Essay+3+Assignment+(In-class)+Tues+11-29

===To prepare for the essay, review the two passages for the final exam again ("Why Literature?" by Vargas Llosa and "Two Cultures" by Snow), as well as the additional handouts that will help you prepare for the final (for example "What is Science?" by Orwell, "Can We Know the Universe?" by Sagan, "Is Google Making us Stupid?" by Carr, "Dehumanized" by Slouka, as well as the Steve Jobs handout, and the other Vargas Llosa piece, the Nobel acceptance speech). What is perhaps most important in this essay is //your// analysis of these passages, and, even more importantly, //your// ideas about how the dialogue points (below) relate to each of these readings. In other words, you will not only need to show an understanding of how the readings relate to these dialogue points, but also clearly display your perspective and opinions regarding what you've read. Feel free to disagree with any of the ideas presented in these readings! (As long as you support your criticism with examples and details, either from the text[s] or not.=== ===You might want to review the "They Say I Say" templates to help you frame your arguments. You will be expected, in the in-class essay, to think about how these readings speak to each other with regard to the themes we've discussed, themes you'll need to be ready to analyze and write about for the final exam. Be sure to bring the readings to class, as you'll be able to refer to them for your essay. You may also want to bring a dictionary.===

Points of dialogue between these readings include:

 * The purpose and value of different kinds of education/knowledge
 * Limitations of liberal education/ limitations of scientific education
 * "Practical" vs. Liberal Goals and Effects of Knowledge
 * Self-definition through education
 * Science and/or literature as self-exploration
 * Language shaping our lived experience/world
 * Reading literature vs. other kinds of reading
 * Tradition-Oriented vs. Future-Oriented Biases of education and knowledge
 * Impetus for social change and resistance via literature and science
 * Morality and Knowledge
 * The dangers of ignorance
 * The value and limitations of specialization and generalization of knowledge
 * The value/limits of science and technology v. value/limits of knowing literature
 * Definition of an “educated” person
 * Popular and Academic attitudes toward literature and the sciences