The Ethics Of Reading By Jane Gallop Essay

In Francine Prose’s essay “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Sing” Prose tends to evoke her unsureness on why schools use certain books to teach students their moral values. Prose argues that certain books should be taught in English classes, that in fact, teach students their values. Prose uses several literary examples, such as Frankenstein, How To a Kill A Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, etc. She also provides several controversial opinions, such as using different books to try and teach students, like The Diary of a Young Girl, Teaching The Novel, and many more that she has personally read in her lifetime. She also claims that teacher should start teaching curriculum that has meaning and that will provide skills that a student would

Before beginning to critique the article, we must first review its main points. Aristotle essentially argues that ethics can be taught. However, various philosophers and thinkers disagree with the notion. Hursthouse is one such individual, pointing out what are called “v-principles.”(Husthouse, 1999) Husthouse illustrates a common example, that “for example, a generous person happily lends money to needy friends even if they may not be able to pay it back. As generosity is a virtue, one ought to act on the principle…an ungenerous person can know the applicable principles but be stingy anyway; so what good is mere knowledge of the principles?” (Hursthouse, 1999) This isn’t a false statement. If an individual is walking down the streets of San Francisco and encounters a homeless man, he/she may

While many believe that the grading system has a concrete standing in the success of education, other’s believe that it actually can inhibit or at least lessen the effectiveness of learning. In “A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System,” Jerry Farber states that for the longest time, many have dismissed the fact that grades could be harmful to the learning process. He argues that grades lack the ability to bring about self-discipline within the students learning the content. While the educational system has rendered changes throughout the years, the grading system maintains its virginity and has been fairly untouched. He insists that many educators are in strong belief that grades are the only way to ensure that learning is to take place within the classroom. Most of society would dictate that the system has been fairly effective in getting individuals through their schooling. But as Farber points out, students tend to focus more upon the grades they are receiving and less upon the content itself. Throughout his writing, Faber uses many forms of rhetoric to persuade the reader to believe the fact that the grading system is corrupted and should be changed, and offers a solution which is referred to as the Credit System. With this being said, it can be stated that Farber effectively conveys his argument through his appeal to a younger

This article by Wink is significant because it exposes how linear teaching does not always work for every classroom. Teachers are taught to teach one specific way and often times they neglect the needs of their classrooms because they do not adjust to the student’s needs. I liked that Wink talked about learning, unlearning, and relearning because it shows the process of effective teaching in a new classroom. It is significant because we need to realize that the process of learning should be mutual between the

In this article, Suzanne M. Kauer states that she believes that every parent has the right to choose whether their child will or will not read a book. Kauer believes that it is important to understand and respect why parents don’t want certain books to be read, without forcing the rest of the class to abide by the same rules. She also mentions that there should be more of a focus on why we’re reading these particular books anyways, and that we should create more diversity in the authors and characters presented in our curriculum.

To start with, I can relate to the problem Vogel describes which is that most students today care a lot more about the resultant grade than their learning experience in a class. All throughout high school, trying to keep my grades high has been one of my main goals. I was always taught that grades were very important, because when I get to college, they will help me to save the most money through scholarships. Because of the constant pressure by my parents and my competitive spirit against my peers, I have worked very hard and still maintain a 4.0 GPA as a current senior. However, after looking back at all this I realize that Vogel’s point about losing focus of actually learning in a class is quite relevant to me. Similar to the students described by Vogel who come into his office in anger or despair asking him why they got the grade they did, I also can get very concerned after receiving a lower than expected grade on a test or paper. Instead

We see from John Green’s video, “Why and How We Read” and Gary Morson’s article, “Why College Kids Are Avoiding the Study of Literature”, that literature is given a bad name because of how it’s being taught, people think it’s a waste of time to learn, because of the unnecessary critical analysis. We can also see that the two articles and video all show us that authors are trying to communicate a message through their writing, and ultimately, teach us something. In both articles and the video, it is emphasized that we build the necessary skills to empathize and communicate with others. Ultimately, we also understand and express our own emotions more efficiently, when we do read. Finally, in “The Business Case for Reading Novels” by Anne Kreamer

Gallop's essay is certainly a very interesting piece, and her thesis is very plainly stated. A direct quote from Gallop manages to sum it up very efficiently: “Close reading can thus be a crucial part of our education, the very sort of thing we most need from college. Close reading can equip us to learn, to be open to learning, to keep on learning all our life.” (Gallop, 11) In “The Ethics of Reading: Close Encounters”, Gallop is attempting to convey to her readership that the technique of 'close reading', which she expounds on in great detail throughout the essay, is a form of reading which emphasizes focusing on details, and allegedly offers both a superior understanding of text and empathy with the authors of those texts. Though she may have cautioned her readers away from developing tunnel vision on the main idea of a written piece, Gallop chose to include the phrase 'close reading' forty-eight times in her paper; the level of emphasis she places on close reading makes it harder not to see the main idea of her essay.

“According to Stock, an examination of this very broad historical palate reveals two traditional approaches to the question of why we read: the "aesthetic" and the "ascetic." The aesthetic approach "involves the pleasure of the text in and for itself" (7), says Stock. One of its most distinctive features is the absence of an ethical dimension. In other words, reading for pleasure (or, as Stock sometimes says, "enjoyment") is bereft of an ethical or moral aspect.”

Of all the problems we have in our education system, grading is the most misunderstood. Alfie Kohn reinforces the idea that grades have a negative impact on students,in his essay from “Degrading to De-grading”, by stating that grades encourage students to take the “easy way”, by taking the least challenging courses. Another point Kohn makes is that students’ learning is negatively affected by grades because the students only recite the information for the test. After the teachers test the information the students just “learned”, the information becomes irrelevant to the student.The students quickly forgot the information and never really learn it. Not only do grades harm the student, but also the teacher. Grades harm

“People need to know why what they are doing is worth the effort and how it connects to their personal and collective mission and values, or the endeavor will soon be stalled. We show that morality is often reflected in the work and used as a means to inspire others.” (Blankstein & Noguera, 2015). The teachers were organized, they ensured constancy and consistency through the teachers and students by having meeting and evaluating the work of the students in all classes. “Improving our school meant that we needed to improve instruction across the school. Quality instruction was the driver of our improvement. When we learned to teach differently, and focus on teaching our students the literacy skills they needed, the students learned the material better.” (Blankstein & Noguera, 2015). And this was the insight that inform my professional practice. In my school, we start working all the teacher as one team since last school year. This school year we are on the same path by improving our grading policy across the school and by helping each other to have a school of excellence. When something is new, fear is going to be there always, but it is our decision if we allowed fear to defeat use, or we can decide to fight our fears and conquer the

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is a defense of the kind of non-violent direct action that King promoted and used during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s. It is a response to statements of disapproval made by the clergymen of Birmingham, Alabama, and is obviously written in a way that appeals directly to this audience. King uses his knowledge of this audience's identity to design highly targeted arguments and to choose relevant historical examples for citation, and uses his personal experience in writing sermons and speeches to construct moving sermon-like passages that complement and reinforce his arguments. The arguments' basis in terms that the clergymen will find to be familiar and agreeable,

He claimed that forming relationships was the best way to motivate students and breakthrough their shell. Mr. Hawkins said the hardest part of his day originally was admitting to students that he didn’t know something. Originally, he said it made him feel less credible to students, however he realized that it made him more relatable to the students and allowed him to learn with them. Now, he says staying on top of the little things like grading, emails, and meetings is the most challenging part of his day. Finally, I asked him about grading methods and the best way to do it. Mr. Hawkins’s advice was to use rubrics so students knew exactly what they had to do. He claimed that giving rubrics allows the justification of grades and makes it easier to grade something badly. He also said that when something is graded badly to reinforce to the student that “This isn’t the end. Tomorrow is a new day.”

He begins his argument for changing the design of grading by asking, "How confident are you that the grades students get in your school are accurate, consistent, meaningful, and supportive of learning? If grades do not meet these four conditions of quality they are broken” (p. 8) At the start of the school year our BLT has be attempting to answer, "What does a grade reflect?". We have not made that determination yet; I'm not sure anyone has quantified it

into two parts, the first looking at the era in which he grew up, the