This three-page essay is metacognitive: this means that
you are reflecting on your own education writ broad;
metacognitive approaches require a higher level
thinking. Using any one of the texts that we have read
thus far, examine its genre for this essay (three
pgs). The books chosen for this course were chosen
in part because of their genre--all sections of
Introduction to the Liberal Arts are reading an
autobiography (this year, The Road From Coorain),
a biography, a history, and, at the end, a international
text (which is a novel in this rendition of the course).
The faculty's reasons for this progression are
illuminated in a document entitled
Introduction to
Liberal Arts: Structural and Thematic Description For
Exemplary Lives.
Using the genre of your choice, explain in detail the
various ways that this genre of text adds to our
knowledge. What can we gain from exploring an
autobiography? A biography? A historical text? A novel?
You should use our text as one example but do not limit
your exploration to that single text. Use the
description above and include the
goals of the course (and on the
Home page) and the faculty.
Go beyond the obvious and think deeply about what traits
define the genre and what that adds to one's life.
Think about both self-knowledge and other types of
knowledge. For example, when thinking about the novel,
you might consider whether novels are primarily mirrors
(ways to view ourselves) or windows (looking out in the
world)--or what combination of the two. If you are
examining history, you must go beyond
Stearns' "Why Study History?" although it is necessary
to include it.
You may also find it useful to discuss briefly the role
of books in education generally--what do they add that
other types of information (lecture, discussion,
projects, films, etc) cannot add?
You may use scholarly sources if you would like but you
may not use random websites or non-academic sources. If
you have any questions about the appropriateness of a
source, please ask.
