The Latest Thing in Virtues
I'm working on my course plan for next semester's section of Freshman Composition, and it's evolving in strange ways. I could use some advice.
My university is unusual in the degree of freedom instructors of this course have; the students have to produce certain kinds and amounts of writing, which is monitored, but what we choose to have them read and write about is wide open. Having had an even-more-than-usually busy December, I didn't quite have my act together when the email came from put-upon Steve at the Bookstore (who uses the word "grunch") plaintively requesting my overdue book order. The past two years I've taught the same material Fall and Spring and designed a new syllabus over the summer, but this time I found I didn't want to do the texts again. My wonderful students this past semester did a fabulous job with Haroun and the Sea of Stories and Arcadia, and I somehow felt certain - deeply and unfairly - that my new batch would not do so well. On a complete whim, having just seen the trailer for the movie that day, I ordered The Hobbit instead.
Naturally, this impulse left me scrambling for a way to teach The Hobbit - in what way do I want them to write about it? I remembered that I once had a student suggest I do a Superheroes-themed semester, and it struck me that I could do a superhero unit too (maybe with film) and structure the course around the concept of Heroism.
In the past when assigning novels I've done everything from adaptation studies to genre examinations to gender readings; however, I tend to resist papers that ask students to look for or meditate on themes. This seems very high school and not too purposeful to me. "What makes a hero?" in particular seems like a very obvious and dreary organizing principle. And yet... there are things to say about how heroism was defined in the past, in specific cultures and moments, as opposed to today. (This type of question is 100% typical of my scholarly musings. New Historicism kind of has my name on it.) As I thought about this, probably because I've been reading the philosophical musings of Isabel Dalhousie, my ideas broadened to include the whole topic of virtue. What virtues did Tolkien consider heroic, or centrally valuable, as evidenced by his text? What virtues do our culture's heroes demonstrate?
This led me to think about virtues that have fallen out of popularity. When I told my brother I was thinking of putting together a syllabus on Unpopular Virtues, he half-joked: "Are there popular virtues?" But I think there are - certainly in film and fiction. Loyalty to friends, for instance, seems in vogue as a virtue. Bravery, especially when standing up to hegemonic oppression. Forthrightness, unless you give offense. Independence seems popular - does that qualify as a virtue? I'd love help thinking of others.
And then there are the unsexy virtues. (Could I get away with titling my course "Unsexy Virtues"? Alas, doubtful.) Self-effacement. Reserve. Honor. Piety. Dutifulness. Discipline. And of course the one that the word "virtue" is sometimes used to mean: Chastity.
I don't know exactly what I want to teach my students about these virtues, but I think they could be a fascinating topic for study. Why are some modes of human behavior valorized at certain times and despised or simply forgotten at others? There are cases with obvious reasons (a reaction against obedience in the wake of a fascist regime, for instance) but others are far less clear. Of course, philosophers have devoted millennia to thinking about this sort of thing. Sadly, I haven't read a lot of philosophy. But if anyone has read all the way through this post, I would love to hear from you: are there texts that have made you think about this topic? I have my one novel already, but I'd love recommendations of films, short stories, poems, essays, nonfiction books I could excerpt from, along with an explanation of the connection you see. I'd particularly like an accessible essay on this issue as a whole, or any one of the unsexy virtues, that I could give my students for background. Or just your thoughts about this. I still have no idea what my assignments are going to look like... but hey, I've got a week, right?
My university is unusual in the degree of freedom instructors of this course have; the students have to produce certain kinds and amounts of writing, which is monitored, but what we choose to have them read and write about is wide open. Having had an even-more-than-usually busy December, I didn't quite have my act together when the email came from put-upon Steve at the Bookstore (who uses the word "grunch") plaintively requesting my overdue book order. The past two years I've taught the same material Fall and Spring and designed a new syllabus over the summer, but this time I found I didn't want to do the texts again. My wonderful students this past semester did a fabulous job with Haroun and the Sea of Stories and Arcadia, and I somehow felt certain - deeply and unfairly - that my new batch would not do so well. On a complete whim, having just seen the trailer for the movie that day, I ordered The Hobbit instead.
Naturally, this impulse left me scrambling for a way to teach The Hobbit - in what way do I want them to write about it? I remembered that I once had a student suggest I do a Superheroes-themed semester, and it struck me that I could do a superhero unit too (maybe with film) and structure the course around the concept of Heroism.
In the past when assigning novels I've done everything from adaptation studies to genre examinations to gender readings; however, I tend to resist papers that ask students to look for or meditate on themes. This seems very high school and not too purposeful to me. "What makes a hero?" in particular seems like a very obvious and dreary organizing principle. And yet... there are things to say about how heroism was defined in the past, in specific cultures and moments, as opposed to today. (This type of question is 100% typical of my scholarly musings. New Historicism kind of has my name on it.) As I thought about this, probably because I've been reading the philosophical musings of Isabel Dalhousie, my ideas broadened to include the whole topic of virtue. What virtues did Tolkien consider heroic, or centrally valuable, as evidenced by his text? What virtues do our culture's heroes demonstrate?
This led me to think about virtues that have fallen out of popularity. When I told my brother I was thinking of putting together a syllabus on Unpopular Virtues, he half-joked: "Are there popular virtues?" But I think there are - certainly in film and fiction. Loyalty to friends, for instance, seems in vogue as a virtue. Bravery, especially when standing up to hegemonic oppression. Forthrightness, unless you give offense. Independence seems popular - does that qualify as a virtue? I'd love help thinking of others.
And then there are the unsexy virtues. (Could I get away with titling my course "Unsexy Virtues"? Alas, doubtful.) Self-effacement. Reserve. Honor. Piety. Dutifulness. Discipline. And of course the one that the word "virtue" is sometimes used to mean: Chastity.
I don't know exactly what I want to teach my students about these virtues, but I think they could be a fascinating topic for study. Why are some modes of human behavior valorized at certain times and despised or simply forgotten at others? There are cases with obvious reasons (a reaction against obedience in the wake of a fascist regime, for instance) but others are far less clear. Of course, philosophers have devoted millennia to thinking about this sort of thing. Sadly, I haven't read a lot of philosophy. But if anyone has read all the way through this post, I would love to hear from you: are there texts that have made you think about this topic? I have my one novel already, but I'd love recommendations of films, short stories, poems, essays, nonfiction books I could excerpt from, along with an explanation of the connection you see. I'd particularly like an accessible essay on this issue as a whole, or any one of the unsexy virtues, that I could give my students for background. Or just your thoughts about this. I still have no idea what my assignments are going to look like... but hey, I've got a week, right?