WP 3 very rough draft

Writing project 3

Religious studies what is that. Religious studies are defined as a program that engages in the comparative, cross-cultural study of religions and cultures. It also focuses on various disciplinary approaches, including the historical, sociological, anthropological and theological, the academic study of religion seeks to interpret, analyze and evaluate the nature and role of religion in the lives of individuals and societies. One could break this program down into several parts. First being religions. Second being cultures. The third being the disciplinary approaches.   

For the disciplinary approaches, I would define it as a concentrated area of interest. But scholars define it as the development of studies, theories, and process. In one article I read it focuses on the psychological and thought process of things also referred to as knowledge. Titled; “Knowledge essentially based upon false beliefs”. It is written by Avram Hiller. The beginning part of the article is based mostly on an agent an agent is a person who acts on behalf of another. Where he makes statements like knowledge is that the agent’s belief is not essentially based on any false assumptions. Then he calls theses false assumptions the nonessential-false-assumption account, or NEFA. Throughout the article he refers to NEFA a lot. He uses examples from other philosophers and shows how NEFA can refer to their situation. He then describes how everything has justification to it. He shows what this agent person (his secretary) uses as claims for justification. He says the reason why the agent has knowledge despite the causal role that the falsehood plays is that there is another proposition – the proposition that the secretary said that the appointment is on Monday – which meets three conditions: (1) it is also justified by the apparent memory (2) it is true, and (3) it justifies the belief. Because there is available to the agent a second proposition that meets these conditions even if the agent doesn’t explicitly believe the proposition. He then goes to say even if the person doesn’t believe these things it has to be true due to logic and the use of logos. And not everything can be proven using NEFA. After a long rant of useful information he sums up everything in a few sentences which comes down to: there is a plausible alternative account of knowledge which handles the cases appropriately and which thus demands further examination. “Here is where I would insert my interview findings”.

This is just the rough draft. I would continue this process for the two other parts of the discipline and I feel this should put me on the right track.

 

 

 

WP #3

The first article/journal I am using for my essay is titled Knowledge essentially based  upon false beliefs. It is written by Avram Hiller. The beginning part of the article is based mostly on an agent. Where he makes statements like knowledge is that the agent’s belief is not essentially based on any false assumptions. Then he calls theses false assumptions the noessential-false-assumption account, or NEFA. Throughout the article he refers to NEFA a lot. He uses examples from other philosophers and shows how NEFA can refer to their situation. He then describes how everything has justification to it. He shows what this agent person (his secretary) uses as claims for justification. He says the reason why the agent has knowledge despite the causal role that the falsehood plays is that there is another proposition – the proposition that the secretary said that the appointment is on Monday – which meets three conditions: (1) it is also justified by the apparent memory (2) it is true, and (3) it justifies the belief. Because there is available to the agent a second proposition that meets these conditions even if the agent doesn’t explicitly believe the proposition. He then goes to say even if the person doesn’t believe these things it has to be true due to logic and the use of logos. And not everything can be proven using NEFA. After a long rant of useful information he sums up everything in a few sentences which comes down to: there is a plausible alternative account of knowledge which handles the cases appropriately and which thus demands further examination.

The 2^nd article I am using is “nothing and Nihism”.  This whole article throw around the general idea that we should differentiate the nothing from that which is worthless (null) – by maintaining the idea that what is worthless is precisely that which has forgotten the nothing. When they talk about Nihism it means “nothing to reveal”. Then its talks about how nothingness is a way of life. It states how nothingness is not an ultimate end or beginning of Being but an event of an in-between. You can flounder around the thought of worthlessness but after searching and revealing yourself then you can come out of the dark and the not knowing. Then it goes to saying with you can turn language into a philosophy. And how they prove this is talking about death. Death is considered a blind spot in philosophy. They say death is supposed to be exterior to the individual so other people can see death in someone else. Death can also be compared to a black hole; once you cross it no information can be found. Therefore, the event of one's own death is comparable with that of nothing. The last part of the journal talks about the nothing in today’s sense. The grand question that most of us have already heard is “why is there something rather than nothing?” They also throw around other questions that make you think like “How is there nothing rather than something?” When you answer these questions you come up with the general idea of when nothingness unfolds in thought and writing, “Why is there ‘nothingness’ instead of   ?”.  It is a basic reminder of positive and negative.

 

 

My logos, ethos, and pathos

Your Logos, Pathos, and Ethos

 

Your rhetorical strategy must be implicitly understood throughout your paper. In order to gear your research and argument towards rhetoric rhetorical strategies, answer the following questions with regard to your topic.

 

 

1. Who are you hoping to convince in your paper?

 

I am trying to convince the Illinois School Board

 

 

2. Why might this audience be hesitant to accept your proposal?

 

The audience might be hesitant because of budget cut that they are supposed to be doing to save the state money

 

 

3. What is your plan to overcome this audience’s resistance?

 

My plan is to provide stories that target there sympathy for children

 

 

4. Why are you qualified to present an argument about this subject?

 

I am qualified because going through grade school I had a fine arts program and now that my brother is in grade school he does not have the same great programs I did at his age

 

 

5. What characterizes you as a speaker in your proposal? (Think about your self-disclosures, your tone, the way you’ve selected and presented arguments, etc.)

 

I think since I used personal examples in my proposal it makes my character show

 

 

6. Write an outline of your key arguments:

 

-       Lack of funding

-       Lack of proper teaching background

-       Lack of supplies

-       College requirements

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.  What kind of evidence do you rely on to support these points? (stats, analogies, personal testimony, expert testimony, experiments, etc.)

 

-       Stats

-       Personal and expert testimonies

-       Facts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. How do you know this evidence will sufficiently support your points AND win over your audience?

 

 

 

My evidence is similar to what would be brought up in a board meeting by community members and also by teachers. I think it would eventually win over my audience because nobody wants to see a child fail at their dream because of something someone else could have done.

 

 

 

Proposal essay

The fine art programs in schools are considered music or arts. Public schools are becoming overcrowded and have lack of teachers because of budget. Math, Science, and English are the most important subjects in school. On the other hand arts and music are not an essential in the learning process. So that’s why arts teachers are the first to be cut when there isn’t enough money. Then what are classrooms teachers supposed to do when it’s time to have an art or music special in school? Should classroom teachers be responsible for art and music as part of their curriculum?

          In Illinois the government owes the school district 129 a little less than $500,000 (West Aurora). That’s a half of million dollars! In what ways you could improve a child’s education with that? I could think of at least half a million things to do. In some of the school district they have opted to have just a music teacher and let the classroom teacher teach art. Others have chosen to have music and an art teacher but they are shared by more than one schools, some even teach up to 15 different schools in the district. Can you say overload? But are all teachers capable of teaching art… I think not. In one of my schools we had a Spanish teacher who was also the art teacher, big mistake. The only thing we learned about art was line drawings. We never learned how to draw shapes or about different artist because she drew her shapes on a blackboard by licking her finger and tracing the shape then drawing over it in chalk. I never learned anything in that class but the school thought it was a good idea because they were saving money but then again she wasn’t qualified to teach art and she was bad at it. One example of a good art teacher who isn’t qualified is mom. She is a 4^th grade teacher in a low income district who doesn’t have an art teacher. So every Thursday as part of her schedule she teaches her students some type of art project. And those kids have some of the most creative art projects I have ever seen. So don’t you think she should get paid the salary of an art teacher and an elementary teacher? Some people say yes some say no.

          As part of my plan I would split up the salary of the art teacher and divide it up among the teachers that teach Art in the classroom. The average art teacher in Illinois makes $34,768 (Teacher Salary). Speaking if there are 26 teachers in an elementary school and you split the money evenly between them for teaching art each teacher should get an extra $1337 to their yearly check, that’s only fair right. This will compensate teachers for the extra work they are doing and for a big art supplies.

          Another main concern with fine arts is the requirement of it to get into certain universities. This is becoming a problem because not every high school offers these kinds of programs. More and more universities are adding fine arts to the requirement to make a well-rounded student. In Illinois there are very limited classes to take to fulfill that requirement with no drama classes or enough art classes; band is your only other choice. But for band you have to know how to read music so that’s not the best option either. That is why fine arts are not a university requirement in Illinois. But what about us students who want to get away from the cold and snowy Illinois, we head west. At Arizona State University the admission requirement requires one year of Fine Arts (Arizona State University). It’s not that they want to know you can draw they want to see what else you are capable of doing. They are preparing you for the real world. In a study by the University of Michigan, they studied college first-time freshman. They watched how they interacted, how they were adjusting and how their everyday life was going. And what they found most students saying is that there high school did not prepare them as much as they should be. High school teachers were so focused on helping them study for college entrance exams that they forgot to teach them the stuff they were really going to need later like math, science and English (Michigan). Learning can be stressful and learning everything you need to know to do good on a college entrance exam can be a very stressful time. Not only is Art a subject they need to know for college but it is a proven stress reliever and can also help with memory.

          Stress relievers can be as simple as squeezing a stress ball or as complicated as yoga. For some years now research is showing how art therapy reduces a great amount of stress. Art therapy is a form of expressive therapy that uses the creative process of making art to improve a person’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being (AATA). Art therapy is a form of free association on paper. So instead of having kids just leave their emotions and feelings bottled up they can draw whatever they are feeling. One can learn a lot from a drawing; this also improves their social skills because they are more likely to talk about something they drew rather them you just asking them what is going on.  Consecutively, it can improve content retention (ArtPlante). An ongoing study shows that activities from the arts can be integrated into classroom content and used as prompts to “elaborate rehearsal” thereby generating “sustained attention” and motivating students to learn (Rinne). This can mean making students write a poem or a story about the subject they are learning. So if you are learning the parts of a plant, teachers would have students write a story using those words.  After doing this it will at least be the second time they are seeing these words so the words are being put further into their memory thus increasing retention.  

          Some people may argue that there isn’t enough money for school to have art. But honestly how much does it cost for schools to provide students with paper to write /draw on very little for such a mass amount and they should already have pencils, pens, and coloring utensils from their school supply list. Okay so what about the high school students that aren’t going to a university should we have to make them a take the class ‘ it is just going to be a waste of space’. If they are certain they aren’t going to a university then there is no need to take it. But most students rather be safe than sorry.  Lastly, what if a classroom teacher does not want to teach art? Money is a motivator by paying them more they will be highly likely to do it.

          In conclusion, fine arts should remain part of the school day in Illinois. By having a classroom teacher as an art teacher you are saving money and providing teachers with extra money. Fine art is also becoming a required admission requirement for more and more universities. Art increasingly improves retention of information. It also decreases stress and makes a child more social. These are just a few of the many reasons to keep fine arts in schools.

Movie Review

I went to see Mama, starring Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau. Without giving anything away, Mama is about a dead lady ("Mama"), who connects with her surrogate children via vagina-shaped holes in the wall. "Mama" is a venegful female spirit who jealously hounds the couple Annabelle (Jessica Chastain) and Luke (Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau) who adopts a couple of young girls (his nieces) who had been found living wildly in an abandoned cabin in the woods. Throughout this movie, in the way of disturbing dreams and jarring apparitions, we join Annabelle try to discover what exactly "Mama" wants that she cannot seem to get. Although I am not one for horror movies I went and saw it. To my dismay I talked through the entire movie. Not on shhhh! Or “Be quite!” was said to me in a packed theater. So you tell me how good you think the movie was?

Multiple Perspectives

Looking from Multiple Perspectives

 

STEP ONE: IDENTIFYING STAKEHOLDERS: In order to write a successful proposal, you need to you need to examine multiple perspectives: you’ll want to represent as many people’s interests as possible as you describe your problem and solution, and you’ll want to understand your resisting audience’s inclinations as you pitch your solution.

 

For the following arguments, identify different people who are involved in the issue, people who are directly impacted by the problem posed, people who officiate the policies involved, people who have legitimate concerns or investments in the conversation, or other kinds of stakeholders. 

 

  McKemy Junior High must reconsider its decision to cut music programs.

 

a.       The music teacher

 

b.      Current/perspective students in the music programs

 

c.       Parents of students

 

* ASU’s dry campus policy is injurious to the students and should be amended.

 

a.       Underage students

 

b.      Students of age

 

c.       ASU police

 

* I propose that the ASU adopts a stricter campus security in order to keep vagrants and other potentially dangerous individuals off the school grounds.

 

a.       Rent-a-cops (ASUPD)

 

b.      Students increase in tuition

 

c.       Michael Crow  

 

STEP TWO: Develop Context: how do these stakeholders interact with one another? Do they have the same interests, attitudes, or ideas? What do they agree on and what do they disagree on? Pick one of the debates from the first page and develop a profile for each stakeholder: what are their commonly held values, objectives, or beliefs? What kinds of information or experiences get factored into their decisions?

 

 

#1: Music Teacher

            This is their job they are trying to take away. How else are they supposed to find income? Also I think their beliefs are the same as the student and the parent. If I had the opportunity to add someone else I would add the board of education committee. I could see where they would say his/her job is useless. I think that their experiences would have no effect on the decisions because it probably ultimately comes down to budget.

 

 

 

#2: Student

            I think the students would be the saving grace for the music program. They could share how it has made them a better student. And also how they used what they learned to make them a better person. Also they could say how it is a place to meet new people. Most of the students or the students that want to be there would have the same beliefs as the teacher and say don’t cut the music.

 

 

 

 

#3: Parent

            A parent is also another good voice. They probably have seen improvements in their child as a student. Also it is an outlet for stress and anger. Most of the time the parent just wants what is best for the child. I think that all three of these perspectives coincide with each other. In all most of the people on the board have probably had children go there music programs and saw how wonderful it is first hand and only present this option to save money.

 

 

 

 

 

STEP THREE: Research: What would be the best method to represent or address these perspectives in a proposal essay?

 

#1: Music Teacher

·         State her salary

·         Give examples of her day to day life as a music teacher

·         Present the negatives of having a music teacher (if any)

 

 

#2: Student

·         Personal stories where music has helped them overcome a problem

·         Students opinion if they think music should be a part of their day or not

·         Why they think music is or isn’t a good program

#3: Parent

·         How has music affected your child

·         What was music program like as you were growing up

·         Is the music program a good use of their money

·         If there was no music program where should the money be spent

 

 

*As I said earlier I would have added board members to my perspectives. But I was only given three but these would be my 3 to help prove a point and get it across affectively.

 

Homework but don't really know what number it is! :)

I chose to talk about the essay proposed to Michael Crow about electronic textbooks. I agree to the first proposal of this paper saying that ASU should offer an electronic option for books. But I disagree with the giving every student an iPad or tablet at the cost of raising tuition or charging the student. Seeing that this article was written in March of 2012 you can tell a lot can happen in a summer.  As of August 2012 ASU offered an electronic version of textbook. I am not sure if this is true for everyone but it was true for all 5 of my classes.  For his first argument there was enough support and evidence but for his second I don’t think I could offer any help on the account of I was not a student when this was written. But for his second proposal I would suggest researching why Arizona Christian University can offer free iPad.  I can think of one good reason; they are a private school and ASU is public and private schools receive more money to offset some of their cost to running an institution.  He does appeal to the audience which is the president of ASU. I think he was trying to use sympathy to appeal to Dr. Crow and how he should want every student to succeed.  I would rate this author’s ethos pretty poorly on the mere fact that the essay seemed to lack emotion and appeal it was basically words flowing out of his mouth.  I think he started strong but then went off into a tangent on how to get iPads for everyone. This leads me to say this essay is not a good model for a proposal essay. A proposal is supposed to fix a problem. In his paper the problem is cost. He offered two solutions; one offer electronic textbooks and two give everybody iPads or tablet.  But with that second solution because it is not possibly attainable he state to either raise tuition or to charge student’s accounts. This is defeating the purpose of his first solution to lower cost but now he want to charge for something ASU should be giving. A gift is a gift and it should impose no fee to the receiver but in this case it does.  This essay uses some research but not much I think most of the examples are from opinion and do not offer much evidence. I think since this proposal has to do with cost he could use more statistical examples to help the reader understand where he is coming from.