TOW #30: Letter to a New APELC Student

Dear future APELC student,

     First, I want to congratulate you on choosing to take AP English Language and Composition; it's a challenging course. Understand that this course will be different from other English courses you have taken in the past, and not only because it is an AP course. For one thing, there was a lot more writing involved, as is to be expected. But along with having more in-class writing assignments, you will have more interesting, meaningful prompts. Rather than being graded on how accurate you were, you will be graded based on how well you can present and support your ideas. There really are no wrong answers. Also, APELC will expose you to a new type of writing which, if you are like me, you will have never read before. Likewise, the projects will be different in that they will be more based on your interpretation of someone else's ideas rather than just someone else's ideas. Along with every other aspect, the readings will get harder. Whereas before you might have been able to read a passage and immediately pull the "right" idea from it, it will not be so easy this year and that may not even be the point of reading the passage.
     As for advice, I would say that it is important to keep up with the readings and you want to start into take-home essays and projects as soon as you can. But in this course, I would also recommend that you try to complete for understanding and not just for completion. Although sometimes it is necessary to finish something simply so you get credit, there are more important things at stake in this course. I found that the skills I learned in this class, such as the ability to recognize different types of claims, were worth more than the informal credit sometimes given or the ability to participate in class. On the rare occasion that I could not finish the assignment meaningfully, I did sometimes end up skimming the material or ideas, and I always regretted it. If I could give you, incoming APELC students, any one piece of advice it would be to complete assignments for understanding rather than for completion.
     Since this is an AP course, I'm sure you already understand that there may be obstacles and difficulties. What you absolutely need to understand is that it is not a bad thing to experience these obstacles; the only bad thing would be to not try to overcome them. You must try not to let yourself be defeated. And what Mr. Yost says at the beginning of the year is true: some APELC students will get lower grades than they are used to. What is important to remember is that you are not defined by one lower-than-usual grade. I even believe that those who experience more obstacles could potentially be more successful in this course so long as they can overcome the obstacles and learn from them. What you will find is that the obstacles do not disappear, but rather you will get better at dealing with them.
     I personally thought APELC was worth taking, and I am glad you did, too. Even though I do not think I want to be an English major or even minor, I do not regret taking this course, for APELC helped me in almost every other subject. If you work hard and stay confident this year, I have no doubt that you will not only improve your writing and reading style, but also enjoy the interesting topics Mr. Yost introduces to you.

Sincerely,
Former APELC-er Rachel Misbin

P.S. Go all out on toga day, because it's worth it. Togas are both comfortable and fashionable.

TOW #29: Documentary Rhetorical Analysis Part 2

     It is easy to regard someone who is wealthy as content, even fulfilled, and without serious hardship. In today's society in particular, those without wealth are sometimes resented because of the belief that they have no "real" problems. Director Lauren Greenfield would discount that belief. In fact, one of the claims made in Greenfield's documentary The Queen of Versailles is that having wealth does not automatically make one person better than another. Greenfield contrasts Mr. and Mrs. Siegel, in all of their lavish wealth, against their friends, family, and employees, and the result is blatant: whereas the Siegels are very wealthy, they lack the humility, class, sense of fulfillment, and positive morals that the people around them possess. In other words, the Siegels are wealthy but are otherwise no better, if not worse, than the people around them who are not wealthy. Their wealth does not solve all of their problems.
     I strongly agree with Greenfield's claim about wealth and happiness, particularly because I've seen evidence of her claim in my own experiences, observations, and readings. The first thing that comes to my mind is the ever growing list of sayings that all essentially say the same thing: money cannot make you happy. Everyone from Benjamin Franklin to Nelson Mandela have warned of the falsified satisfaction money can provide. I cannot help but believe that Greenfield's claim must be true if only because of its large number of wise supporters. In a way, Greenfield is supporting the claims made by the various people who came to the same conclusion before her. 
     Additionally, I have experienced the validity of Greenfield’s claim in my own life. The satisfaction I get from getting a new item is never as great as the satisfaction I get when I am in the company of people I enjoy, or when I perform an act of kindness, such as volunteering. The immediate happiness from a purchase is fleeting; the only way to maintain such a happiness is to continually spend through what some might call an addiction. However, as with every addiction, the abuser is eventually numbed to what once brought them happiness. “Purchased happiness” must eventually run out, whereas interactive, non-stationary happiness can never be expended.

     While Greenfield claims that wealth and contentment are not necessarily correlated, I might even argue that they are inversely correlated past a certain point. After that point, wherever it may be, as you become wealthier you also become less and else content with your life. For example, in the case of the infamous King Midas from Greek mythology, who could never find satisfaction from his wealth. Though he was wealthy, King Midas reached the point where enough was not enough, and eventually he dedicated himself to accumulating more wealth by wishing for a “golden touch” to turn everything into gold. His resulting wealth cost him everything he cared for, including his health, his daughter, and his happiness. Just as with the Siegels from The Queen of Versailles, wealth did not guarantee happiness and positive morals. 
     There are many cases in which wealthy people are not by any means decent, happy people. Regardless, there will always be people who believe that money is the necessary to achieve happiness, classiness, and positivity. Greenfield's The Queen of Versailles rightly claims otherwise.