Higher Learning: Reading and Writing About College, 2nd Edition

(NOTE: Each part concludes with Further Suggestions for Writing and Selected Films.

* = New selections.)

 

1. WHERE WE'RE COMING FROM: LEAVING OTHER LIVES.

From Up from Slavery, Booker T. Washington. Incurring My Mother's Displeasure, Zitkala-Sa. *From One Writer’s Beginnings, Eudora Welty. *Saved, Malcolm X. Miss Rinehart's Paddle, Jeri McCormick. 50% Chance of Lightning, Cristina Salat. Somewhere in Minnesota, Peter Klein. *LD, Jeff Richards. *School’s Out: One Young Man Puzzles Over His Future Without College, Lara Sessions Stepp. *8^th Grade Final Exam (1895).

2. SCHOOL DAZE: LIFE IN THE FIRST YEAR.

A Day in the Life Of, Greg Adams. My First Week at Mizzou, Andrew Hicks. From Diary of a Freshman, Charles Macomb Flandreau. Take This Fish and Look at It, Samuel H. Scudder. Hunters and Gatherers, Jennifer Hale. Theme for English B, Langston Hughes. *From Lummox: Evolution of a Man, Mike Magnuson. The English Lesson, Nicholasa Mohr. Outside In: The Life of a Commuter Student, Patti See. From I Walk in Beauty, Davina Ruth Begaye Two Bears. From The Freshman Year Thrill Ride, Missy Loney and Julie Feist.

III. STUDENT RELATIONS: FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND LOVERS.

Raspberries, Jennifer Fandel. Ten Commandments for a College Freshman, Joseph McCabe. First Love, R.A. Sasaki.  Carmen, Jennifer Sheridan. “Who Shall I Be?” The Allure of a Fresh Start, Jennifer Crichton. What It's Really Like, Frank Smoot. No More Kissing–Aids Everywhere, Michael Blumenthal. The Blue-Light System, Katie Roiphe. *Dear Concerned Mother, Jill Wolfson. *The Undeclared Major, Will Weaver. The Good Student Apologizes to His Professor and to the Girl in Room 303, Ron Watson. Homeward Bond, Daisy Nguyen. *Everyday Use, Alice Walker.

IV. TEACHER, TEACHER: WILL THIS BE ON THE TEST?

*Did I Miss Anything?, Tom Wayman. Grading Your Professors, Jacob Neusner.      *From Tales Out of School, Susan Richards Shreve. No Immediate Danger, Mary McLaughlin Slëchta. Teachers: A Primer, Ron Wallace. Open Admissions, Shirley Lauro. *What Teachers Make, Taylor Mali.

V. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: LOOKING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK.

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer, Walt Whitman. *The Art of Regret, Jonathon Ritz. Raising My Hand, Antler. The Eighty-Yard Run, Irwin Shaw. Reunion, Dawn Karima Pettigrew. Scarlet Ribbons, Michael Perry. Signed, Grateful, Kate Boyes. Passion, Monica Coleman. *On the Radio, Richard Terrill.

Appendix: Thinking and Writing About Film.