A unique perspective (remembering Robin Williams)

Source: photo taken by the author.

The recent tragic suicide of actor/comedian Robin Williams made me reflect on one of his early movies, Dead Poets Society, which I still show in school to 11th graders. Many film critics have lambasted this movie, and I too acknowledge its over-Romanticized depiction of the teaching and learning process, but I think the movie’s harshest detractors are being too cynical. Dead Poets Society speaks to teenagers who crave the inspirational while confined to an institution (school). One scene in particular -- when the teacher, Mr. Keating (portrayed by Williams), has students stand on his desk to deliver the message that “we must constantly look at things in a different way” -- made me think about the importance of going beyond the obvious and questioning conventional wisdom in college-level writing.

To find a college-level topic idea and develop an original thesis statement, you need to go beyond the obvious. Parroting conventional wisdom will not earn you a satisfactory grade in college. Deborah Tannen, in a fascinating essay titled “The Roots of Debate,” explores the “argument culture” that has overwhelmed modern life. Seldom do we listen to each other anymore, but instead we search any opposing arguments for holes and then attack with our counter-arguments. Our minds are already made up. Nowhere is this more evident than on cable TV news programs, where the “talking heads” can barely restrain themselves to listen for five seconds before shouting their own already-hardened ideas, and it’s not long before this “discussion” devolves into a simultaneous shouting match without anybody pausing to listen to anyone else.

In her essay, Tannen describes one college anthropology professor and her simple but ingenious method for prompting students to venture beyond conventional compare-and-contrast thinking. Tannen writes that this professor:

… makes a point of having her class compare three cultures, not two. If students compare two cultures, she finds they are inclined to polarize them, to think of the two as opposite to each other. But if they compare three cultures, they are more likely to think about each on its own terms. As a goal, we could all try to catch ourselves when we talk about “both sides” of an issue -- and talk instead about “all sides.”

Here’s one great example of a writer (in this case, a journalist) who went beyond the conventions of “pack journalism” in order to find a unique perspective on a subject that everyone was writing about. The 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy was the defining public event for a generation of people, just as Pearl Harbor was for an earlier generation and September 11 for a later one. As would be expected, journalists covered this story exhaustively. Jimmy Breslin, a writer for the New York Herald Tribune, realized that he couldn’t just write the same story that everyone else was writing. He needed to find a different perspective on this story, what people in the news business call an angle. He needed a unique angle. So Breslin interviewed the employee whose less-than-glamorous but solemn job it was to dig President Kennedy’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery. The resulting story about Kennedy’s humble gravedigger provided a unique perspective on the shared suffering and grief of our nation -- a perspective no other writer had glimpsed.

So remember, in college, sticking to the conventional no longer cuts it. Instead of hunching over your desk and recycling the same, chewed-over ideas, hoist yourself up onto Mr. Keating’s desk and look around. Something startling and original awaits you.

PS -- here is Breslin’s story about JFK’s gravedigger -- you should read it! -- http://www.newsday.com/opinion/digging-jfk-grave-was-his-honor-jimmy-breslin-1.6481560