Your GREAT BOOKS essay

Now that we have completed Book One of the Introduction to Great Books, you will have the opportunity to add your original essay to the "great conversation," in the words of the originator of Great Books as a concept, Mortimer Adler.

Review the readings thus far. Which one might you model your essay after? In which area of life might you choose to think through an extended analysis of your point of view? This will not entail research, although you can cite whatever sources you choose to illustrate your point of view. You need not cite anyone.

The subject matter is entirely up to you; what I am looking for is your analysis of something from your point of view. The subject might be college: What is the importance of college today? Does the value justify the cost? Is it worthwhile to study such a range of courses? Should college be vocational (ie. should it specifically prepare one for a particular career) or should it be exploratory (ie. should it introduce us to the broad range of knowledge to make us into Renaissance Men & Women)?

Or the subject might be the nature of decision-making: What are the necessary components that are required to make a decision? How do we make the larger decisions in life, such as choice of school, major field of study, career, place to live, marriage partner, business partner, advice to others, religion? Do we always make decisions based upon our best interest? Who knows our best interest? Is the attempt to make well-conceived, fully-developed decisions, after much consultation with others, a learned approach? How does this approach differ from spontaneous decision-making?

Or the subject might be the nature of one's search for the meaning of life: Do we follow our parents in their religion and/or philosophy? Do young people simply rebel against their parents' religion and/or philosophy? Why do some search for meaning and some do not? How do we arrive at the idea of truth? Is truth something we actively strive for? Is the search for meaning an exercise that we engage in in our leisure time but not a part of the tasks and affairs of our life? Is it fundamental to the choices we make? Does it make a difference if we believe in a Creator who loves us personally, as opposed to a belief that nothing about the whys and origins and hereafter of life can be known?

Your essay should be three typed pages, 700-900 words. It will be due in 2 weeks.

WEEK OF 1/5 - 1/7

May 10 Tuesday AP Composition EXAM

And so we begin the push toward the end. We will complete all non-fiction essays in the Great Books series, at the rate of nearly one reading per week. We will begin our look at the Synthesis Essay, as we continue working on that most difficult essay: Analysis. You will also be given the opportunity to write on topics of your choosing, at some length (1000 words), to further develop your voice, diction, syntax, and organization. And of course, there will be many multiple choice questions along this push to the end.

THURSDAY

We begin with the final reading in book 1, On Studying by Jose Oriega y Gasset. Prereading question and discussion, followed by reading the text aloud. Then I will introduce the Synthesis essay.