My student seems to have softened her position on the gay issue (see 2 posts below). Here is part of her proposal (draft only) she submitted by e-mail last night:
- I’m not a homosexual. I go to church and like guys and if the question is going through anyone’s head, yes I am a girl. But I do have a uncle who’s a homosexual. It’s not easy being him either. People tell him stuff everyday. He’s been cussed at, threatened, and has had objects thrown at him. Yes, all that for walking with a guy and holding hands. For this reason, I think this topic is interesting and a hot issue to research on. Many Homosexuals are threatened and humiliated for the reason that they love someone of the same sex. Why is that when Americans get mad at people for being ”fake”, yet homosexuals are as real as they get and yet you ridicule them?
4 comments:
I thought it was interesting how I see her in another light now that she's disclosed what her uncle is going through. She's using her personal experience with her uncle to scrutinize her views along with, perhaps, your dialogue with her. It's interesting to discover what stories underly their topics. We have an interesting one here. Perhaps, she might want to interview her uncle for more insights. Just a thought.
The fact that your student worked it out for herself is awesome! It seems when freshman (I'm assuming she's freshman) enter college, they think like their parents think. It seems she probably wanted to justify the idea that homosexuality is wrong on behalf of somebody else, but has come to the realization of her OWN ideas! I think that is going to be my favorite part of teaching college, helping students think for themselves.
I really like the way that you handled the suggestion of religious sources. I have a pair of students that are wanting to use religious sources. I know that they shouldn't use them, but I felt it wasn't fair for me to say they aren't credible. I will definitely borrow your response!!
This situation makes me wonder how much the student's ideas were influenced by the restrictions that she felt were placed on her. It is possible to change your position for the sake of writing a paper, simply because it was the easier side to argue (due to available sources, for example).
I wonder if when you told her that spiritual/religious/mystical sources are sometimes not enough for professors, if she felt that her sources weren't "good enough" and, finding more research that argued against her original position, was able to see things from a different perspective.
This situation makes me wonder how much the student's ideas were influenced by the restrictions that she felt were placed on her.
I anticipated that during the e-mail conversation I had with the student in the earlier post, when I suspected something amiss with the "adjustment."
However, she wrote about that uncle in such a way that I'm inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt for now. That's why I'm going to relay Cristina's idea about interviewing the gay uncle. It would be interesting to see what the student thinks of the idea.
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