Formal Essay II

I. Due Dates:
3/18/11: First Draft Due. Bring three copies for in-class Peer Review (worth 10 pts.)
3/25/11: Graded Second Draft Due (worth 90 pts.)

II. Instructions: Write a thesis-driven essay of 3-4 typed pages in response to ONE and ONLY
ONE of the questions below. Make sure to answer each part of the question. Your essay must
include an outline and a works cited page (not counted towards the page minimum). You may
cite additional sources of your own to support your ideas, but all sources must be included on the
works cited page.

1. In “Learning to Read,” Malcolm X describes how his homemade education made him
more sensitive to “the deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was afflicting the black
race in America” (3). Briefly explain what he means by this. How was his personal
enlightenment similar to and/or different from the situation described in Plato’s “The
Allegory of the Cave?”

2. In “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato imagines a person who had returned to darkness
from the upper world, and writes about him, “…Wouldn’t he be a laughing stock?
Wouldn’t it be said of him that he had come back from his journey to the upper world
with his eyesight destroyed...?” (3). Briefly explain this concept and apply it EITHER to
Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” OR Deborah Tannen’s “Conversational Styles.” In what
ways does learning to express oneself in an educated manner make it difficult to return to
one’s previous home community?

3. In “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato writes of prisoners in a cave who can only see
images on a wall, and concludes, “All in all, then, what people in this situation would
take for truth would be nothing more than the shadows of the manufactured objects” (1).
Based on Gregory Mantsios “Class in America: Myths and Realities,” how are
Americans like the prisoners in the cave when it comes to beliefs about class differences
and their impact on people’s lives? Explain what these mistaken beliefs are AND why
you think we have them.

4. In “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato explains that education is not the art of “putting
sight into eyes which were blind,” but instead is the art of turning the learner “away from
the darkness and towards the light” (4). In what ways is Plato’s concept of education
similar to and/or different from the practices of Western schooling described in EITHER
Leona Okakok’s “Serving the Purpose of Education” OR Jean Anyon’s Social Class and
the Hidden Curriculum of Work. What must be done to make education more like Plato’s
concept of education?
III. Guidelines for Formatting the Essay:
• Consult MLA: The Easy Way for how to handle layout, citation, and documenation.
Guidelines for the outline are explained in the Pre-writing handout, which is available on
the “Course Documents” page of the class website (http://bmcceng101.wordpress.com).
• Staple pages in this order: Outline, Paper, Works Cited Page

IV. Grading Criteria:

Your essay will be evaluated and graded based on the following criteria:
• How well you follow all formatting rules
• Whether you answer all parts of the questions
• The quality of your thesis
• How well you organize your ideas into paragraphs that are logically ordered
• The quality of supporting points and examples
• The proper use of MLA-style for in-text citations and for documenting sources on the
works cited page
Your essay will be returned with a Grading Sheet that includes comments on each of these areas.
Late papers will lose one full grade. No papers will be accepted more than one week late. You
may choose to revise your paper within two weeks after it is returned, but you must submit the
original graded draft and the grading sheet along with the revised draft.

V. Writing Tips:
 In the introduction, include a clear, specific, and arguable thesis statement.
 Restate and interpret the provided quote, preferably in the introduction or first body
paragraph.
 Support your thesis with at least three supporting points in the body. You may wish to
list these points in the introduction, after your thesis statement.
 Begin each body paragraph with a topic sentence.
 Support each paragraph with additional citations from the text(s) and/or with personal
anecdotes, facts, and citations from relevant sources.
 When using citations from the text(s), decide whether to quote, paraphrase, or
summarize. In all cases, remember to introduce the author/text and provide an evaluative
response. I recommend that you refer to the “Useful Templates” handout to help you do
this, which is available on the “Course Documents” page of the class website.
 Use transitional words and phrases to guide the reader through your essay. A list of
common transitional words and phrases is available on the “Course Documents” page of
the class website.