Too Much Edumacation

http://jezebel.com/5945524/iranian-women-banned-from-77-college-majors-because-they-were-getting-too-educated

Iranian Women Banned from 77 College Majors Because they were Getting too Educated
(obviously, this title is sarcastic, immediately setting the tone)

This article, in general, is from a feminist perspective (the website itself is news with a feminist perspective). 

Diction:

      "Alarmingly, the ban was only instituted last month; while no clear reason for the new restriction has been cited by the Iranian government, officials have been disturbed by the declining birth and marriage rates and attributed this change partially to the sea change in accessibility of women's education in the country."

    This paragraph shows clear bias against the Iranian government's policies restricting women's education, with such words as alarmingly, and disturbed, words that have connotations that emphasize the Iranian government's backwards notions about the progressive change in women's roles. 

     Later in the article, word choices such as doubly sh*tty and damn mystifying emphasize how confusing and backwards this decision is. 

Details:

     " Iran was one of the first Middle Eastern countries to give women access to university studies, and since 1979 has encouraged women to get a higher education. But it appears that officials think it's gone too far: as of 2001, women officially outnumbered men in the Iranian college student body for the first time, a statistic that's now up to 60% female. Another element of the decision came from the amount of women present at Tehran protests over Iran's tumultuous 2009 presidential election, as shown above (not to mention both candidates' vocal wives)."     

     As you can tell, the article uses a lot of specific details from recent Iranian history. This kind of shows the reader how the culture there has progressed in regards to women's equality, and how shocking it is that the government would actually curtail this kind of growth. It also talks about how strict they are politically, and if the rise of educated women gives them political voices that the government is opposed to, well, just take away their education!

Language:

     In general, the things the article says evoke a feeling of indignation. With such phrases as "This is doubly sh*tty because Iranian history actually shows a pretty good track record for women and education." and "As for the full list of actual majors off-limits to women, it's pretty damn mystifying. While some of them will lead to high-salaried careers that could make women veer off the married-with-kids track, others are... English literature."

     These sentences make you feel like saying "what the heck, Iran? What are you doing?", which, I assume, is probably the article's whole point. 

Open Prompt!

1983. From a novel or play of literary merit, select an important character who is a villain. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the nature of the character's villainy and show how it enhances meaning in the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

               In The Lord of the Rings, there are many characters who could be considered villains, all of whom have different motivations for doing what they do. The most interesting, however, is the character of Gollum. Gollum is not a typical “I want power, let’s kill everyone!” kind of villain. He is sneaky but timid, and is willing to sacrifice all for a singular object that has consumed his mind. He is not inherently “bad”, so to speak, but he will do bad things to achieve his goals.

               Gollum was originally a simple minded creature, not much unlike a Hobbit. One day, when his name was still Smeagol, he was on a fishing trip with a close friend, Deagol, when Deagol happened to find the One Ring of Power at the sea floor. Almost immediately falling under its spell, Smeagol demanded it, because it was his birthday.  In a fit of anger after being denied, he strangled Deagol. Back at his village, after discovering the invisibility powers of the ring, he used it for thievery and mischief, and was soon banished, after being given the name “Gollum”. He fled to the Misty Mountains, where the ring took over his body and mind.

               Throughout the story, Gollum first follows, and then guides Frodo, for the sole reason that Frodo possesses his “precious”, or the One Ring. He is willing to betray Frodo and Sam (as he did, in Shelob, the giant spider’s lair) at a chance to get the ring, and at the very ending, when Frodo seems all consumed and puts on the ring, Gollum bites his finger off, clutching wildly at his prize, when he drops off into the lava, destroying himself and the ring, once and for all.

               Gollum’s so called villainy symbolizes both a warning to Frodo, as well as the ring itself. Gollum started out as a creature not unlike Frodo, and ended up so corrupted, so pitiful, but doesn’t even realize it, in the same way that Frodo doesn’t realize that the ring is doing the same thing to him. Gollum also symbolizes the ring itself- the way it follows its target, corrupts it against those it once knew (Frodo starts trusting Gollum more than the ever-faithful Sam), and slowly poisons their mind.  

So learning about the rhetorical situation and argument tips this week reminded me of when we had to write persuasive essays in Lit/Comp 9. I can't exactly remember what I wrote about, but I do kind of remember not learning about these things.I also remember that I got a B on that essay... so having a little checklist like the rhetorical situation Prezi gave us seems quite useful- subject, purpose, audience, persona. I noticed how this tied in quite nicely to the points on making a good argument, because to make a good argument (whether in an essay or even in real life), you must first consider all the points in the rhetorical situation before you can decide what combinations of arguing you want to use- pathos, ethos, and logos. I already knew that I use a lot of logos when I argue with people in general- I try to use facts to explain why they are wrong- but I didn't realize that I use pathos as well when things are getting hard, because if you think about it, appealing to someone's emotions is a very powerful way to make a point to them.

[note: I think this post is quite short. I'll edit it if I think of more ideas or examples.]