English 120, Spring 2015

Project 1

Perspectives on Education in Popular Media:
A Rhetorical Analysis

Points possible: 20

Length: aprx. 4 pages, double-spaced.
MLA Manuscript Format: CLICK HERE
MLA Documentation Format: CLICK HERE

Question sheet to use as you watch your film: CLICK HERE

1st draft due: FEB. 10TH  
2nd draft due: FEB.12th
Final draft due: FEB. 24th

Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.
― Mahatma Gandhi

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
― Mark Twain

The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”

― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

Background

Since, for many students, English 120 is one of their first or earliest college courses, and because "education" is the thing that is happening (or not--ha) right in front of us, our first general subject for this course will actually be "education."

Having been a student for most of your life, how do you feel, so far, about your own education? What have been its strengths and weaknesses? Who were your good and not-so-good teachers? What qualities make a teacher or a class "good"? What is the best environment for learning? Why are you now at SU—why are you spending so much of your own or your parents' money on "higher learning"? What foundation do you believe was laid or not laid for your experience here? What is meant by the "education crisis," how, if at all, have you experienced it personally, and what efforts have been made to solve it?

For this project we will begin by examining a few general approaches to learning (e.g., "classical" vs. "progressive"), investigate some of our culturally received and/or unconscious assumptions about education, recall learning experiences we've had ourselves, and read some sharply contrasting perspectives. This is the "get the juices flowing" segment of the project. You will also be introduced at this point to an expository genre called "rhetorical analysis."

We will then begin to think about how learning is represented in popular media. We can learn about the education crisis, of course, in books, magazine articles, websites, even courses in Education right here at NDSU—but our personal views in fact are often largly shaped by entertainment media, and film is arguably one of its most powerful forms. Films about students, teachers, classrooms et al are very common and even constitute a whole genre or category of film.

For Project #1, our class will watch a sample film and analyze its rhetoric together, and then you will repeat the same process independently with your choice of movie.

The central question of this assignment is basically: what does the film you will watch say about education? What argument is it making about teachers, students, school environments, curricula, key problems, methods, etc.

Instructions

Choose a film which is clearly about education or the learning process in some way. Using the tools of rhetorical analysis practiced in class and the ideas presented in Writing Today, write an essay which dispassionately examines the film's explicit and implicit claims and appeals about education. Develop a central controlling idea (thesis) which will help tie your analysis together.

Note: this is primarily an objective analysis, but it should contain some critique as well. That is, at the end of your essay, you will offer a brief assessment of the film's argument and whether or not it is convincing.

Audience and Purpose

Imagine that your essay will appear as an article in a general education periodical or website, such as Education Next or Education Week. For instance, you might look over Education Week's articles which examine education movies. This magazine features varied viewpoints on important and ongoing issues, and your article will be one that encourages parents and teachers to critically examine messages we are all receiving about education in popular media.

Movie Suggestions

Evaluation Criteria

• Your essay should be written in a style and voice suitable for a "middle-high" audience of educators and parents.
• It should have a clear focus related to the unit topic of education, apparent early on and emphasized consistently throughout.
• It should use methods of rhetorical analysis examined throughout this unit. It should also show understanding and appropriate application of the chief terms used in this unit:
  • Ethos (ethical character of the argument—its overall presentation and ethical appeals; also the character and credibility of the person making the argument, including how that person handles opposing viewpoints and sources)
  • Pathos (emotional appeals—what the writer wants the reader to feel, such as sorrow, fear, hope, anxiety, horror, etc.) This should include examination of the film's visual appeals.
  • Logos (logical appeals in defense of the film’s argument—fact, principle, first-hand account, expert sources)      
• It should be organized purposefully with helpful transitions and focused paragraphs.
• It should be edited for clarity, concision, and ease of reading.
• It should be proofread for common mechanical errors and be properly formatted according to MLA manuscript guidelines.
• It should remain neutral in its examination of a movie, with a brief assessment and interrogation of the film near the end.
• It should show attention to the readings, presentations, lectures and discussions for this unit.

Length: about 4 pages, double-spaced.

Draft due _________. Final version due: ________.

Helpful Resources
(some of these may be integrated into your essay)

Basic elements of any rhetorical analysis.

Sample outline for an essay on Dangerous Minds

Sample essay on Dangerous Minds

Interesting piece about high school dress codes in North Dakota! Click here.

Article about how teachers are represented in popular movies

PBS Survey of Student Views of Education (video)

Representations of Teachers in 60 Years of Film

The 10 Worst Teachers in Movie History

Schools and Teachers in the Movies (exellent bibliography)

Teachers on the Big Screen

Camera work in cinematography: “To help you further understand how to analyze a film using these three rhetorical appeals, you will need to know some cinematography film terms. While in the editing process of a film, the selected editors use a 'cut' or change from one shot to another without using a fade or other type of transition to move onto the next shot. For example, in Twilight, the editors cut away from Edward to Bella during  their conversation he saves her in the parking lot. Other transition techniques are fade, wipe, and dissolve. All of these are used to create the effects that writers, producers and editors want you to see. Lastly, long shots, medium shots, and close-ups are used to show things like the emotion in a characters face(close-up), or the atmosphere around them (medium shot) or the entire ship while its in warp speed while in space (long shot).”  http://rhetoricinfilm.blogspot.com/

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