This week Pegeen's students and I have been getting in to the meat and potatoes of critical analysis. I've found that at first most of the students tend to take broad, defensive views of Gladwell's work, and I've attempted to steer them in a more rational direction. Which isn't to say that I've tried to change their minds but rather that I've been trying to get them to express their feelings and views in a more constructive way. They also seem to feel the need to "choose a side," and their papers are evident of a desire to refute his work completely. I've rarely seen a student agree with Gladwell though even these students have trouble expressing why and speak in absolutes. Students on both side of the argument tend to give examples from their personal life that seem to either suppose or oppose his statements. I haven't been discouraging this but I have been trying to get them to analyze his choice of wording to pick up on the nuances of the work and to speak in generalities while remaining magnanimous and unbiased. I've also been encouraging them to write in a manner that speaks to their authority and credibility.
I write this because I'm curious as to the issues that some of the other tutors are seeing in sessions with their students.
I'd like to apologize again for missing class as now I feel totally out of the loop, and I'm unsure of how much of this was covered in class.
Alicia Allyn Bobcheck
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