Drafting College Essays - Pleasure or Pain

Please read the article, "Process Writing and the Secondary School Reality: A Compromise". See pages 67-74 of your Bulk Pack Materials. Barbara Carney, author of the article, describes how she makes her students write five total drafts of their papers. This week, you are writing the first draft of your personal statement (essay for college). Mr. Schuman will make you write five total drafts of your personal statement.

DISCUSSION QUESTION SIX (Please Respond):

1. Should Mr. Schuman make students write five total drafts of their personal statement or is the drafting process utter insanity and a waste of time?

2. Which draft is the most important one: D1, D2, D3, D4, or D5?

Please base your comments and responses off the ideas that Barbara Carney presents in her article.

Does the University Make the Man or does the Man Make the University?

The role-play, Where did he go wrong, located on pages BP-16 and BP-17 of your Bulk-Pack Materials, examines whether or not the college a person attends makes that person respected, successful, and competitive. Some people think people who go to "big-name" universities have an edge when competing against people who go to "lesser-name" schools. For example, imagine graduates of Harvard Universtiy and Pace Universtiy competing for one available spot at a certain law firm. Will the employer making the decision see "Harvard" at the top of the first person's resume and automatically select him? In contrast, some people think the man (or woman) make the university. This other school of thought looks at people who spend their four years of college lying on the college green, cutting class, and going to frat parties. Can people who "waste their four years" at an acclaimed universtiy still find success? You decide: Does the university make the man or does the man make the university?

LISTSERV DISCUSSION QUESTION FIVE (PLEASE RESPOND): Does the university make the man or does the man make the university? For this question, you may also talk about whether or not a high-school student's college essay (personal statement) matters in the overall college selection process.