College Education

Student Essay

Required Topics for WR121
Engaging students to write argumentative essays effectively and constructively is a general concern for WR 121 instructors here at University of Oregon. Because WR 121 emphasizes a different form of argumentative writing from a five-paragraph essay that students are generally used to, many students struggle to grasp the enthymeme-based argumentative writing that is being taught at University of Oregon. To ease the students’ understanding of utilizing enthymeme process, composition instructors take a great amount of time to select topics that could engage students. Some instructors prefer to teach students to write on popular culture such as sports and social media; others employ academic topics, which the students may not be familiar with, such as sustainability and globalization. While popular culture may seem to quickly bring students’ attention and express their thoughts on the paper, the effectiveness of these topics as teaching materials for critical argument should be questioned. WR 121 should require students to write about academic topics that they may not be familiar with because WR 121 emphasizes critical thinking, which is difficult to facilitate with popular cultures.
WR121 is one course of college composition offered by University of Oregon that is mandatory for all students across disciplines to take. It is an introductory course in composition where students learn to express their reasoning in a form of writing. The course is designed so that students could explore, develop, validate and communicate ideas through writing; it is also designed to facilitate students from across disciplines to engage in critical thinking. Therefore, essay topics that instructors prepare for their students are diversified and within those topics, students are allowed to defend their stance from any perspective if they can logically reason. In this way the course prepares students to write logically and effectively in any field they proceed into. In any field they would proceed into would require students to write on materials that they are not familiar with. Students who have taken WR121 would then be prepared to write on any topics critically because they have already done so.
Gerald Graffe in “Hidden Intellectualism” states “schools and colleges are missing an opportunity when they do not encourage students to take their nonacademic interests as objects of academic study” (303). Graffe argues that materials that interest students, thus popular culture should be used for academic study because it is likely that students would engage in these materials faster and be interested to read and write about them. It could be true because when students are interested in and familiar with the topic, they would feel more eager to write about it. Those topics may even help students to enjoy the process of writing. However, their interests might actually hinder in expressing their arguments.
When students are writing on popular topics such as gender and social networking system, they have tendency to derail from logical reasoning and often even from the topic. I am currently a tutor for students enrolled in WR195 as a supplement class to WR121. Students bring their essay outlines and drafts to revise before they turn them in as final assignments. What I have noticed from reading these students’ essays is that often time students seem very confident and knowledgeable about what they are arguing about when they are writing on popular culture. For instance, a student brought in an essay about the use of social networking sites. His enthymeme argued that their use should be limited because social networking sites prevent people from real social interaction. The paper seemed coherent because from the beginning to the end, the student’s negative personal accounts of social networking sites were given as supports for the argument that he was making. His essay did not explore how these sites potentially prevent people from real social interaction; rather, it explored why the student did not like these social networking sites. Furthermore, because the student felt very strongly about the subject, it was difficult for him to perceive the topic from different points of view. To make his argument reasonable, he should have been able to come up with a rebuttal for his opponent’s perspective, a counterargument.
Initially, students may struggle if they are given topics of their disinterest or are not aware of. They may feel incompetent to write about topics that they are unfamiliar with. However, WR121 is designed so that students could explore, inquire and develop their own perspective on precisely those types of topics. It is a mandatory gateway course for students to engage in critical thinking on unfamiliar topics so that when they are finished with the course, they are prepared for critical engagement in their own disciplines. In WR 121, topics are not randomly thrown at students to write about. Along with a controversial topic, students are given materials to read about the subject from many different perspectives. After reading these supplementary materials, students are brought back to the classroom setting where they can openly talk about their opinions on the given topic and reading materials. Because students often do not have any preconceived knowledge and opinions on topics provided in the course, they would be able to engage topics more objectively. From the objective stance they would absorb ideas from may different angles and approaches and further develop their arguments. This process allows students to critically engage on topics even though they may have no initial thoughts about it. I had a student who brought an essay on the topic of sustainability to the tutoring center. She initially had no clue on the topic. Sure enough she struggled to form her argumentative stance. However, once she read materials provided by her instructor, she was able to facilitate critical thinking because she was able to measure out pros and cons of the given topic from an objective stance and to construct a critical argument.
College-level students need to become critical and challenging thinkers. They must learn to comprehend, make objective decisions on matters that they know little of. WR121 is the course that shapes students at University of Oregon to be critical thinkers as well as writers. Popular culture may engage students initially but it is likely that students have preconceived stances on those topics; therefore, they actually hinder students from gaining objective perspectives. Writing about topics that they may be disinterested in, on the other hand would enhance their objectivity and critical thinking because they could distance themselves from the controversy and perceive it with no bias. Therefore, WR 121 should require students to write about academic topics that they may not be familiar with because WR 121 emphasizes critical thinking, which is difficult to facilitate with popular cultures.
Question at Issue: Should WR121 require students to write about non familiar academic topics?
Enthymeme: WR 121 should require students to write about academic topics that they may not be familiar with because WR 121 emphasizes critical thinking, which is difficult to facilitate with popular cultures.
Counter Argument: Gerald Graffe in “Hidden Intellectualism” states “schools and colleges are missing an opportunity when they do not encourage students to take their nonacademic interests as objects of academic study” (303). Graffe argues that materials that interest students, thus popular culture should be used for academic study because it is likely that students would engage in these materials faster and be interested to read and write about them. It could be true because when students are interested in and familiar with the topic, they would feel more eager to write about it. Those topics may even help students to enjoy the process of writing. However, their interests might actually hinder in expressing their arguments.