Follow A Student: Paper Three

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For the third paper, the conversation was extended to include an essay by Benjamin Barber. Here's the introduction from the student's paper:

   Throughout the history of democracy, the ideal of a well-informed, economically-balanced, and fairly-governed society has faced constant political, economical, and social challenges. To cope with these challenges, society is constantly altering its structure. Changing the ways and amounts in which government, business, and citizens interact produces paradigms which vary in their distribution of power and responsibility. A balance is achieved when business and government are in check with each other and a diversified, stable culture emerges. Currently, such adjustments are needed as society is transforming from a traditional, resource-based economy towards a mobile, knowledge-oriented one. In Michael Pollan's essay, "Playing God in the Garden," he presents a need for stronger regulation of business as well as closer attention to the needs of a working class during this transition. In Peter Drucker's "The Age of Social Trnasformation," and in Benjamin Barber;s 'Making Civil Society Real," each author recognizes these challenges and suggests strategies for restructuring business, government, and citizen roles. In addressing both government regulation of business and keeping social cohesion, Drucker's ideals present realistic solutions to the problems posed in Pollan's essay.

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Here are the instructor's end comments:

An impressive analytical job, weaving linkages and themes from the three essays. You take a complex topic and make meaning of it, through sharp analysis and astute connections. There are a couple of areas that could have used more clarity-along with a clearer connection to the 3 essays, but this is a strong work.

The student has a project or argument, since she or he is able to "make meaning" of the "complex topic." And, both "sharp anaylsis and astute connections" work together to help the student pursue this project. Those both help explain why this paper did well, and the instructor's comments reinforce that.

So far, this student has been able to improve paper to paper. That improvement is reflected in the work itself, and it's also echoed by the instructor's comments. Paper five, of course, represents something of a turn since it's often the start of a new sequence. This student, as you will see, met the challenges presented by this new sequence.

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