Dear future APELC student,
Congrats! You are currently enrolled in perhaps the most challenging English class of your High School career. You must be prepared to read the works of Plato, contemplate the societal effects of rhetoric, and prepare yourself in early May for three hours of mental exertion and a cramped hand. But contrary to what you may have heard, this course is far from impossible. It's okay if you don't think your writing ability is up to par, or if you're not sure you have the literary insight to fully grasp every piece of writing. When you emerge from this course in mid-June (well, really more like early May), you will feel more confident in your writing ability and able to think critically on a deeper level. In between, however, it will take responsibility, determination, and hard work.
Many of you probably consider yourself decent writers. After all, that's probably part of the reason why you took this course. You are accustomed to doing well on essays, which is why getting back essays in the beginning of the year with a 4 or a 5 may be a bit of a surprising disappointment. But constantly striving to improve oneself is perhaps the most important lesson that I have learned from AP English. If at first your essays aren't where you want them to be, then keep on practicing during in class ones. Talk to Mr. Yost or Ms. Pronko. Invest time into your take-home essays. This is not a class where you can slide by and get an easy A.
A second part of APELC besides essay-writing is a lot of reading. There will be Language of Composition packets, pieces of rhetoric to analyze, Plato, and at the end of each Marking Period, a project assignment. Try to space out your reading and don't leave 20 pages for the last day. Trust me, I've done it. And the last thing you want to be doing at 1 am is sitting at your desk trying to power through 20 pages of text when even five cups of black coffee can't keep you awake. It's really a shame too, because most of the texts are very interesting. Instead, plan ahead. During group projects, find times for all group members to collaborate. Do a little bit of the reading assignments each day. In terms of workload, APELC really isn't a very demanding class at all.
The goal of every AP class is to prepare you well for the AP exam, and I can honestly say that you are in very capable hands. If you give your best effort all year, you won't find yourself trying to cram for the APELC exam the night before ( and with something like English, I feel it's pretty impossible to cram for in the first place). That being said, don't just focus your attention on the AP exam. Actually participate in class discussions, think for yourself, and share your ideas. Consider if what you want to say will actually add to the discussion, but don't be afraid to take on a different perspective. I wish you the best of luck this year in APELC and all your other classes! Don't stress out too much. Remember: it's just school.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
TOW 29: The World Before Her
Claim: Women in the "new India" are better off than women in the "old India."
The World Before Her by Nisha Pahuja shows a very compelling story of a nation held in a cultural struggle between its traditions and roots and its new age of communication and globalization. This dramatic change affects all Indians, although especially the lives of Indian women. Although it is clear that the modern Indian woman, as represented by the Miss India contestants in the film, feel less constricted in what they dare to dream for their future and are more optimistic than fundamentalist Prisha, there is still a great struggle before women in either spheres can truly call themselves equal to men.
From the beginning, baby boys seem to be preferred over baby girls in India, a sentiment that almost all the women interviewed in the film confirmed. This is because when a woman got married, her family used to have to provide a sizable dowry to her husband's family. Furthermore, women usually moved away with their husbands and could not take care of their parents as easily. This is a problem that affects women all across the country, and not just in the more rural villages where traditionalism is high. In fact, there have been reports of baby girls found in trashcans in even the larger cities of India, showing that this is a problem that affects even the "modern" side of India as well, according to The Atlantic. This preference of baby boys has led to India's skewed sex ratio, where there are about 30 million more men than women currently. Clearly, this is still an issue that really affects the whole nation as a whole and is not just limited to some villages across the country.
Although women in the cities can generally find better opportunities than women in the countryside, violence against women still exists in both areas. In particular, reports of rape have raised human rights concerns internationally. In 2012, a young woman and her male friend in New Delhi were aboard a bus. She was then gang-raped and beaten severely with a metal rod. This tragic incident raised great concerns across the country, as people in New Delhi protested for days for better laws to protect women from rape. There have been rape cases in smaller villages across the country as well. This year, two teenage girls were raped in a village in northern India. It is said that authorities were notified but did not respond immediately. Although cases of rape in smaller villages may be reported less often or not get as much attention, it is clear that the country is still striving to deal with this heinous crime that affects the cities of modern India just as often.
It is true that a shift towards modernization has allowed more women to break free from the social constraints that they were bound to traditionally. However, many issues dealing with women and how they are treated are still a major problem even in the "westernized" cities across the country.
The World Before Her by Nisha Pahuja shows a very compelling story of a nation held in a cultural struggle between its traditions and roots and its new age of communication and globalization. This dramatic change affects all Indians, although especially the lives of Indian women. Although it is clear that the modern Indian woman, as represented by the Miss India contestants in the film, feel less constricted in what they dare to dream for their future and are more optimistic than fundamentalist Prisha, there is still a great struggle before women in either spheres can truly call themselves equal to men.
From the beginning, baby boys seem to be preferred over baby girls in India, a sentiment that almost all the women interviewed in the film confirmed. This is because when a woman got married, her family used to have to provide a sizable dowry to her husband's family. Furthermore, women usually moved away with their husbands and could not take care of their parents as easily. This is a problem that affects women all across the country, and not just in the more rural villages where traditionalism is high. In fact, there have been reports of baby girls found in trashcans in even the larger cities of India, showing that this is a problem that affects even the "modern" side of India as well, according to The Atlantic. This preference of baby boys has led to India's skewed sex ratio, where there are about 30 million more men than women currently. Clearly, this is still an issue that really affects the whole nation as a whole and is not just limited to some villages across the country.
Although women in the cities can generally find better opportunities than women in the countryside, violence against women still exists in both areas. In particular, reports of rape have raised human rights concerns internationally. In 2012, a young woman and her male friend in New Delhi were aboard a bus. She was then gang-raped and beaten severely with a metal rod. This tragic incident raised great concerns across the country, as people in New Delhi protested for days for better laws to protect women from rape. There have been rape cases in smaller villages across the country as well. This year, two teenage girls were raped in a village in northern India. It is said that authorities were notified but did not respond immediately. Although cases of rape in smaller villages may be reported less often or not get as much attention, it is clear that the country is still striving to deal with this heinous crime that affects the cities of modern India just as often.
It is true that a shift towards modernization has allowed more women to break free from the social constraints that they were bound to traditionally. However, many issues dealing with women and how they are treated are still a major problem even in the "westernized" cities across the country.
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