I’ve taught English to college freshmen for the past
fifteen years. What have I learned by being a permanent resident of the English
101 classroom? I’ve learned that while my thinking continues to evolve, I
shouldn’t expect the thinking of my new students to have evolved with me. That
is, first-year students tend to have first-year thoughts. No surprise there,
really. After all, each batch of students is experiencing English 101 for the
first time.
What I find more interesting, however, is the nature
of topics that students continue to select. When we’re working on a general
research paper topic, unless I specifically provide them with topics, students
will naturally pick the standard topics – global warming, marijuana legalization,
gun control, abortion, etc. These standard topics haven’t changed much in the
past 15 years. The only standard topic that has
changed somewhat is gay marriage. Students still write on the gay marriage
topic, but the way they write on the
topic has changed.
For the other topics, not much seems to have changed
in 15 years. Unless I direct them otherwise, students still take the basic sort
of positions (“for” or “against”). It makes me think, “Has nothing about the
topic of, say, Global Warming really developed in the last 15 years? Are we
still at Square One with this issue? Having dealt with the topics for 15 years,
I realize that the topics have changed, but they must change at a snail’s pace,
because my students don’t seem to notice the changes that have been occurring in
their lifetimes. Then again, I guess, why should they notice? Most issues do seem to
remain at a standstill until some sort of tipping point is reached. Once an
issue, like gay marriage, “tips,” then the way students react to the issue noticeably
changes.
Is it unreasonable to expect more students to be out
ahead of the tipping? Maybe so. First-year students tend to be fairly
conservative, actually. The college experience is supposed to make students
more “liberal,” and maybe that’s true, but I would suggest that it’s not “liberal”
in the sense of politics; it’s “liberal” in the sense of being able to see
beyond where we are or where we’ve been. It’s “liberal” in the sense of being
able to see where we are heading, and being willing
to do something about it.
Being liberal means being willing and able to sense
movement, and being willing to move
before some outside force requires you to
move whether you want to or not.
What moves you?
“Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a
voyage and not a harbor.” – Arnold J. Toynbee
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