the reader emotionally involved. All these things in our rubric would provide the potential for an A or B.
But, of course, there is always a sneaky psychological reason as well. I would hope you would all evaluate your own roles and see if they were of your own choosing or were simply expected of you by parents, peers, yourself. We all do need to fulfill certain roles, and we won't feel they are harnesses if they were chosen.
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Betty Rollin, in her essay "Motherhood: Who Needs It," begins her attack on the belief that all women live only to be mothers by calling the desire and instinct for motherhood a myth. Using this word creates the connotations that our belief in the naturalness, the inevitability of all women to want to be mothers is a false tale we tell ourselves, not reality. This is an extreme stand for Rollin to take, but she is working against the patriarchal status quo which wanted women to be subservient to their husbands and relegated to the kitchen or the bedroom, whose most important role was to raise children. She argues for choice. She explains that at this point in time, we can finally choose to avoid conception, which makes the questions of whether or not to have children one we must answer consciously. It is interesting that she quotes from the Bible to present her points. She analyzes why the motherhood myth has so much power. She analyzes why someone would not want to have children. She uses authority as support (look at the way she uses quotes) who use analogies, like the spaghetti example. You might compare this essay to Zinsser's "College Pressures"; Rollin discusses the pressures to accept the Motherhood Myth.
However, I wanted you to notice that though she presents good concrete support, there should be many areas which you notice that she ignores which would not support her point. Again, I would hope you questioned when this was written and whether it would still be true today.
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Brent Staples in "Black Men and Public Spaces" combines outrage and humor to discuss a profound topic: racism. He uses words we think we understand, like "victim," in new ways, thus making us view his entire topic without our traditional blinders. He does not allow us to maintain our stereotypes, having his young black persona whistle tunes of a dead white male. But he also shows how dangerous the racist expectations and prejudices are for the true victims, those who are alienated or shunned because of skin color. I would hope that as you read this, you would think of other kinds of prejudice that are also expressed through heightened watchfulness, like teenages shopping in a store suspected of shoplifting or a group of Mexican-American youth assumed to be a gang. It is interesting that he doesn't try to solve the problem, at least not on the level of the entire society. But I like to ask students if it is the responsibility of the young black man to learn to whistle Vivaldi's Four Seasons, or if this is a problem society as a whole must learn to solve, and if so, how. Or, as one student asked, is this a situation in which the problem is not the stereotype but that fear is natural and therefore noone should take offense if others are careful?
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William Zinsser in "College Pressures" begins with some humorous notes written to the Dean. This is a nice catchy opener and establishes the persona as an authority on these pressures, being privy to the students' notes and to their hopes and dreams. This essay is especially well organized, setting up his organization of economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure, building to the most influencial pressures. However, his point isn't simply to understand the pressures college students are under, but to argue that these pressures are not only unnecessary but detrimental to a student's "success." He discusses more profound issues such as the curiosity and "inquiring minds" which bring students to college but get forgotten or suppressed as students compete for grades in subjects of their fathers' choice. Students prepare for jobs which pay well but for which they may not have a genuine interest. He argues the benefits of fields of study, like Humanities, which train students in good critical thinking skills but do not clearly lead to six-figure salaries. He also argues for taking college as a discovery period, to sample many kinds of classes and find one's true interest, using the examples of graduates who stumbled into the careers in which they are now extremely successful. Therefore, his purpose isn't just to find ways to lessen the pressures college students suffer from, but to persuade students to find more joy in learning, to rediscover their inquiring minds. Doing a ten-minute write on this essays has given some of you an opportunity to vent your own frustrations, which is good. And several students comment on the fact that community college students have different kinds of pressure, but that many also are returning students and know better what exactly they want out of college. I would urge of you to find something you really enjoy learning and make that your career because now-a-days you must keep learning all your life to stay up in your field. I began as a math major, strange though it may seem, and I then changed to history, then to psychology, and didn't settle on English until I was almost finished with my BA, at which point I finally took a long look at my transcripts and noticed that I had always taken at least one English class for "fun." So I decided I should major in the field I considered "fun." I hope you do likewise.
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