DAY 02 - CYCLE 02 - SEMESTER 02: 01-12-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

None

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Review exercise in vocabulary book.
2. QUIZ on rhetoric terms (if you were absent, you will need to make this up)
3. Discussion of Katha Pollitt essay, "Why Don't Boys Play With Dolls?"

CLASS NOTES:
Done on board. Highlights include:
Pollitt's thesis: Culture determines gender roles.
For the most part, most people fell more on her side of the argument than the other. However, we were not universally impressed with her methods of sustaining it.

Question: Does she adequately defend this?
Well, we're not sure.  The tone in which she speaks about the counter-argument (that biology determines gender roles) is disparaging and dismissive.  When she addresses the studies that suggest that male and female brains operate in a fundamentally different way, she says that such studies are:

• not tested over time
• overly-hyped by the media
• grasped onto by parents desperate for an excuse not to do the heavy lifting that comes with redefining gender roles

While her points are logical in nature, they're bathed in pathos, which made some of us doubtful.

At the end of class, we just started to look at the logos of her argument, particularly at the assumptions she makes about parents; in other words, her major premises.

We will spend a few minutes on Monday talking about those major premises, and start digging into Deborah Tannen's as well.

HOMEWORK

1. Bring your vocabulary book.  Please.  Help those who tend to forget theirs remember to do so.
2. Read Deborah Tannen's Essay "Conversational Styles" on page 314.  You should annotate to help you pick apart her argument, When is she appealing you your sense of REASON (logos), when is she appealing to your sense of EMOTION (pathos), and through what methods does she try to establish her CREDIBILITY (ethos)? Remember that ethos can be established through subtle methods like tone, vocabulary, comfortable pacing, etc.
3. My first question to you on Monday will be, "What is Deborah Tannen's thesis?" Be prepared to answer when called on.
4. You will have a vocabulary quiz next Friday. It will cover words from units 3 and 4 (so yes, you will need to review.)