Email: [email protected]
Office: H121P; extension 5673
Office Hours: M and W: 2:45-3:45 and 5:30-6; T and TH 12:15-1 and 3:30-4:15
Students with Disabilities:
If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible.
Course Catalog Description:
This course focuses on the development of critical thinking skills. Students will apply these skills to the analysis of written arguments in various forms and genres, both classic and contemporary, and to the writing of effective persuasive essays. Students will learn to evaluate and interpret data, to recognize assumptions, to distinguish facts from opinions, to identify and avoid logical fallacies, to employ deductive and inductive reasoning, and to effectively assert and support argumentative claims.
Course Objectives:
One. Evaluate arguments in terms of bias, credibility, and relevance.
Two. Assess an argument's claims by examining assumptions, by differentiating between facts and inferences, by recognizing errors in logic, by analyzing support, and by identifying both explicit and implied conclusions.
Three. Recognize and assess argumentative claims embedded in literary works, advertisements, political tracts, and presentations in other media.
Four. Express critical viewpoints and develop original arguments in response to social, political, and philosophical issues and/or to works of literature and literary theory.
Five. Demonstrate the ability to evaluate electronic sources and databases, to incorporate research from on-line and print media, and to compose unified, coherent, fully supported argumentative essays that advance their claims by integrating primary and secondary sources, and by employing the tools of critical interpretation, evaluation, and analysis.
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, students will:
One. Compose an argumentative essay that shows an ability to support a claim using analysis, elements of argumentation, and integration of primary and secondary sources.
Two. Identify and assess bias, credibility, and relevance in their own arguments and in the arguments of others, including primary and secondary outside sources.
Three. Write an essay that is correct in MLA format, paragraph composition, sentence structure, grammar, spelling, and usage.
Essay Requirements (based on 6,000 words):
English 1C SLO-aligned Assignment (Updated for Fall 2016)
The assignment designed using these criteria will be used to assess the course SLOs and should be assigned as a later (or last) essay.
Students will write a 4-5 page essay, not including Works Cited page, which is also required (but does not count towards length requirement. In the essay, the students will do the following:
One. Express critical viewpoints and develop original thesis-driven arguments in response to social, political, and philosophical issues and/or to works of literature and literary theory. This argumentative essay will be well organized, demonstrate an ability to support a claim using analysis and elements of argumentation, and integrate primary and secondary sources.
Two. Use at least three sources and not over-rely on one secondary source for most of the information. The students should use multiple sources and synthesize the information found in them.
Three. Address issues of bias, credibility, and relevance in primary and secondary sources.
Four. Demonstrate understanding of analytical methods and structural concepts such as inductive and deductive reasoning, cause and effect, logos, ethos, and pathos, and the recognition of formal and informal fallacies in language and thought.
Five. Use MLA format for the document, in-text citations, and Works Cited page.
Six. Integrate quotations and paraphrases using signal phrases and analysis or commentary.
Seven. Sustain the argument, use transitions effectively, and use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Course Catalog Description:
This course focuses on the development of critical thinking skills. Students will apply these skills to the analysis of written arguments in various forms and genres, both classic and contemporary, and to the writing of effective persuasive essays. Students will learn to evaluate and interpret data, to recognize assumptions, to distinguish facts from opinions, to identify and avoid logical fallacies, to employ deductive and inductive reasoning, and to effectively assert and support argumentative claims.
English 1C Grammar Policy and Grading
Students in English 1C are expected to write clear, college-level essays with logical paragraph composition and sentence structure as well as correct grammar, spelling, word usage, and punctuation. If you feel you cannot be successful in this class due to struggles with grammar or other elements of essay composition, please see the instructor as early as possible to discuss resources and strategies for your improvement.
Policy on Plagiarism
Any attempt to commit fraud, misrepresenting someone else’s writing as your own, including turning in essays from previous semesters, will result in an automatic F grade, zero points, which mathematically, will disqualify you from earning a grade higher than a C for the semester. You will not be allowed to rewrite for a higher grade and because of the breach of trust it will be preferred that you drop the class. I will use turnitin to investigate plagiarism.
Each essay must be submitted to www.turnitin.com where it will be checked for illegal copying/plagiarism.
I cannot give credit for an essay that is not submitted to this site by the deadline.
The process is very simple; if you need help, detailed instructions are available at http://turnitin.com/en_us/training/student-training/student-quickstart-guide
You will need two pieces of information to use the site:
Class ID and Enrollment Password, which I’ll give you first week of class.
Late Essays Are Deducted a Full Letter Grade
You cannot turn in a late paper more than a week after the due date.
You Cannot “Ride” the Class: You cannot miss over 10 percent of the classes while not keeping up with the assignments because you are not fulfilling the Student Learning Outcomes. Therefore, you will have to be dropped if you are “riding” the class.
Books You Need for This Class:
One. The Professor in the Cage by Jonathan Gottschall
Two. The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol (Dover edition is $3 or free online)
Three. Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville (Dover edition is $3 or free online)
Four. From Critical Thinking to Argument by Barnet and Bedau, Fifth Edition
Five. This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff
Other Materials: 2 large blue books for in-class final writing exams
Online Stories We'll Be Reading
"Winter Dreams" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
"The Other Woman" by Sherwood Anderson
All 5 Typed Essays Need 3 credible sources to be used for in-text parenthetical citation and MLA formatted Works Cited page.
All five typed essays are 1,000 word typed and double-spaced. They are due at the beginning of Week 4, 7, 10, 13, and 16.
Grading Based on 6,000 words and 1,000 total points
First four 1,000-word essays are worth 150 points each (600 points)
Fifth essay, your Final, is 1,000 words and worth 200 points.
Two in-class reading exams are 500 words each and worth 100 points each (200).
Attendance and Class Participation
Deductions of 50 for more than 4 absences (two tardies equal one absence). Repeated use of smart phone in class or leaving class repeatedly to "take a call" counts as a tardy.
More than 5 absences is a loss of 100 points. These rules are designed so that we will be complaint with Title 5 Contact Hour Laws prescribed by the State of California.
Tardies:
It’s reasonable to be late a couple of times a semester, but some students consistently show up late to class, and this distraction compromises the learning environment significantly. Therefore, starting on the fourth tardy, 50 points must be deducted from total grade and another 25 points must be deducted for every tardy after that. Being on your smartphone in class is equivalent to being tardy.
Essay One for 150 Points Based on Choosing One of the Following Options
Option 1
In the context of Gottschall’s The Professor in the Cage, develop an argumentative thesis about the relationship between masculinity and ritualized violence. Your essay should be 1,000 words and have a Works Cited page with 3 sources, including one from the El Camino College database.
Option 2
Support, refute, or complicate the assertion that Steve Almond's "The NFL Is Morally Reprehensible" is a compelling argument against Gottschall's case that ritualized violence is a natural and essential part of masculinity.
Essay Two for 150 Points (Life of Image Vs. Life of Substance)
Option One: To an audience of college students, write a persuasive essay that addresses the contention that "Bartleby, the Scrivener, "Winter Dreams" or "The Other Woman" illustrates the moral principles in David Brooks' online essay "The Moral Bucket List." You might also consult Pascal's famous Pensees:
We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our own being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavour to shine. We labour unceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence and neglect the real. And if we possess calmness, or generosity, or truthfulness, we are eager to make it known, so as to attach these virtues to that imaginary existence. We would rather separate them from ourselves to join them to it; and we would willingly be cowards in order to acquire the reputation of being brave. A great proof of the nothingness of our being, not to be satisfied with the one without the other, and to renounce the one for the other! For he would be infamous who would not die to preserve his honour.
Suggested Structure
Paragraph One: Summarize Brooks' essay.
Paragraph Two: Summarize the story.
Paragraph Three. Frame the debate of your argumentative thesis by asking how and why the story addresses the major ideas in Brooks' essay. Then answer your question with a thesis.
Paragraphs 4-7: Supporting paragraphs: They support your thesis' mapping components.
Paragraph 8: Write your counterargument-rebuttal paragraph.
Paragraph 9: Conclusion: Restate your thesis with emotion (pathos) and show its broader ramifications.
Option 2: Develop a thesis that analyzes "Bartleby, the Scrivener, "Winter Dreams" or "The Other Woman" in terms of the Faustian Bargain described in the essay "Love People, Not Pleasure," by Arthur C. Brooks. Be sure your essay at least 3 sources. You could use a structure similar to one in Option 1.
Essays 3-4 (various based on debates in current events)
Essay #5: Final Capstone Essay for 200 Points: Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life and Gogol’s “The Overcoat”:
One. Develop an argumentative thesis that compares the quest for identity in Wolff’s memoir and Gogol’s "The Overcoat." Consider maladaptation and the chimera as traps resulting from the search for identity.
Two. A wise man once said, having a chimera will kill you, but not having a chimera will also kill you. Develop an argumentative thesis that shows how this saying applies to Wolff’s memoir and Gogol’s "The Overcoat."
English 1C Reading and Writing Schedule Spring 2017
2-14 Introduction to Critical Thinking
2-16 The Professor in the Cage; “Bully” video from Louie TV show. FCTA Chapter 1 Critical Thinking
2-21 The Professor in the Cage; FCTA Chapter 2 Critical Reading; Chapters 8 and 9 Toulmin Argument and Fallacies
2-23 The Professor in the Cage; FCTA Chapters 3 and 5 Going Deeper into Arguments
2-28 The Professor in the Cage; FCTA Chapters 6 and 7 Argument and Using Sources
3-2 Blue Book Exam 1 will test your reading comprehension of The Professor in the Cage.
3-7 Essay 1 Due; “The Moral Bucket List” by David Brooks and "Relationships Are More Important Than Ambition" by Emily Esfahani Smith; Pascal Pensees
3-9 “Choose Experiences Over Stuff" by Carl Richards, "Ambition Explosion" by David Brooks, and "Why Millennials Value Experiences Over Owning Things" by Blake Morgan; excerpts from Peter Kreeft's The Three Philosophies of Life.
3-14 “Bartleby, the Scrivener” Part I
3-16 "Bartleby, the Scrivener" Part II and "Unconscious Duplicity" by William B. Dillingham
3-21 “Winter Dreams”
3-23 “The Other Woman”
3-28 Essay 2 Due; “The Case Against Democracy” and should you leave Twitter? See Lindy West essay.
3-30 "How Facebook Warps Our World"; "The Real Reason to Quit Facebook"; "6 Reasons to Delete Your Facebook Account Right Now"
4-4 Ta-Nehisi Coates' "The Case for Reparations"; Coates and Bernie Saunders on Reparations; "The Enduring Solidarity of Whiteness";"An Open Letter to Ta-Nehisi Coates and the Liberals Who Love Him"; "Ta-Nehisi Coates' Case for Reparations and Spiritual Awakening"; "The Case Against Reparations"; "Race without Class"; "The Radical Chic of Ta-Nehisi Coates""The Case for Considering Reparations"; "The Impossibility of Reparations"; "The Radical Practicality of Reparations"; "An Ingenious and Powerful Case for Reparations in The Atlantic"; "Ta-Nehisi Coates and the Case for Reparations"
4-6 "The Reign of Recycling"; "Environmentalism Is a Religion"; teach with Stephan Asma's "Green Guilt"
4-18 Universal Basic Income debate
4-20 NFL debate including “Hooked for Life”
4-25 Essay 3 Due; “Those Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin and John Oliver video on child labor in the garment industry. Masters of time management will start reading The Professor in the Cage.
4-27 “Against Empathy” by Paul Bloom.
5-2 Morality of Food Choices in Malcolm Gladwell's Podcast; Malcolm Gladwell's Food Fight; Bowdoin's Defense Against Gladwell; Mother Jones Challenges Gladwell; Gladwell's Food Fight podcast on YouTube; Defense of Gladwell. Masters of time management will continue reading in preparation for final essay and in-class final exam.
5-4 "Addiction is not a disease"; Addiction is not a disease" reviewed by Laura Miller ;"Is Addiction a Habit or a Disease?" by Zachary Siegel; "Addiction is a Disease and Needs to be Treated as Such"by David Sack. See Ed Kressy’s autobiographical essay.
5-9 Vaccine Debate: "How to Change an Anti-Vaxxer's Mind"; "Why Vaccination Refusal Is a White Privilege Problem"; "What Everyone Gets Wrong About Anti-Vaccine Parents"; "Kid Vaccination Drama"; "We Seem to be More Frightened Than We've Ever Been"; "Anti-Vaxxers: Enjoying the Privilege of Putting Everyone at Risk". Masters of time management will continue reading in preparation for final essay and in-class final exam.
5-11 The Failed Promise of Legal Pot and Life with Legal Weed
5-16 Essay 4 Due; This Boy’s Life Lesson 1
5-18 This Boy’s Life Lesson 2
5-23 This Boy’s Life Lesson 3
5-25 This Boy’s Life Lesson 4
5-30 “The Overcoat” Lesson 1
6-1 “The Overcoat” Lesson 2
6-6 Essay 5 Final Essay Due; Blue Book In-Class Writing Exam Part I
6-8 Blue Book In-Class Writing Exam Part II
Essay One for 150 Points Based on Choosing One of the Following Options
Due March 7th
Option 1
In the context of Gottschall’s The Professor in the Cage, develop an argumentative thesis about the relationship between masculinity and ritualized violence. Your essay should be 1,000 words and have a Works Cited page with 3 sources, including one from the El Camino College database.
Option 2
Support, refute, or complicate the assertion that Steve Almond's "The NFL Is Morally Reprehensible" is a compelling argument against Gottschall's case that ritualized violence is a natural and essential part of masculinity.
In the World of Critical Thinking Are All Opinions Alike?
Some people say after reading an essay, “Well, it’s just an opinion.” But are all opinions alike?
The answer is no.
Robert Atwan in his American Now textbook writes six major types of opinions.
As you will see, some are more appropriate for the kind of critical thinking an essay deserves than others.
One. Inherited opinions: These are opinions that are imprinted on us during our childhood. They come from “family, culture, traditions, customs, regions, social institutions, or religion.”
People’s views on religion, race, education, and humanity come from their family.
Inherited opinions come from cultural and social norms.
In some cultures, it's okay to tell others your income. It's a taboo in America.
We are averse to eating dogs in America because eating dogs is contrary to America’s cultural and social norms. However, other countries eat dogs without any stigma.
We are also averse to eating insects in America when in some countries grubs are a delicacy.
We think it's normal to slaughter trees every year as part of our celebration of Christmas.
We eat until we're so stuffed we cannot walk in America; in contrast, in Japan they follow the rule of hara hachi bu, which means they stop at 80% fullness.
Peanut butter in America represents Mom's Love; in France and Brazil, however, peanut butter is trash and an insult to place in front of someone.
In America, we put dry cereal into a bowl and then pour milk over it. That is not practiced in a lot of other countries.
In America when a woman says yes to a man's date proposal, the man, Louis C.K. tells us, will shake his fist like a tennis champion and scream, "Yeah!" We admire this behavior because we grow up seeing it.
We soak up these types of opinions through a sort of osmosis and a lot of these beliefs are unconscious.
Two. Involuntary opinions: These are the opinions that result from direct indoctrination and inculcation (learning through repetition). If we grow up in a family that teaches us that eating pork is evil, then we won’t eat at other people’s homes that serve that porcine dish.
Or we may, as a result if our religious training, abjure rated R movies.
Or we may have strong feelings, one way or another, regarding gay marriage based on the doctrines we’ve learned over time.
We may have strong feelings about immigration policy based on what we learn from our family, friends, and institutions.
We may have strong feelings about the police and the prison system based on what we learn from family, friends, and institutions.
Three. Adaptive opinions: We adapt opinions to help us conform to groups we wish to belong to. We are often so eager to belong to this or that group that we sacrifice our critical thinking skills and engage in Groupthink to please the majority.
A student from China back in the 1940s or 1950s was raised in the country. He went to a city school and the richest boy made a sculpture of a butterfly. Everyone loved the butterfly but my student. He explained that a butterfly had 4 wings, not 2. He was sent to the "dunce corner" for the whole day.
He should have kept his mouth shut or pretended that butterflies have 2 wings. That's an example of Groupthink.
Atwan writes that “Adaptive opinions are often weakly held and readily changed . . . But over time they can become habitual and turn into convictions.”
For example, it’s easy for one to be against guns in Santa Monica. However, those views might be less “adaptive” in rural parts of Kentucky or Tennessee.
It's easy to be a vegan in Southern California, but you'll have more challenges being a vegan in certain parts of Texas, Kansas, and the Carolinas where barbecue is king.
Four. Concealed opinions. Sometimes we have strong opinions that are contrary to the group we belong to so we keep our mouths shut to avoid persecution. You might not want to proclaim your atheism, for example, if you were attending a Christian college.
Five. Linked opinions. Atwan writes, “Unlike adaptive opinions, which are usually stimulated by convenience and an incentive to conform, these are opinions we derived from an enthusiastic and dedicated affiliation with certain groups, institutions, or parties.”
For example, the modern “Tea Party” people or self-proclaimed Patriots embrace a series of linked opinions: Obama is not American. Obama is a socialist. Obama is helping terrorists get across the boarder. Terrorists helped elect Obama. Obama wants to strip Americans of their right to own guns so that the government and/or terrorists can move in and take Americans’ freedoms.
As you can see, all these opinions are linked to each other. Believing in one of the above opinions encourages belief in the other.
Six. Considered opinions. Atwan writes, “These are opinions we have formed as a result of firsthand experience, reading, discussion and debate, or independent thinking and reasoning. These opinions are formed from direct knowledge and often from exposure and considering other opinions.”
Often considered opinions result in examining mythologies or fake narratives that are drilled down our throats and we deconstruct these false narratives so that we can see the truth behind them.
There are many fake narratives:
Columbus “discovering” America.
The European pilgrims “sharing” with the American Indians.
White slave owners “blessing” Africans with Christianity.
The pharmaceutical industry making our health job one.
Mexican workers in America "stealing" jobs from Americans.
Poor people "choose" to be poor.
Poor people deserve to be poor because they're bad, morally flawed human beings.
Obese people got fat from being morally flawed such as being selfish and gluttonous.
Developing critical thinking skills means being able to pick apart a false narrative and examine the true narrative behind it.
Some would define literacy as developing critical thinking skills and that failure to do so is to remain a mindless consumer, an obedient child to the parental authorities of market trends and advertising.
It's your choice: You can either swallow the blue pill (blissful ignorance) or the red pill (uncomfortable, often painful truth).
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