English

Upcoming Quizzes
In the coming weeks we will have an Economics (Friday 2/27) and Art History Quiz (Wednesday 3/4) quiz.  Please see the linked study guides for info about the quizzes.

English
We continue to work on social issues I want to do a reading response dealing with injustice.  We will begin using our Legacies English book which you will find in the back of class.

Since we are working to expose social issues I want you all to read the essay American Ignorance of War by Czeslaw Milosz which begins on pg. 827.

I want you to carefully read the essay and try to make connections to the text.  When you finish reading please answer the following questions with a one-two paragraph response for each:

1. Why does Milosz begin with the question "Are Americans really stupid?" What is his perspective in the essay?  How does the opening paragraph suggest his point of view, tone, and themes of the essay?
2. Consider Milosz's use of the term "nature."  What is "natural" to man?  Is he being ironic?  Contrast these two views of human nature, modes of living, states of civilization presented in the essay.
3. What does the author conclude about the world?  Now sixty years after the publication of this essay, do you concur with his views expressed in paragraphs 11 and 12?  Have Americans lost their innocence?  Their senses of insularity from world events?

What connections do you make to the text?  Can you think of other issues or current events the author would feel the same way about today?  Choose one issue (preferably your research topic) and write an essay (one page) in a similar style or tone about what it would be like to live in that situation.  What are people missing?  What might they not understand?