Over the last few years, I have taught English composition and literature classes to students from many different backgrounds. Perhaps the most challenging and energizing part of teaching is working with such a wide variety of personalities. The passion, curiosity, and wit they bring to their work here adds surprise and discovery to even the most familiar, well-worn subjects.
A few years ago, Dr. Cole Bennett and I began teaching the This I Believe essay, modeled on a series then running on National Public Radio. Over a period of years, many students wrote short essays that encapsulated some core belief or personal discovery. The short, 500-word format encouraged them to focus on the essentials and clarify their view of the events and people that have made them who they are today.
Two essays from that collaboration with the KACU radio station on campus struck me as I listened to Dr. Gentry’s spotlight yesterday. I hope you’ll listen to the words of two recent graduates of ACU and consider “othering” works to build and break communities around the globe.
(The main This I Believe site has a number of other powerful essays on prejudice that may set up other conversations in your Cornerstone sections.)
One response to “This I Believe – Student Essays”
I sympithize with your troubles completely. While taking a college clep-out course i constantly butted heads with my english professor. To me the purpose of writing is to sympatheticly convey your message to the other person in a way that will move them to take action; grammer is just a subset. To her writting is only as important as it’s structure, if its not in its right place and format, it utterly useless. I believe that the ancient schollars were right to say “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”. If the person who reads it likes it, then that passage is beautiful. Those who are meant to read the writing should be the ones to judge its impact.