English 1B:
How do "they" know what they know and why do "they" think that what they think is right?
What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
–Sir John Lubbock (1834-1913) British banker, politician, naturalist.
As always, read and reread and reread and annotate and underline and reread these instructions carefully. There are a number of specific requirements for this assignment. Don't neglect any of them.
Length: 1400-2000 words, no less no more (the word count does not include your heading, title, or works cited page). Be sure to indicate the word count of your essay in your heading.
Note about sources: There is no specific source requirement for this essay. However, the quantity and quality of your sources will serve as indicators of your ability to collect a reliable, representative, and sufficient sample to work inductively from (keep in ming that stereotypes and hasty generalizations result from bad samples). Also, using block quotes, full and partial quotes, and paraphrases in your essay is an effective way to demonstrate your ability to integrate and document source material.
Format: Strict MLA for font, margins, heading and title, spacing, page numbering, and source documentation.
Grading Criteria Sheet for this assignment
Point of view (p.o.v.), as we’ve discussed in class, refers to the point from which we view something, and different points of view cause us to see things differently and to see different things. As a simple example, imagine driving a car down a residential street. From your motorized vantage point, you’re likely to notice things like the width of the street, the number of parked cars, and the overall contour of the road on which you’re driving. Now imagine walking down that same street. From the point of view of pedestrian, you’re likely to see things differently. Perhaps you now feel more “in” the neighborhood rather than passing through it. Maybe from the vantage point of your feet, the street suddenly seems longer and wider and steeper than it did from behind the wheel. Additionally, you’ll begin to see different things. Instead of noticing the number of parked cars, maybe now you begin to notice details of particular houses and landscaping—how long the grass is in different yards, who has pretty flowers, etc. You hear dogs barking and music in people’s houses. Now imagine crawling on your hands and knees down that same street. What might you see that’s different and what might you see differently?
P.O.V. also refers to the unique set of values, experiences, knowledge, motivations, and goals we bring to a particular situation (think of "Young Goodman Brown," the people portrayed in "The Lottery" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "Where are you going?...." as well as the rock climbers and Native Americans at Devil's Tower). A police officer, burglar, architect, landscaper, archeologist, and home buyer are all going to see a particular house differently and see different things about it. Similarly, a logger, the CEO of a timber company, environmentalists, wildlife biologists, botanists, fishermen, backpackers, etc. are going to interpret a proposal to log a forest differently. Certainly, to look at the proposal from only a botanist’s point of view is going to render only a very small piece of the truth. In fact, looking at an issue from a single point of view or only two points of view is going to render only partial truth. To be truly “informed” about the issue and to consider it thoughtfully, we need to look at it honestly and thoughtfully from as many different significant points of view as we can.
Keep in mind that it is possible for some points of view to hold no part of the truth (consider the parable of the blind men touching the different parts of an elephant), for each point of view to hold some part of the truth, and for some points of view to be more valuable and correct than others.
Assignment
Investigate and analyze a current conflict of your choosing that involves multiple points of view. Then, write an essay that analyzes two competing perspectives involved in the conflict. You may choose from any of the sample issues listed below or choose one of your own.
A political issue: the war against Iraq, welfare, the USA PATRIOT Act, controversies surrounding elections (like flag burning, immigration, gay marriage, etc.)
An environmental issue: nuclear waste disposal at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, clearcutting forests, GMOs, etc.
An animal rights issue: factory farming, cosmetic and medical testing, etc.
A social issue: welfare reform, public education, sex education, etc.
Again, the issue you choose is up to you. Pick something you find interesting, something you’d like to learn about.
A significant point of view is a point of view that is important to the issue.
Resist the urge to editorialize. Focus here on the perspectives of others. Try to represent each perspective so fairly that your reader cannot figure out easily your own opinion.
Provide specific details and examples. The more the better.
Considerations
Your essay, you should provide the following (this is a particularly important part of this prompt):
A description of the issue/conflict.
A detailed analysis of two (2) significant points of view involved in the issue. You should describe each perspective and try to explain why the person or group holds that perspective. You’ll want to pay particular attention to the values, assumptions, and history that has led this person or group to take this perspective. IMPORTANT NOTE: The most common mistake people make on this assignment is not analyzing the conflicting perspectives. People often merely describe what people are saying in the debate and fail to delve into the significance of what they are saying. Remember that your job here is to help your readers understand WHY people are saying/doing what they are. That means you have to look very, very, very closely at the language people are using to determine what it reveals about their assumptions, fears, desires, values, etc. This is crucial.
Use the ideas and strategies discussed "Minding the Work" and "Selection, Slanting, and Charged Learning" to help you flesh assumptions, fears, values, etc. out of what people are saying.
Build on the skills you used in your first and second essays, particularl your ability to find appropriate sources and discover what is known about an issue; your ability to collect a sufficient representative sample; and your ability to scrutinize language closely for patterns and subtleties of meaning.
***This essay is an analysis that strives primarily to bring understanding and sense to the issue rather than to convince your readers to “side” with you. Convince your readers that your insights and ideas are accurate and important, but stay focused on the arguments of others. Readers should not be able to discern what your own position on the issue is from reading your essay.