I only have one section of Core 101 on Fridays. On this particular
Friday, I discussed the revision comments I made on their personal narratives
(how to use the "track changes" and "comments" features of
Word to access the comments), and then we went over a powerpoint with examples
on Logos, Ethos, and Pathos, mainly because I plan to have students watch 13th,
the documentary by Ava Duvernay, on Monday and I have a list of questions to
accompany their viewing of the film. As they watch, I ask them to pay attention
to the various claims and supporting evidence, as well as uses of logos, ethos,
and pathos.
We watch the film
for 3 reasons: a) begin to see arguments, particularly the use of
ETHOS, LOGOS, and PATHOS in argument; b) see some of the
historical context/ background for modern movements such as BLM, Colin
Kaepernick’s protest, etc; c) connect these things to the
novel we are reading in class, All American Boys.
This
isn't always the most popular assignment, but I think it IS important. Also,
one of the stated objectives of Core 101 is to "develop reasonable
strategies for belief formation."
I suppose one of the questions for me is, “beliefs
about what?” Students are reluctant to talk about politics; my experience is
that many of them think universities are left wing propaganda machines designed
to brainwash them into accepting “socialism” or something like that. Other
students just shrug and say, “I’m not political, so I don’t want to talk about
any of this.” Personally, I think that’s a great loss for our nation. I think
it’s important—at the very least—to have some idea of what the issues are you’re
voting on, and the platforms of various candidates.
I also feel that college should be, to a degree,
about challenging beliefs. This is a bit extreme, but my friend Wendell (my
best friend in my mid 20’s) said his favorite professor was a religious studies
prof who would yell at students, “WHY do you believe in God?” I would never do
that, but I do think it’s healthy to have your beliefs and ideas challenged—if nothing
else, it sharpens the sword of debate. My way of thinking is that,
theoretically, it could lead to more informed citizenry and a better place to
live. The alternative is accepting tyranny because of a Brave New World like acquiescence to distraction and apathy and
hedonism (we’re well on our way with the Kardashian culture we live in)—or a
sort of Christian-fascist state where one way of thinking is rammed down
everyone else’s throats (we’re well on our way with the authoritarian brand of
politics we’ve voted in that is trying to entrench itself, via a Supreme Court
that will not challenge gerrymandering and other types of voter suppression,
etc.).
I take this stuff seriously, and it somewhat
pains me that students (the bulk of them) DO NOT take it seriously. I was
surprised to hear a graduate student the other day, someone in her mid 20’s,
tell someone else that she’d never even heard of Brett Kavanaugh; she had too
much in her own life to worry about. Well, that’s a bit of a diatribe, but back
to the question, what beliefs are we supposed to be helping them develop “reasonable
strategies” to form? Tiddlywinks? How to make a fortune on cryptocurrency?
Highly effective habits of highly effective people? How to think and grow rich?
For me, most “beliefs” that we can discuss involve politics in some way: in the past I’ve had classes dealing with environmental issues, where we talked about fracking or mountain top removal mining or coal ash dumps. I’ve had classes where we talked about work and the minimum wage and taxes and things like that. All of these issues are political. While I try to stand back to a degree, it’s also impossible for my point of view not to come out. My point of view is there in the texts we read; it comes through in comments even if the comments are relatively “neutral”. I think it’s less important that I don’t show a side than it is for those who disagree with me to work on convincing me, finding evidence and compelling arguments to support their own sides. I’d probably never agree that the Mountain Valley Pipeline is a good thing, but I would appreciate an essay that attempts to have real evidence about the number of jobs it would create, other benefits to the economy, etc.
In any case, here are the questions for DuVernay's 13th, which we will start watching on Monday.
