No Blue Book needed, so scratch that from the syllabus.
College Motivation:
Why Bother to Try When Life Feels Like One Big Cruel Joke?
In 12 Rules for Life, Jordan Peterson says there comes a time when we all feel like life is one big cruel joke. We reach the point where we say, like George Carlin, “This place is a freak show. Why even bother?”
Peterson uses Tolstoy as an example of a successful, privileged, wealthy person, the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, who came to that point at the peak of his powers.
Tolstoy looked at the world, and said, and I paraphrase, “I hate this place. Evil triumphs over good more than not. Stupid people rise to high positions in the bureaucracies and make our lives miserable. And no matter how great our achievements, all those successes will be cancelled by death, so what’s the point? Planet Earth is a joke, man.”
Nihilism
When you’ve reached this point in your life, you’ve arrived at the Door of Nihilism, the belief that nothing matters in this world because there is no meaning. Nihilism tells us there is nothing to live for.
There are 5 ways to respond to this crisis of Nihilism.
One. You can retreat into childlike ignorance and pretend that evil and stupidity don’t exist.
Two. You can pursue mindless pleasures and hope to erase the pain of existence through sheer oblivion.
Three. You can grit your teeth and bear the misery of life like a stoic.
Four. You can end your life and be gone from this miserable place.
Thankfully, there is a fifth response.
ive. You can clean your room.
I mean this literally and metaphorically.
Here’s an example:
I remember when I was ten, I went out to the front of he house where my dad was changing the oil on his 1967 Chrysler Newport. I said, “Dad, I’m not happy. I’m bored.”
My dad was a military man, and he always spoke in a loud voice. He said, “Of course you’re unhappy. Have you looked at your room lately? It looks like a pigsty. What are you, a professional slob? Go clean your room. You’ll feel better afterwards.”
I cleaned my room and told my father I felt a lot better.
“Of course you feel better,” he said. “Did you think being a professional slob was going to make you happy?”
Jordan Peterson is also talking about cleaning our room in the spiritual, moral, and psychological sense.
We clean our room in the moral sense in 3 ways.
Number One: Cleaning your room means you stop doing what you know is wrong.
You could be spending too much time on your screen.
You could be hanging out with losers unworthy of your friendship who are dragging you down.
You could spending your money in irresponsible ways.
You could be eating in irresponsible ways.
You could be disrespectful to the people you care about most.
You could be driving too aggressively, especially when there are children in the car.
You could be whining about your kids on social media when you should get off social media and do something about your kids.
You might not brush your teeth and your breath is so bad you could breath on an elephant and it would collapse and die from anaphylactic shock. Stop telling me how depressed you are, and brush your teeth.
Cleaning up these behaviors is like cleaning your room. It’s a good step toward feeling less miserable about your existence.
Number Two. Cleaning up your life means taking stock of your bad behaviors rather than blaming the world.
It’s easy to blame external forces for our misery when too often 95% of our misery results from our own self-destructive behavior. Scapegoats are convenient because they give us an excuse to let ourselves off the hook.
Number Three. Don’t expect all of life answers to be presented to you at once. Be comforted by one piece of helpful wisdom at a time.
I had a student from Taiwan who shared a story with the class about a story his father told him about a young man who refused to live his life until God gave him all the answers.
My Risk and Success Factors in College
In 1979, I went to a Cal State in Northern California at the age of 17 shortly after my parents divorced. My mother was constantly short of money, and I was stressed out over finances to the point that I wanted to drop out of college and be a garbage man. During my freshman year in college, I was very close to dropping out or being expelled. These were the risk factors I faced:
Risk Factor #1: Garbage Man Temptation
I worked out at a gym with a lot of garbage men who said they could get me a garbage man job. They made about 35K a year, a lot of money in 1979, with full medical benefits. They worked from 5 to 10 a.m., went to the gym, then went home for the rest of their day. They owned their own house. A lot of them had beautiful wives and girlfriends.
From my vantage point, their lives seemed simple, relatively easy, financially secure. I found the whole thing very tempting. Being a garbage man felt like an instant way to become a man, to have spending power, and to take charge of my own destiny.
Ego, Insecurity, and Career Choice
But my father persuaded me that a garbage man job was a bad move for me. He explained it to me. “You’re too insecure to be a garbage man. You’ll be at a cocktail party and people will be introducing themselves: doctor, lawyer, engineer, architect, and you’ll have to blurt out your professional title as a garbageman. How do you think that’s going to fly? Knowing you, the whole thing will be an exercise in emasculation.”
He was right. He had a clear understanding of my personality: I couldn’t bear the thought of announcing to the world, especially at a cocktail party, that I was a garbage man. So that one imaginary scenario put the kibosh on my whole garbage man fantasy.
Nevertheless, for a long time my garbage man aspirations tempted me to drop out of college to the point that I didn’t focus on my studies my first year.
Risk Factor #2: High School Gave Me a False 4.0 GPA
My senior year my counselor larded me with praise for getting a 4.0 GPA at my high school in Northern California, but it wasn’t until I got into college that I realized my 4.0 was an inflated GPA and a completely worthless measure of my preparation for college.
I had no basic math, grammar, or writing skills. I had to take remedial math, and I got kicked out of my freshman composition class, what is called 1A at many community colleges.
Not only did I get kicked out of freshman composition class, I got kicked out of remedial English, what at the time was called “Bonehead English.” I’ll repeat that: I got kicked out of Bonehead English and was put into Pre-Bonehead English, a class so low they wouldn’t even give us a grade. They gave us a Pass or Fail.
Thank God we didn't have Facebook back then. Can you imagine my Facebook status: "Pre-Bonehead English student at College Such and Such."
Lack of basic math and writing skills made me an “at-risk” college freshman.
Risk Factor #3: My High School Buddies Ridiculed and Denigrated Me for Going to College Because Higher Education Wasn’t Considered Manly
I was at a party once and when my buddies got wind that I was attending Cal State, they laughed at me, and Steve Mumma said to me, “You know you’re just a bum like the rest of us. I guarantee next summer you’ll have dropped out of college and you’ll be drinking beer with us in the mud flats.”
Number one, I didn’t like the taste of beer, so Mumma was wrong on that count. Number two, I didn’t know anything about these “mud flats” he was referring to.
But the point is this: My buddies ridiculed me for going to college for two reasons: One, they believed I was too stupid for college, and, two, going to college was somehow an affront to my masculinity.
Not going to college and getting a full-time job, something like being a garbage man, was the most manly thing I could do.
Risk Factor #4: I Hated the Physical and Emotional Experience of Going to College
I was a big dude. I benched pressed over 400 pounds, squatted over 600 pounds. I had a beard. I didn’t smile. I had that thousand-mile stare that you’ll see in some homeless people. My professors were scared of me. Dogs were scared of me.
College Made Me Feel Claustrophobic
I hated the college environment. I was used to the big places, outdoors, gyms, football fields. That’s where I felt physically comfortable. But if you stuck me inside a classroom and I had to squeeze my body behind a little cramped desk, I became physically uncomfortable, tense, anxious, and claustrophobic to the point that I wanted to explode.
As a result, I had a difficult time listening to my professors. I would fidget and squirm in my seat and wait for the class to end the way a prisoner waits to get out of jail.
I hated driving to college. As soon I ascended the hill that led to the campus, and I could see the tip of the Administration Building, my stomach would tighten up, and I thought I was going to puke.
Risk Factor #5: I Lacked a Mentor Figure to Give Me Guidance
My father was remarried and busy tending to his new life, so he was not a big presence during this time.
My professors were smart, but none of them mentored me, partly because they were scared of me. I cultivated a burly physique and an intimidating personality.
Working on My Mad-Dog Affect
My mother was dating, and when she’d introduce me to her boyfriends and have me shake their hand, I'd mad-dog them before giving them a Bone-Crusher Handshake, one of those painful handshakes that squeeze their tendons just enough to let them know that I was the alpha male of the household. I was in charge, I was in control, I called the shots.
This angry persona repelled any potential mentor figures.
TV Mentor
The only mentor I can think of was a TV personality, a late-night comedian named David Letterman. I could tell by his deadpan persona and acid humor that he was a Partner in Crime in Being Pissed Off at the World, and I immediately identified with him, so I imitated a lot of his caustic, cynical humor and sarcastic word play.
I Eventually Became a Mentor
Because I lacked a mentor and because I ended up being a college professor, I decided many years ago to be a mentor at my college. I do two mentorships, Puente and Project Success, because I find a lot of young men are in a similar place I was at when I was their age.
So there I was:
One, worried about money
Two, discouraged from constant ridicule from my non-college-attending buddies
Three, distracted by dreams of being a garbage man
Four, humiliated that I was in Pre-Bonehead English
Five, stunned that my high school “4.0” GPA was a worthless measure of my college preparedness
Six, feeling physically sick while sitting in the classroom
Seven, lacking a mentor figure to give me any kind of direction with the possible exception of snide TV personalities like David Letterman
I had 7 strikes against me.
How do you think I did my first year of college?
Not surprisingly, not so well. I dropped a lot of classes, my GPA was barely 2.0, and I received a letter from the college telling me that my subpar, crappy performance put me on academic probation, and that if I did not improve, I could face expulsion.
Academic Probation Was the Turning Point
Getting that letter of probation was more of an affront to my masculinity that being berated by my high school buddies. My honor was on the line. My intelligence was being questioned.
I was pissed off in a good way because I wanted to defend my pride. After receiving that letter, I received mostly A grades and went on to get my Masters degree in English.
What were the success factors?
Success Factor #1: I Learned That Fear Could be a Tool for Self-Improvement
The very fear that made me hate college and gave me anxiety attacks inside the classroom could also be a tool for self-improvement: I saw my high school buddies with dead-end jobs, and I saw my Letter of Probation as motivational tools to take college seriously, to focus, and to develop consistent study habits.
Fear, Not Self-Will, Was the Motivator
I never felt I succeeded in college because of an act of will or an act of discipline but because every morning I felt a cold gun to my head threatening me with failure if I did not adhere to a consistent routine.
Success Factor #2: I Learned to Crave Solitude
The only way to advance in my studies was to be alone for long stretches in what is often called “time blocking,” those periods of the day where you give yourself a big chunk of time for isolated, sustained, focused study.
As my grades improved, I became dependent on my discipline as a way of giving me assurance that I was following the right path.
No Technology
I discovered the intellectual appeal of solitude in the early 1980s. This was long before the mass consumption of personal computers and smartphones, two devices that are vectors of social media and other forms of stimulation that are an impediment to solitude and achieving long stretches of sustained focus.
I don’t know if I could have succeeded in college if I had, like most contemporary Americans, the constant need to be tied to my smartphone, the constant need to text, and the constant need to check my social media status.
My guess is that I may have failed college and ended up being a garbage man.
Success Factor #3: I Learned to Hate My Own Ignorance
The more I learned, the more I realized how ignorant I was, and I detested my own sense of ignorance and stupidity and felt compelled to make up for lost time by reading like a demon.
For example, I learned through reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X that the version of American history that public school taught me was a saccharine fairy tale, that in fact real American history was a narrative about a racist kleptocracy.
Through reading, I could see the curtain of delusion and deceptive mythologies part before my eyes and I could see the truth lurking backstage.
I’d read several books a week, books that were not even assigned on my college syllabus.
Success Factor #4: I Broke My Past Ties
I never resented or officially rejected my high school buddies. I simply lost contact with them. It was a slow entropy (decline) of my past ties. We simply parted ways.
I find a lot of college students don’t find success until they break away from their past. Failure to break from past ties often leads to stagnation and failure to progress in college.
Success Factor #5: I Was Smart Enough to Know I Was Too Dumb and Emotionally Unstable to Organize My Life Without College
As a college student, I was completely lost in many ways: I was emotionally disoriented so that I could only see the outside world through the blurry haze of several layers of emotional upheaval; I lacked a clear career objective. I didn’t know what I what do with a college degree.
But I was smart enough to know that I was an unstable, angry young man who needed the responsibility of showing up to class and turning in assignments.
I knew that adhering to a strict routine would prevent me from going completely crazy and give me the credentials I would need to get some kind of decent job, the kind of job that wouldn’t make me feel ashamed when I introduced myself to someone at a cocktail party.
Probably Most of Us Will Benefit from College
Some of us don’t need college, but in my experience those people are the exception; they constitute less than 1% of us.
You can alway point to some tech genius or entrepreneurial super star or famous YouTuber who becomes a marquee name in the business world. But these people are rare, less than one percent.
Relying on anecdotal evidence to argue that you don’t need a college degree is faulty reasoning and shows a lack of critical thinking skills.
In all probability, most people will find the time and investment in college is a long-term benefit.
People will say, “McMahon you’re so talented you don’t need a college degree.”
“Really? I’m talented. How so?”
“You play piano.”
“I know piano players who play better than I do, and they’re homeless.”
“You’re a novelist. You could write best-selling novels.”
“I know novelists who write better than I do, and they’re homeless.”
“You’re funny. You could be a comedian.”
“I know comedians who are funnier than I am, and they’re homeless.”
“McMahon, you’re edgy. You could be a TV writer.”
“I know aspiring TV writers who are sleeping behind alley trash cans in North Hollywood, who haven’t had a decent meal or a shower in six months, and whose only friend is a stray three-legged pitbull with one eye and a bad case of mange.”
College is probably your best bet.
Turnitin Code: 18587657
Password: Salient
English 1C Syllabus Fall 2018
Email: [email protected]
Office: H121P; extension 5673
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday: 2:35-3:45
Tuesday and Thursday: 12:30-1 and 3:25-4:15
Materials You Need for This Class:
One. How to Think by Alan Jacobs
Two. Rules for Writers, Eighth edition, edited by Diana Hacker
Flat, Pocketed Folder for Your Homework Portfolio
Work You Must Do in This Class
One. You will write 5 typed, 1,000-word essays in MLA format. The fifth essay, your capstone essay, will need 2 to 3 sources for your Works Cited. These essays will be uploaded on turnitin. Late essays are accepted for a week after deadline and are marked down a full grade.
Two. Instead of getting quizzed on the readings, you will write 3-paragraph reading-response essays to the readings. Each mini essay should have at least 3 signal phrases citing the text of the assigned reading. You will not be uploading these essays on turnitin.com. Instead, you will bring a typed hard copy to class and discussing it with your team of 3 or 4 students. Classes will typically start with a 20-minute discussion about the reading response while I mark them with a teacher’s stamp. The mini essay will be stamped with either an excellent top-grade mark or a middling mediocre mark. An unacceptable essay won’t be marked. You will keep these essays in a flat, pocketed folder, which I will grade at the end of the semester. You cannot make-up missing mini essays. You should be motivated to show up to every class. Unless you have a doctor’s note, you cannot make-up missing mini essays. You should be motivated to show up to every class. Your portfolio is worth 200 points, 20% of your total grade.
Three. Before the 1,000-word typed essays are due on turnitin, there is a peer edit session. You bring hard copies of your completed typed draft so your team can review your work, and you can review theirs. Like your mini essays, the completed draft gets a stamp, either a top-tier stamp or a middling one.
Grading Based on 1,000 Points and 13,500 Words Written Over the Semester (about 110 words a day).
One. First four 1,000-word essays are 135 points each (540 subtotal).
Two. Final Capstone Essay, also 1,000 words, with 3 sources is 260 points.
Three. Homework Portfolio includes all your mini essays and peer edit drafts (kept in flat pocketed folders) 100 points for parts 1 and 2 for 200 total.
Grading Point Scheme
Total Points: 1,000 (A is 900-1,000; B is 800-899; C is 700-799; D is 600 to 699)
Essay Assignments
Essay #1 Due 9-13-18
You need minimum 2 sources for your MLA Works Cited page.
Choose One:
Option A
In a 1,000-word essay, develop a thesis that explains how Megan Phelps-Roper, as featured in Adrian Chen’s essay “Unfollow,” unshackled herself from the anti-thinking biases and demonstrated the principles of critical thinking laid forth in Alan Jacobs’ How to Think. Use “Unfollow” and How to Think as your two sources for your Works Cited page.
Option B
In a 1,000-word essay, develop a thesis that defends, refutes, or complicates the argument that Megan Phelps-Roper, featured in Adrian Chen’s “Unfollow,” is a salient illustration of Alan Jacobs’ thesis that critical thinking is dependent on moral character. Use “Unfollow” and How to Think as your two sources for your Works Cited page.
Option C
In the context of How to Think, write a 1,000-word essay that compares the moral courage of Megan Phelps-Roper to the people who leave Utopia in Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas."
Essay #2 Due 9-27-18
Minimum of 2 sources for your MLA Works Cited page.
Option A
In the context of the Netflix documentary Dirty Money, Episode #2, "Payday," write an argumentative essay that answers the question: Were Scott Tucker and his associates fairly prosecuted or did the government overreach its powers and exact unjust punishment on these allegedly greedy businessmen? Be sure to have a counterargument section. For your sources, you can use the documentary, the Vulture review, and the Atlantic review.
Option B
In the context of James Hamblin’s “This Is Your Brain on Gluten,” write an essay that addresses the claim that David Perlmutter is engaging in flawed critical thinking to persuade his readers to follow overreaching promises about his nutrition regiment.
Option C
In the context of Alexandra Sifferlin's "The Weight Loss Trap" and Harriet Brown's "The Weight of the Evidence," develop a thesis that addresses the claim that going on a diet is too futile and harmful and that we should give up on the idea of dieting altogether.
Option D
In the context of Jason Brennan’s “Can epistocracy, or knowledge-based voting, fix democracy?”, support, defend, or complicate the claim that an epistocracy is superior to democracy as we currently know it.
Option E
Addressing the complexities and moral contradictions contained in Larissa MacFarquhar’s YouTube presentation “Understanding Extreme Altruism” ( a thumbnail sketch of her book Strangers Drowning), develop an argumentative thesis that supports, refutes, or complicates Peter Singer’s Drowning Child Moral Imperative as he lays it out in “The Drowning Child and the Expanding Circle. ” Singer’s Drowning Child analogy is also used in his essay “What Should a Billionaire Give--and What Should You?”
Essay #3 Due 10-18-18
Option A
In the context of David Freedman’s “The War on Stupid People,” support, refute, or complicate Freedman’s contention that we marginalize average people at our own peril, socially, pragmatically, morally, and otherwise.
Option B
In the context of the Netflix documentary Dirty Money, Episode #1, "Hard Nox," support, refute, or complicate the assertion that in spite of Volkswagen's 30 billion dollars paid in fines and legal fees for committing fraud and other crimes, that their ascent in the world economy is evidence that Volkswagen, as an agency of unbridled corporate greed, has triumphed over the wheels of justice. For your sources, you can use the documentary, the Vulture review, and the Atlantic review.
Option C
Read Jessica McCrory Calarco’s essay “‘Free-Range’ Parenting’s Unfair Double Standard” and support or refute her claim. See Washington Post and Reason’s “The Fragile Generation.”
Option D
In the context of Michael Gerson’s “The Last Temptation,” support, refute, or complicate the claim that evangelicals are shooting their foot by supporting the “least traditionally religious president in living memory.”
Option E
Write an argumentative essay that addresses the viability of electric scooters as a thriving business model for alternative modes of transportation. Consider the advances in technology, the share economy, and the benefits of regulations measured against sidewalk traffic and legal liability.
Option F
Read Gabrielle Glaser’s “The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous” and support, refute, or complicate Glaser’s assertion that AA is an overrated, untested program.
Option G
Read Charlie Warzel’s “Infocalypse Now” and Matt Taibbi’s “Can We Be Saved from Facebook?” and defend, refute, or complicate the authors’ contention that fake news is an unstoppable juggernaut that could destroy civilization as we know it. You can connect this essay to critiques about Facebook and other forms of social media that are allegedly contributing to the breakdown of the free world as fascist forces manipulate social media to promote their agenda. Also see Franklin Foer’s “The End of Reality.”
Essay #4 Due 11-8-18
You need minimum 2 sources for your MLA Works Cited page.
Option A
Read Jelani Cobb’s “Black Like Her” and write an essay that supports, refutes, or complicates the contention that it is morally objectionable for white woman Rachel Dolezal to fabricate an identity to pass as being black. Also consult the Netflix documentary The Rachel Divide.
Option B
Read David Brooks’ “How We Are Ruining America” and support, refute, or complicate the contention that Brooks has written a misleading, stupid, deceptive, and grossly wrong-minded essay.
Option C
Read Jon Ronson’s “How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life” and write an essay that supports, refutes, or complicates Ronson’s claim that we should be more offended by the social media outrage machine than we should be offended Justine Sacco’s stupid tweet.
Option D
Read Oren Cass’ “Why a Universal Basic Income Is a Terrible Idea” and write an essay that supports, defends, or complicates the author’s position that UBI will do more harm than good.
Option E
Read Garrett Hardin’s “Lifeboat Ethics” and an essay that supports, refutes, or complicates Hardin’s argument against liberal methods of helping the poor.
Essay #5 Due 12-13-18
You need minimum 3 sources for your MLA Works Cited page.
Option A
Read Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” Chekhov’s “Gooseberries” the Guardian essay, and “Winter Dreams” and develop a thesis that addresses the claim that happiness is a form of deception that results in a squandered life and moral decrepitude.
Option B
Read Brendan Foht’s “The Case Against Human Gene Editing” and write an essay that supports, refutes, or complicates the claim that gene editing poses moral and political problems that we cannot handle.
Option C
Read Paul Bloom’s “Against Empathy” and address the claim that Bloom, trying to sell lots of books, is writing a disingenuous argument, relying more on semantics and trickery than substance, to write a sensationalistic, hyped-up thesis.
Option D
In the context of Evan Osnos’ “Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich,” analyze the causes behind the wealth tech industry’s obsession with preparing for the Apocalypse.
Option E
Read Barbara Ehrenreich’s essay “Giving Up on Preventative Care” and support, refute, or complicate her thesis that we should resist the preventive care of America’s medical establishment.
Option F
Read Elizabeth Anderson’s “If God Is Dead, Is Everything Permitted?” and defend, refute, or complicate the author’s claim that non-theism is morally superior to theism.
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.
Classroom Decorum: No smart phones can be used in class. If you’re on your smartphone and I see you, you get a warning the first time. Second time, you must leave the class and take an absence
Tardies: Two tardies equals one absence.
Reading and Writing Schedule
Note: Because current events can be fluid and because online essays can without warning become unavailable, the professor can, at his discretion, modify the syllabus to accommodate the aforementioned conditions.
August 28 Introduction, Syllabus, turnitin password
August 30 Homework #1: Read How to Think, up to page 50 and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains why we are bad at thinking; Backfire Effect
September 4 Homework #2: Read How to Think, up to page 125 and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains why ingroup behavior is so dangerous. Review signal phrases.
September 6 Homework #3: Finish How to Think and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains that being a critical thinker can be dangerous. Read Adrian Chen’s “Unfollow” and see Megan Phelps-Roper Ted Talk.
September 11 Peer Edit for Essay #1; have copies of your first draft for everyone in your team.
September 13 Essay #1 is due on turnitin. No hard copy required. No homework today. We will read Peter Singer's essay "The Drowning Child and the Expanding Circle" and watch a Larissa MacFarquhar video "Understanding Extreme Altruism" for the following essay option:
Addressing the complexities and moral contradictions contained in Larissa MacFarquhar’s YouTube presentation “Understanding Extreme Altruism” ( a thumbnail sketch of her book Strangers Drowning), develop an argumentative thesis that supports, refutes, or complicates Peter Singer’s Drowning Child Moral Imperative as he lays it out in “The Drowning Child and the Expanding Circle. ” Singer’s Drowning Child analogy is also used in his essay “What Should a Billionaire Give--and What Should You?”
You can also watch Netflix documentary Dirty Money, Episode #2, “Payday.” You have two homework assignments, numbers 4 and 5, due on the next class because there is no homework today.
September 18 Homework #4: Read “This Is Your Brain on Gluten” by James Hamblin and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains why author David Perlmutter is engaging in false claims to promote his ideas and bestselling books. Homework #5: Read Alexandra Sifferlin's "The Weight Loss Trap" and explain why it is so difficult to lose weight and keep it off. We will also read Harriet Brown's "The Weight of the Evidence."
September 20 Homework #6: Read Jason Brennan’s “Can epistocracy, or knowledge-based voting, fix democracy?” and write a 3-paragraph essay that identifies possible objections to Brennan’s thesis.
September 25 Peer Edit for Essay #2.
September 27 Essay #2 is due on turnitin. No homework due today other than Essay #2. In class, we will read David Freedman’s “The War on Stupid People,” and we will support, refute, or complicate Freedman’s contention that we marginalize average people at our own peril, socially, pragmatically, morally, and otherwise. Or we will watch the Netflix documentary Dirty Money, Episode #1, “Hard Nox.”
October 2 Homework #7: Read Jessica McCrory Calarco’s “‘Free-Range’ Parenting’s Unfair Double Standard” and address the reasons the author uses to support her argument. A look at the Turpin family shows that “free-range” can go too far.
October 4 Homework #8: Read Michael Gerson’s “The Last Temptation” and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains why so many evangelicals (about 85%) support the “least religious president in living memory.” We will also look at the electronic scooter debate as the controversy has been growing in both Santa Monica and San Francisco.
October 9 Homework #9: Read Gabrielle Glaser’s “The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous” and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains why Glaser believes AA is an overrated program.
October 11 Homework #10: Read Charlie Warzel’s “Infocalypse Now” and Matt Taibbi’s “Can We be Saved from Facebook?” and write a 3-paragraph essay about how fake news is an unstoppable juggernaut that could destroy civilization as we know it. We will connect these essays to critiques about Facebook and other forms of social media that are contributing to the breakdown of the free world as fascist forces manipulate social media to promote their agenda.
October 16 Peer Edit for Essay #3 and Portfolio Part 1 for 100 points up to Homework #10.
October 18 Essay #3 is due on turnitin; Homework #11: Read Jelani Cobb’s “Black Like Her” and write an essay that explains why many are offended that a white woman Rachel Dolezal manufactured an identity to pass as being black.
October 23 Homework #12: Read David Brooks’ “How We Are Ruining America” and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains why so many people attacked Brooks for writing a misleading, stupid, deceptive, and grossly wrong-minded essay. Today we will discuss pathos, logos, and ethos as they pertain to making you a more effective writer.
October 25 Homework #13: Read Jon Ronson’s “How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life” and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains why Ronson is morally offended that so many people ruined Sacco’s life for her fatuous tweet.
October 30 Homework #14: Read Oren Cass’ “Why a Universal Basic Income Is a Terrible Idea” and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains the author’s position. You can also consult Nathan Heller's New Yorker essay "Who Really Stands to Win from Universal Basic Income?"
November 1 Homework #15: Read Garrett Hardin’s “Lifeboat Ethics” and write a 3-paragraph essay that identifies 3 possible objections to his argument.
November 6 Peer Edit for Essay #4
November 8 Essay #4 is due on turnitin. Homework #16 Read Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains the story’s moral message. How is the story’s Paradise a falsity? Indeed, we will be exploring the following theme as we read a few related short stories for an essay option: Happiness is a trickster.
November 13 Homework #17: Read Chekhov’s “Gooseberries” and write a 3-paragraph essay that analyzes Nikolay’s moral disintegration and decrepitude. We will also explore a Guardian essay that critically examines how the story reveals a lot about the deception of happiness.
November 15 Homework #18: Read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams” and write a 3-paragraph essay that compares how Dexter Green and Nikolay both traded true happiness and meaning for a life wasted on a chimera.
November 20 Homework #19: Read Brendan Foht’s “The Case Against Human Gene Editing” and write an essay that explains why the author maintains his position.
November 22 Holiday
November 27 Homework #20: Read Paul Bloom’s “Against Empathy” and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains the author’s position.
November 29 Homework #21: Read Evan Osnos’ “Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich,” and in 3 paragraphs analyze the causes behind the wealth tech industry’s obsession with preparing for the Apocalypse.
December 4 Homework #22: Read Barbara Ehrenreich’s essay “Giving Up on Preventative Care” and in 3 paragraphs support, refute, or complicate her thesis that we should resist the preventive care of America’s medical establishment.
December 6 Homework #23: Read Elizabeth Anderson’s “If God Is Dead, Is Everything Permitted?” and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains her reasons for arguing that non-theism is morally superior to theism.
December 11 Peer Edit
December 13 Essay #5 Due and Portfolio Part 2, #11-#23
Signal Phrases Used for In-Text Citations
About 80% of your essay should be your writing and 20% should be quoted, paraphrased, and summarized material.
4 Steps of MLA In-Text Citations
You need to do four things when you quote, paraphrase, or summarize from a text.
Step One: The first thing you need to do is introduce the material with a signal phrase.
Make sure to use a variety of signal phrases to introduce quotations and paraphrases.
Verbs in Signal Phrases
According to . . . (very common)
Ha Jin writes . . . (very common)
Panbin laments . . .
Dan rages . . .
Dan seethes . . .
Signal Phrase Templates
In the words of researchers Redelmeier and Tibshirani, “…”
As Matt Sundeen has noted, “…”
Patti Pena, mother of a child killed by a driver distracted by a cell phone, points out that “…”
“…” writes Christine Haughney, “…”
“…” claims wireless spokesperson Annette Jacobs.
Radio hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi offer a persuasive counterargument: “…”
Step Two: The quote, paraphrase, or summary you use.
Step Three: The parenthetical citation, which comes after the cited material.
Kwon points out that the Fourth Amendment does not give employees any protections from employers’ “unreasonable searches and seizures” (6).
In the cultural website One-Way Street, Richard Prouty observes that Lasdun's "men exist in a fixed point of the universe, but they have no agency" (para. 7).
Step Four: Analyze your cited material. The analysis should be of a greater length than the cited material. Show how the cited material supports your thesis.
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