Ellen Goodman is Not a Mean Girl

In Ellen Goodman's essay "Girls Will Be Girls. Unfortunately," she explores the popular topic mean girl uprising. She explains that people's attention went from bad school boys to bad school girls in recent years.
She introduces her essay with a fictional story of a girl who is constantly joining and leaving groups of RMGs or really mean girls. Then then states that this pandemic of really mean girls is apparent to any girl "past the fourth grade," (179). Goodman then equates the bad boys and the bad girls as being "...equally awful," (179). Tannen introduces an idea by Marie Wilson that states if a girl's mother is not in power, then the child take the power and projects it downward.
I agree with that idea and It is readily apparent that boys and girls join groups that exclude others. These groups in high school, are called cliques. They're vicious and you can only be invited to them. I know better than to want to be someone I'm not, but kids in those groups just don't have anything better to do. Tannen talks about how the woman from the story gives her life to the RMGs, and how it is too bad for her and her daughter. It is a tragedy, but a tragedy kids choose. They buy into rap stars like Nicki Minaj who market themselves by being bad girls. They eat this stuff up. It's always been cool to be a rebel, but in the real world, it's a waste of time.

Indirectness is Not as Productive

In Deborah Tannen's excerpt "Indirectness Is Not Insecurity," she analyzes the different ways a man and woman requests for thing to be completed. Tannen explores the indirect and direct ways of doing things and explains the reasons for trying an indirect approach.
Tannen introduces her excerpt by explaining the two ways to request something from employees. Tannen then informs the reader that she has taped two managers named Mark and Kristin. Mark made the direct approach and requested 25 things in five hours of meetings. Kristin on the other hand, took the indirect approach. Kristin's language was choppy, but softened with laughter and "yeahs". The reason Kristin's speech was choppy is because she would stray away from what Mark thinks "...you oughtta say," and used what he thinks "...will confuse people," (166). Charles, the subordinate Kristin was speaking with, was missing the point the whole time. After about twelve lines of dialogue, he finally says "Okay." (167).
I agree with what Mark says. I'm a very direct person and I get to the point. It is a way of staying on track and a way of keeping everyone on the same page. It also saves time. Tannen says that some people might find Mark's directness abrasive, but business is very straightforward and if you can't follow direct requests, then the job isn't right for you. It saves time being straightforward also. Kristin took about three minutes convincing Charles that putting the U.S. value of the local currency in parenthesis is neccessary. Mark could have requested this directly in a minute and gotten his point across efficiently without confusion. I agree with the suggestion that indirect requests can irritate some people. It definitely irritates me. I like understanding. If it takes you four sentences for me to understand what you might be suggesting, your'e wasting time.

The Power of Free Speech

In “Should This Student Have Been Expelled?” Nat Hentoff addresses a controversial situation of when a student was permanently expelled from Brown University. This article is directed to everyone free speech is a very controversial subject that is usually biased dependent on an individual’s opinions. Hentoff’s purpose for writing this article was to argue that even though hate words are not appropriate, it is still considered free speech. He feels that the student, Doug Hann, was unfairly punished by being permanently expelled from Brown University because he did not actually do any physical harm or illegal actions. Although Hann’s words were hurtful, no violent actions occurred. Hentoff’s style seemed almost sarcastic because he mocked the way that Gregorian twisted the description of Offense 111. The context is non-academic because the vocabulary is at an eighth grade level. Also, the context of the paper is very obvious because the very beginning of the paper you know that Hentoff is opposed against this punishment and thinks it is unfair. This is present in the arrangement of the article because Hentoff brings up examples from the argument and then provides evidence from multiple sources of why it is wrong to support his views. Hentoff was very effective in his argument through the combination of the arrangement along with the context he used to support his ideas. Especially when he used third party references. In my opinion, the student deserved to be punished for his actions but this punishment was too extreme for the violation. Although, I do see where Gregorian was coming from because eventually these actions were going to lead to some type of physical altercation. Overall, I agree with Hentoff that the student should not have been expelled for his speech.

In Praise of the "F" Word

Mary Sherry's "In Praise of the 'F' Word" explores the theory that states if a teacher uses the power to fail as a motivator, kids will be focused on school. She explains that in order to do well in school, school itself should be the student's priority. As a teacher of remedial and creative writing, Sherry has the experience and wisdom to thoroughly analyze the passing along of students.
Sherry begins her article by explaining how meaningless a high school diploma has become. She explains that some of the graduates are semiliterate because of the no child left behind mentality. She discusses her fault in blaming lack of focus on divorce and drugs prior to teaching. Sherry proposes a solution to the lack of focus. She tells a short story about a teacher who threatened to fail her child. The child finished the class with an a and the example proved that if teachers threaten children with the possibility of failure, then the children will be more focused on school.
I also believe students are not focused. This is a great technique that will serve as a motivator for the children. Deep down in a teenager's racing mind, failure is not an option. So when they are hit with the reality of becoming a flunk, they quickly catch on to whatever material is given to them. The parents support is another key component in making things work. Sherry's use of personal examples and sheer experience provides her solution with a solid base for analysis.