GENED 140, Global Perspectives

Paper #1 - Critical Self-Reflection of a Transformative Experience related to Plato's Cave

due Monday, Oct. 11 in class or before

Linking 'Perspective Consciousness' to Personal Experience.  Write an essay about an "illusion" or "false" perception of reality (or of yourself) that you have overcome or are presently in the process of identifying and coming to grips with with.  Your paper must do the following:

• Clearly describe the 'false' perception;

• Describe the contradiction you experienced wherein you confronted the illusion and realized it to be false;

• Explore what you learned about yourself and the boundaries of your own perspective as a result of the experience; and

• Relate this transformative experience to Plato's Allegory of the Cave, integrating at least one quote from the Allegory into your essay.

Mechanics:  The paper should be no longer than 3 pages of typed text, double-spaced with 1" margins.  The essay should have a creative title, but not a whole title page.  The paper will be assessed on the technical quality of the writing and whether it contains the four elements proscribed.  The experience itself will not be graded provided it is not trivial.  Santa Claus and Tooth Fairy stories expressly prohibited.