Crisp, Short Distance Learning

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This essay is from the December 14, 2011, edition of the MetroWest Daily News.

SHORT DISTANCE LEARNING

JOHN CRISP

1

The end of the semester at my college always inclines me toward reflection, relief, and mild melancholy. I suspect my students feel the same way, with more inclination, perhaps, toward relief. Five classes have met with me about 30 times each over the course of 15 weeks, five communities of individuals that materialize, coalesce, and disperse in a few months.

2

“I’ve never developed much enthusiasm for online learning.”

Whatever its merits, I’ve never developed much enthusiasm for online learning. Its proponents contend that a community of learners can develop among students scattered by geography but connected by the Internet, and I’m not in a position to say they’re wrong.

3

In fact, my purpose isn’t to disparage online education. Along with the trend toward a part-time professoriate, the proliferation of online education is probably the most prominent tendency in higher education during the last decade.

4

Still, I prefer the face-to-face classroom, which seems to me to preserve a fine touch of humanity that warrants reflection during this week of final exams.

5

Who was in my classes this semester? Many are traditional students, fresh from high school and on their way to a four-year college or university, after a sojourn at my community college. Many are bright, capable, and articulate. Others are shy and reserved. A few are sullen or downright surly. But they’re not always my most interesting students.

6

Consider the young woman who, a decade after high school, finds herself slogging through a developmental writing course before she can even attempt freshman composition. Pardon the cliché, but sometimes you do see a light go on in a student. She begins to listen to her instructor’s and classmates’ every word, to take notes and to think, to become absorbed in her writing, which over the course of the semester really does get better.

7

It doesn’t always work like that, by any means. Other students are taking my developmental writing class for the second or third time. I like them, but they miss too much class. Some of them have tattoos that betray their gangbanger history; some have been thieves and some have been in prison. And how well can you learn to write amid the violence and futility in the barrio?

8

Many of them say that’s all in the past now, and I believe them. Will they pass this semester? I’m not sure. If they don’t, what will become of them?

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9

Momentous life passages occurred as the classes proceeded: At least two women in my five classes this semester were pregnant and one gave birth. Two students died. One young man, a veteran who had survived tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was killed in the second week of the semester, hit by a car while out for his morning jog.

10

In mid-semester, a young woman in the same class lost control of her car on the way home from school and died in a one-vehicle rollover. When I told the class the next week that she wouldn’t be coming back, there were some tears. So we learned about more than just writing this semester.

11

A middle-aged woman expressed conservative religious beliefs then admitted that she spent two years in prison for marijuana possession. Several veterans can’t sleep at night and some of them drink too much. A young man came to class so depressed that I took him to one of the college’s counselors, and he never came back.

12

Another young man and a young woman sat on opposite sides of the class and never spoke up or spoke to anyone else. Then they began to sit together and talk to each other. A lot. Now I occasionally see them around the campus together. Does that happen in online classes?

13

In short, it’s all there, a rich mixture of human experiences in one ephemeral microcosm: birth, mating, sickness, death, frustration, laughter, storytelling, aspiration, failure, and learning.

14

Good luck, students; the pleasure was mine.

AT ISSUE: SOURCES FOR USING ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO ARGUMENT

  1. Where does Crisp attempt to establish his credibility? How effective is this appeal to ethos?

  2. To whom is Crisp addressing his argument? Teachers? Students? Parents? Administrators? Others? How do you know?

  3. In paragraph 3, Crisp says that his purpose “isn’t to disparage online education.” What is his purpose?

  4. In paragraph 4, Crisp says that he prefers traditional classroom instruction because it preserves “a fine touch of humanity.” What does he mean? What evidence does he present in paragraphs 5–12 to support this point? How convincing is this evidence?

  5. Draw a rhetorical triangle (The Rhetorical Triangle) that represents the relative importance of the various appeals in this essay. Which appeal does the longest side of the triangle represent? Which does the shortest side represent? Do you think this is a good balance?

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  6. In paragraph 2, Crisp briefly addresses an opposing argument. Does he accurately characterize the case for online learning? Should he have spent more time addressing opposing arguments?

  7. Crisp ends his essay with a single sentence. Is this sentence an effective concluding statement? Why or why not?

  8. Suppose Crisp wanted to present his ideas in a speech. What parts of his essay would you suggest he expand? What parts would you advise him to condense or delete? What visuals would you suggest he include?