Communications Question

Link to Readings (google drive)https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1x_Q166LppxdfIGbIZtkw1Zs7CpC3npfm
Due: Friday, December 2nd
Prompt: Multiple to choose from;
ANSWER ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS. THERE ARE NO
“CORRECT” ANSWERS PER SE. EFFECTIVE, WELL-SUPPORTED, CLEARLY
WRITTEN ESSAYS MAY BE CONSTRUCTED FROM A VARIETY OF
PERSPECTIVES. THE QUESTIONS RELATE TO BUT GO BEYOND THE
SPECIFIC COURSE MATERIAL IN ORDER TO STIMULATE BROADER AND
DEEPER ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION RATHER THAN MERE FACTUAL
RECALL. THE OBJECTIVE IS TO ANALYZE THE PROBLEM CAREFULLY,
SYNTHESIZE MATERIALS EFFECTIVELY, AND EXPRESS YOUR VIEWS
AND CONCLUSIONS COHERENTLY. BE SURE TO MAKE APPROPRIATE
REFERENCES TO COURSE READINGS AND DISCUSSIONS WHERE
APPROPRIATE. THESE CAN BE USED FOR EXAMPLES FOR WHATEVER
ARGUMENT YOU MAKE. THE ESSAY SHOULD BE TYPED AND BE 6-7
PAGES IN LENGTH.
AS INDICATED IN THE FIRST ASSIGNMENT, WRITING MATTERS. AS
NOTED IN CLASS, AND IN MANY COMMENTS ON STUDENT PAPERS,
ESSAYS SHOULD ADHERE TO HIGH STANDARDS OF CLARITY,
CONCISENESS, ORGANIZATION, GRAMMAR, AND PUNCTUATION.
BE SURE TO PROOFREAD YOUR PAPERS CAREFULLY.
PROOFREADING SHOULD BE DONE WITH HARD COPY BECAUSE ONLINE PROOFREADING IS OFTEN INADEQUATE. SPELL-CHECK IS
USEFUL BUT OFTEN INCOMPLETE.
AS INDICATED PREVIOUSLY, IT’S YOUR PAPER; THEREFORE, IT’S
PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE TO USE THE FIRST PERSON “I” AND TO
INCORPORATE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WHERE THEY ARE
APPROPRIATE TO THE SPECIFIC TOPIC.
1. Imagine that it is the end of Fall Quarter 2022 and you have returned home to
your large and extended family. At a dinner party, you begin discussing your
academic work at UCLA the past quarter. You mention that you have recently
dealt at length with the “sixties” in your Communication class on ”Agitational
Communication.” You report that you have studied the labor movement, civil
rights movement, the student movement, the anti-war movement, the feminist
movement, and other agitational phenomena from that era. Suddenly, your
Uncle Homer (who has no connection to Clyde from the rst assignment)
interrupts you: “What kind of nonsense is all this? I’m tired of hearing all this
drivel about one of the worst times in our recent history. Your professor is
probably one of those typical liberals who think that all agitation was
wonderful. That’s what’s wrong with our universities today––too many
politically correct professors teaching, with no experience in real life. What a
racket, getting paid to talk, talk, talk! You want to know about the “wonderful
sixties? I’ll tell you. Read the 1996 book DESTRUCTIVE GENERATION:
Second Thoughts About the ‘60s, by conservative writers Peter Collier and
David Horowitz, which argues that the agitation of the 1960s caused
unfortunate social chaos and public division and anguish. They maintain that
much of 60s rebellion lowered intellectual, moral, and artistic standards
throughout the nation and the world. Their view is also that far too much of
the agitation of that era was really little more than ‘everything-goes’ hedonism
and destructive, almost mindless radical political passion. Another
conservative writer, Allan Bloom in THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN
MIND, also had severely negative views of the 60s social and political agitation.
Many other sources too cast a critical eye on 60s protests, many of which are
easily accessible. It’s going to be decades before we recover from those terrible
times.” [NOTE: reading those works is not a requirement for responding to this
prompt; they are merely two conservative books that articulate extremely
critical views about the sixties. There are many others]
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Momentarily stunned, you inform your Uncle Homer that you will respond to
his critique of the sixties by December 5 in a 6-7-page essay. You will present
your own view of the value and impact of the agitational movements of the 60s
and 70s. You indicate that you’re still working out your view, whether positive,
negative, or mixed, of the social protest movements of that time. As Uncle
Homer looks sternly in your direction, you inform him that in constructing
your response, you will make use of course readings and other materials (you
may use other sources also but remember that this is not a sustained research
paper). You may focus on any or several of the movements of that time period,
like the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement, the feminist movement,
the LGBTQ movement, etc., in arguing what the implications for the present
may be.
2. As discussed in class on November 16, several students who participated in
campus protests from the mid-1960s on (especially in the UC Berkeley Free
Speech Movement) were involved in various movements for higher
educational change and reform. In addition, many professional educators,
concerned citizens, and even some elected of cials have agitated for major
changes in university policies and priorities. Many of these efforts have
centered on problems in large and prestigious research universities, including
the Universities of California, Washington, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Texas, and several others including private research institutions. A voluminous
literature exists on the topic of higher educational reform. One good source is
KILLING THE SPIRIT by former UCLA history professor Page Smith, whose
1954 critical essay on higher education was brie y cited in class.
Here are some highlights:
Students in our large colleges and universities are receptors, passive note takers, and
repeaters of ritual formulas . . .. They are voiceless. . . . Teaching, which some heretical
voice occasionally suggests is the principal function of the teacher, inevitably suffers
from being treated as a matter of secondary or tertiary importance, and since teaching
even of a superior quality is given more than lip service for promotion in most
universities, teachers with some sense of dedication are disheartened by the feeling that
their talents are lightly regarded and poorly rewarded. Pages 100-101, From “The
Sins of Higher Education”
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Imagine the following scenario: It is late June 2022 and you have recently
graduated from the UCLA campus or are very close to graduating after taking
summer session courses. UCLA has decided to conduct an extensive inquiry
into the status and quality of undergraduate education on campus. The
Administration has selected a few students at random, including you, as part of
its inquiry. Chancellor Gene Block will conduct the interviews with a very few
students for a one-hour conversation to ask you what you believe is wrong
with undergraduate education and what changes you would like to make. You
can respond to him by indicating any educational critique you think is
appropriate (institutional teaching and research priorities, as indicated above in
Page Smith’s observations; the administrative structure of the university;
student roles; racial, gender, or related issues, including support for gender and
ethnic studies programs; nancial aid issues; or any others you wish to
identify). You could also inform him, if you so believe, that little or no change
is necessary or desirable. He also asks you to indicate whether what forms of
agitation, if any, you would consider using in pursuing your objective of
educational change and reform at UCLA. Finally, he requests that you send
him a 6-7 page essay explaining your views in advance of your meeting and he
reminds you not to neglect the issue of agitational approaches you might
employ. (Please don’t neglect this part of the essay).
3. Until the advent of the Me Too Movement, feminism often had a
problematic name. Many people, including university students, would say,
“I’m not a feminist but…. “ More recently, millions of Americans and others
have come to see that women’s issues and feminism generally can no longer be
demonized by hateful and irrational language, although such language clearly
persists. More and more, Susan Faludi’s perfectly rational de nition of
feminism in her groundbreaking 1991 book BACKLASH has become
increasingly accepted:
Its agenda is basic: It asks that women not be forced to choose between public justice
and private happiness. It asks that women be free to de ne themselves -–instead of
having their identity de ned for them, time and again, by their culture and their men.
This has become especially prominent since the United States Supreme Court
last summer in its Dobbs decision overturned the Roe v. Wade precedent that had
guaranteed women the right to abortion. Both women and men in increasing
numbers began agitating (and voting) for women’s right to control their own
bodies without governmental interference. The feminist movement continues
to work vigorously in the United States in the early decades of the new century.
Among many other contemporary feminist issues besides abortion and
reproductive rights are (2) the glass ceiling and continuing disparities of pay
between men and women; (3) sexual harassment and assault; and (4)
demeaning images of women in advertising and other media. In your view,
which of these four feminist issues do you think should be pursued in the early
years of the third decade of the 21st century? Specify one (OR choose another)
and indicate why your selection should be most vigorously emphasized. What
forms, if any, of agitation and social protest do you think should be used in
order to implement any changes in this area of women’s concerns? (Be sure not
to neglect this second part of the question).
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4. Some students in this course may prefer a different kind of writing
assignment:
Assume that you have concluded that agitation is a legitimate and useful
form of political activity (if not, you may be more comfortable answering
Question 1, 2, or 3). Imagine further that you have strong interest in merging
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theory and practice. How would you go about organizing a social protest in
Fall 2022 in Los Angeles (that includes UCLA, but not an educational issue,
which is covered in the second prompt) on any social or political issue that you
nd important. In composing your response, indicate the following, making
sure to address each element:
a. What cause would you select and what are your objectives? Why?
b. What strategies and tactics would you employ? Why?
c. What results do you expect in both the short and long term? Why?