essays in progress for the honors program

1. Explain, with specificity, why participating in the University Honors Program will ehance your academic experience.

Participation in some sort of an advanced program has always been one of my intentions for entering college. As a student I have always been involved with some type of an enrichment program, dating back to a “math club” in first grade. Since then I have participated in Quest, a program for gifted and talented students, as well as numerous honors and advanced placement classes. Those experiences and classes have shaped my education and, in a way, my identity. They have always held me to a higher standard and have exposed me to extraordinary teachers as well as peers.

I cannot imagine continuing my education without that same type of enriching environment. Immersing oneself with peers who are intellectual and scholarly will only reinforce the purpose for education. An honors program is designed to join students with common goals but a diversity of experience and knowledge. Honors programs allow the students to draw off of one another, thereby enriching the educational experience.

I look forward to participating in the University Honors Program in particular in the coming years. As an undeclared major, one of my foremost goals for college is to explore a variety of studies and classes. The Honors Program will take those explorations to a newer, deeper level. It will allow me to actually delve into a study and truly find a passion.

2. Tell us about an idea, a book, or an experience that intellectually excited you. How did your thinking change?

Throughout the course of my high school career, many English classes, and many summers, I have read a variety of books that have deeply challenged my thinking. Books have always been an outlet for my imagination and constantly allow me to grow intellectually by mere suggestion. Particularly this year I have explored these books to new depths and levels within class discussions and journaling. Among my favorite intellectually-stimulating selections of literature have been Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard, and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Doestoyevsky. Perhaps they all differ in nature, but they share one key element: question everything.

Crime and Punishment is by far the greatest example of the intellectual freedom that I find absolutely inspiring. Doestoyevsky creates the psyche of Raskolnikov in such a way that one finds it extremely difficult to blame his character for the murders. The reader becomes one with his mind and is able to follow each train of thought as if he/she was the man. As Raskolnikov questions his morality and the world’s concept of morality, the reader finds him/herself questioning those same concepts. This is a very freeing process.

Becoming Raskolnikov is indeed like erasing every barrier the world has ever set forth. For example, Raskolnikov attempts to help a young prostitute being preyed upon by a sleazy man, only to almost immediately question why he intervened. He asks what mandates what is right or wrong, and questions why he shouldn’t have left events to transpire. Who says that is wrong or immoral? Perhaps that question in particular does not apply to every situation, but it certainly transcends traditional thought. After all, what dictates what is humane or what is moral? Some will argue religion and I would tend to agree with them in a traditional conversation. The beauty of a book like Crime and Punishment is, however, that ability to temporarily ignore all former beliefs and truths in order to explore ones own self or a different truth that may exist.

In discussing the superman theory, which is central to the book, one must also be free of all pre-conceived or taught mindsets. I am not by any means condoning that theory, but I also refuse to simply dismiss it. It is a bold idea, and it was for Doestoyevsky a new (or frightening to some) way of thinking. The possibilities for philosophical discussion and self-examination through this type of questioning thrill me.

3. Think of a controversy with which you are familiar that has involved different points of view and conflicting values. This may be a controversy in which you were directly involved, or it may be one that you simply know about. Describe your reaction to the controversy. Among the questions you might wish to write about: How did you become aware of the controversy? How did you react? How did you make sense of or deal with points of view that differed from your own? Do not write about abortion or the death penalty.

What to write for this one? Should I write about women’s sexuality and the morals? Or is that too risky? What can I write?