Astral Facts, March 2012
Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.
Critical Thinking on the Astral Plane
In the past, when people took a trip, it was a good time to sit back on the plane with a good read with something to think about. These days with in-flight movies and netflicks loaded onto portable devices, the “read” part may not be so prevalent, but the thinking shouldn’t change.
One of the learning outcomes here on campus is for students to develop skills of critical thinking. This is a major emphasis in English 101, and hopefully students can carry on with those skills outside the classroom as well. In my class we read an article written some time ago (1975) called “The Farce Called ‘Grading’” by Arthur E. Lean. Lean’s basic position is that “grades tend to stigmatize and punish” students who don’t have innate intellectual skills stressed through standardized tests and conventional academic systems. He also points out discrepancies in grading which may occur from instructor to instructor. When I ask my students to write an in-class response to the article, explaining at least two reasons why it is or isn’t a good article, the overwhelming majority give it a “thumbs ups” approval.
Unfortunately, after we examine the content more carefully, we find it is laden with logical fallacies, misleading partial bits of evidence, and personal opinions without support. For example, Lean uses the example of a student who sued her university because of a grade dispute. He doesn’t specify the incident location or time nor mention whether or not she won her lawsuit, although readers might assume so if they don’t stop and consider the missing details from his example. Since a successful lawsuit would have strengthened his argument, the real implication is that she did not win the lawsuit. The student’s argument was that she was being punished for alleged wrongful behavior, but the university disciplinary committee found her not guilty of wrong doing. Again, readers assume that the wrong-doing was related to the course itself, but Lean does not provide details to confirm that. He leaves it to the readers to jump to that understanding.
Lean later says that “we” [teachers and the community?] hold the academic requirements like a club over the students’ heads because we believe
most of them are naturally lazy, stupid dolts who must somehow be coerced, cajoled, persuaded, threatened, strong-armed into learning what we have decided is "good for them." Much of this required material is dull, boring, meaningless, and will be forgotten almost immediately …
which is a classic sweeping generalization that resonates very well with students, which is why the article always gets such a high approval rating before we exercise a bit of critical thinking. Lean is preaching to the choir in this case.
Next we read “A Modest Proposal” written by Jonathan Swift in 1729 to address social issues of hunger, overpopulation, unemployment, poverty, homelessness, and single moms with lots of kids abandoned by deadbeat dads. Swift’s “modest” proposal is to harvest the babies at about ten months and use them to expand the food supply. (The “other” white meat.) He points out that this will address the issue of hunger, it will reduce the unwanted overpopulation, it will provide employment for those families and address the issues of poverty, It will provide the income to allow them to afford to pay rent - addressing the homelessness situation, and finally the moms won’t be “single” anymore because the dad won’t want to abandon a “cash cow” once the woman gets pregnant.
Even though Swift’s proposal is quite practical, when I ask students to write about it being a good article or not, a significant portion of them find it “disgusting” and “immoral” to even consider. One young mother in my class even confessed she was tempted to take her shoe off and throw it at me when I suggested starting up a chain of restaurants selling “baby-back ribs”!
However, when we apply some critical thinking and examine lines like, “I grant that this food might be quite dear, and very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children,” noting that “dear” means expensive as well as precious or loved, we see a double meaning to his phrasing. The connotations to the use of the word “devoured” implies a greedy and thorough eating. Certainly, the landlords have not physically “eaten” the parents, but emotionally and psychologically they have drained the lifeblood out of them.
With a little analysis and thought, we are able to understand that Swift’s point is that the social practices of the day weren’t very far from taking the next step to his modest proposal. Yet if his proposal is immoral and disgusting, how could the current situation be justified? Thus, practical and convenient solutions to social struggle or perceived injustice should be tempered with moral and ethical considerations – especially from the perspectives of those being “marginalized.”
From here, as a class [or a society], we can engage in discussions related to current social situations such as homelessness, health care, abortion, cohabitation, divorce, censorship, freedom of speech, etc. reconciling emotional and intellectual responses.
Let’s try using 101 level critical thinking with a recent news item regarding food safety. Look at this five-minute report link regarding the report on mold and applesauce:
http://www.king5.com/news/Records-reveal-history-of-mold-problems-at-troubled-WA-food-plant-140911033.html
Of course, the message is that applesauce produced locally (in Washington State) could be unhealthy because of the unsanitary processing done at this particular plant. Since the plant is the source for many different brands (which the company will not reveal), consumers may unwittingly be eating moldy fruit! The opening interview with the woman whose children were sickened by the product is reinforced by returning to her at the end to remind the viewers of how dangerous this is to families with young children.
Wait a minute! She left the applesauce in the can and in the refrigerator for a month! Even so, the food lab could find no evidence of mold, even in that condition! Nor was any evidence of mold found in any of the other samples supplied by other consumers. The inspector was upset because her superiors in the Dept. of Agriculture did not find her reports of major concern, so she leaked information to another federal agency, the FDA, which is investigating the situation but has stated that the products are not currently a health danger and have not been in the past either. We might notice that the woman interviewed is a “former” inspector. Even though the evidence showed no mold in the products, the “witness” is still blaming the applesauce as the source of her children’s symptoms. We might wonder why the news station is reporting all this. The evidence says it is not a problem, but the “message” is that it is a problem!
As always, these academic skills, “this required material [which] is dull, boring, meaningless, and will be forgotten almost immediately…” according to Arthur E. Lean, might not be as meaningless as suspected and certainly shouldn’t be forgotten after all! Not on the physical plane nor on the astral plane.
Interestingly enough, as I was writing this, a colleague sent me an appropriate link to an article regarding this very topic, which seems like a good closing read:
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/03/16/essay-value-first-year-writing-courses#.T3Xs38AepF4.mailto
Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.
