Next time:

Note that many hollywood movies often have easy themes and stances, even theses. But note that better works may be more complex and likely won't have such clear central points. Also, Hollywood sometimes compromises so as not to piss anyone off, and the final statement may be fuzzy but everyone will leave the theater feelinhg good.

English 120, Spring 2014

Project 1:

Perspectives on Education in Popular Media: A Rhetorical Analysis

Length: 3-4 pages, double-spaced.

Draft due _ Final version due: _

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) 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 course "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 a expository genre called "rhetorical analysis."

We will then begin to think about representations of the learning process in popular mass 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 views 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.

Our class will thus watch a sample film and analyze its rhetoric together, and then you will repeat the same process independently with your choice of film.

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, 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. 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 about education in popular media.

Film Suggestions

Dead Poet's Society
Higher Education
Wonder Boys
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
The Miracle Worker
Blackboard Jungle
Hackers
To Sir, With Love
The Breakfast Club
School of Rock
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Stand and Deliver

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Man Without a Face
Heathers
The Bells of St. Mary's
Mr. Holland's Opus
Mona Lisa Smile
Educating Rita
School Ties
Boys N the Hood
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
The Paper Chase

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 thesis apparent early on and emphasized consistently throughout.
It should use methods of rhetorical analysis as discussed in class.
It should use methods of critique as discussed in class. (The piece should primarily be a rhetorical analysis, with *some* critique.)
It should be organized purposefully with helpful transitions and focused paragraphs.
It should be edited for clarity and ease of reading.
It should be proofread for common mechanical errors.
It should remain neutral in is examination of a movie, with a brief assessment and interrogation of the film near the end.