Grammar Post 3

As I been writing my papers and responses, I have noticed that I use quotation marks quite often. I figured I better learn how to correctly punctuate them. I found this information from http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#15.


Quotation Marks and Other PunctuationThere are three basic rules.

1. All commas and periods should be placed inside the quotation marks.
2. All colons and semicolons should be placed outside the quotation marks.
3. Question marks and exclamation marks should be placed within the quotation marks when they apply only to the quoted material; they should be placed outside when the entire sentence, including the quoted material, is a question or exclamation.

Serving in Florida

In Barbara Ehrenreich's "Serving In Florida", she takes us through a "scientific experiment" to learn a little more about living a working-class life. She first takes on one job as a waitress, then adds another so she can pay her bills. She begins to find herself entrenched in the lifestyle and even the attitude of the working-class person.
Ehrenreich's experience is very telling, and very entertaining. She could have learned of working-class life through study and reading. She could have communicated the differences from her "real" life to her working-class life through statistics and numbers. However, by living to tell the tale, she adds a genuine touch to her story that could only be gained from actually living the life of the working-class.
By the end of the piece the reader is surely convinced that if you have options that will lead you away from the working-class world, take them. She paints a very depressing reality of what it takes to make ends meet, if you are part of this working-class. She is convincing and entertaining, and does a great job of getting her point across.

I Just Wanna Be Average and Against School

Our education system is far from perfect. There are plenty of educational failures that can be blamed for personal and societal failures. But, there are also many people who have a teacher in high school, or college, or a course they took that ultimately changed their lives for the better. In the "Learning Power" section of Rereading America we have been able the contrast very different writings that have detailed some of the struggles and successes of our schools.
Upon first comparison, it would be easy to see the similarities between Michael Moore's "Idiot Nation" and John Taylor Gatto's "Against School". However, Gatto is a much more believable and credible source, and makes his argument in a much more constructive manner. He describes how our school system was doomed from the start, because of it's origins to "military state of Prussia". Gatto was a life long educator, and his critique seems to come from a true desire to fix the system, rather than in Moore's case, a miserable failure who wants company. Mike Rose's "I Just Wanna Be Average" goes another step in the positive direction by showing that even in a broken system it just takes one good teacher and a small amount of student initiative to allow somebody to break through and achieve.
In education, as in most situation in life, we will reap what we sew. Education is not, and never will be perfect. We have the responsibility to get from it what we need. These writings are good examples of people that believe their happiness or their success is another's responsibility. And, on the flip side, in Rose's case we read of somebody taking the initiative to create their own destiny.

Grammar Post 2

I used my last grammar post to help my reading response for "Idiot Nation".

This post is about the use of commas and periods inside quotation marks, another question I seem to come across in my writing. I found this at http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#88.

Commas and Periods Inside Quotation Marks? "Place periods and commas inside quotation marks.[Example:] "This is a stick-up," said the well-dressed young couple. "We want all your money."This rule applies to single quotation marks as well as double quotation marks. It also applies to all uses of quotation marks: for quoted material, for titles of works, and for words used as words.Exception: In the Modern Language Association's style of parenthetical in-text citations . . ., the period follows the citation in parentheses.[Example:] James M. McPherson comments, approvingly, that the Whigs were not averse to extending the blessings of American liberty, even to Mexicans and Indians" (48). (Hacker, A Writer's Reference 285)

Idiot Nation

In "Idiot Nation" the author, Michael Moore, gives us his opinions on the failings of our education system. In his usual degrading and negative way, Moore writes this piece as a way to get back at the educational system, that failed to make him into a positively contributing human being. If you were to write a research paper on "What is Hypocricy?", this piece could be your main resource.
"Idiot Nation" is filled with one hypocritical statement after another, as Moore tries to convince america that we are not educated well enough, yet, he himself did not even graduate from college. He berates President George W. Bush for being a "C" student at Yale and Harvard, yet, he couldn't graduate from his local city college. And, in what was the most blatantly hypocritical moment, he writes that society's attitude toward teachers should be one of great gratitude (which it should be). Then, turns around and gives instructions on, "How to Be a Student Subversive Instead of a Student Subservient". Yes, this is how to show our teachers how greatful we are to them.
Moore has some valid points in his piece, and points that I agree with. However, he loses his credibility and the piece loses it's appeal because of the obvious hypocracy. I think this piece shows that we can really be exposed, and our character revealed when we let complete bias override an honest pursuit of truth.

Grammar 1

During my response to "What We Really Miss..." there were a couple of times that I considered starting a sentence with "And". I realized I wasn't sure of the rule, so this is my first grammar post. I found it at http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#115.

And or But to begin a sentence? "Everybody agrees that it's all right to begin a sentence with and, and nearly everybody admits to having been taught at some past time that the practice was wrong" (Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage). In addition, "many of us were taught that no sentence should begin with 'but. ' If that's what you learned, unlearn it — there is no stronger word at the start. It announces total contrast with what has gone before, and the reader is primed for the change" (William Zinsser qtd. in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage). Using and or but at the beginning of a sentence makes the tone of the writing more informal — like a conversation. Care needs to be taken to ensure a sentence beginning with and or but doesn't become a sentence fragment (Fogarty, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing 80).

What We Really Miss....

In "What We Really Miss About the 1950s", the author, Stephanie Coontz, gives a compelling but definitely prejudiced, comparison of the 1950s to other decades in this century. She begins by stating a study that showed that the 1950s received more votes (38%) as the best decade for a child to grow up than any other single decade. She gives us a timeline that might help to explain what was going on in the 50s and why.
I want to focus on my perception of Coontz' negativity toward the 50's. She starts positive in her analysis of the study, stating, ".... a time when there were fewer complicated choices for kids or parents to grapple with, when there was more predictability in how people formed and maintained families....." Then, in a way of telling us that she was going to start pushing her bias, she states, "Nostalgia for the 1950s is real and deserves to be taken seriously, but it usually shouldn't be taken literally."
Although Coontz gives some strong reasoning and facts that show the greatness of the 50s decade, she seems to taint these points with her own bias against the decade. For instance, she talks about the strength of the family unit in the 50's, then gives one of her explanations for this as, "....having the wrong friends.... or belonging to any 'suspicious' organizations could ruin your career and reputation, it was safer to pull out of groups..... and focus on your family." This piece is laced with a very strong undertone that shows Coontz' distaste for the "perceived" happiness of the 50s. She doesn't hide this opinion when she states, "We now know that the 1950s family culture was not only nontraditional; it was also not idyllic."
Her negativity about the 1950s is not without it's facts, but you could easily sense which way Coontz swayed in the her feelings about the "ideal" families of that era. The title "What We Really Miss About the 1950's" must have been given with a "hint, hint, nod, nod", for she didn't seem to think there was very much good that came from that decade. She shows how easy it can be, through writing, to twist information any way you want it to go. She was able to use positive data for the 1950's and shine a negative light upon it.