A Cultural Journalist’s View of City Life
Deborah Hare
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Another important aspect of exploring city life, in some ways the most important, is the relationship between people and what they do for work. Included in this exploration is how people relate to their job and how society treats us in direct relation to what we do. As a way to broaden my student’s knowledge of work and career choices, and to help them a.) find work they love to do and b.) learn respect for all types of jobs, we will read a few selections from Studs Terkel’s incredible book “Working,” a collection of interviews with people in all types of jobs. Because I have ordered “The Little, Brown Reader” specifically for this class I will use the selections from that book—the airline stewardess, the hooker and a domestic. But, I will add to these xeroxes of the policeman and a factory worker. Needless to say the police are a controversial subject now so this part needs to allow a lot of room for expression of anger. My hope is that by understanding the job the police have and the many, many difficulties they face, some new understanding many develop This is very important to me because the majority of my students are minority and it is the minority population that most need police protection. Any lines of communication teachers can open would be invaluable. An assignment based on the reading of Terkel’s interview with a policeman is, after reading the section, to skim back to find his attitudes on the following subjects: growing up in a slum, prostitution, a policeman’s best sources of information, making detective, college radicals, the role of the media in demonstrations, radio calls, the law, the role of a cop, long haired guys, directing traffic and how to raise children. For each subject, write what his opinion is based on evidence from the reading and why you think he arrived at that opinion. A more formal essay will be due on “What are your experiences with the New Haven Police? What interactions have you observed between the police and the community?”
The main assignment for this section of the class will force students to combine their interviewing techniques with their newly developed writing skills in order to explore a possible career choice. Students will be required to choose a career, find someone (with my help) in the New Haven area who does that job, set up an interview, and then, armed with at least twenty good questions, conduct an interview. The next day a rough draft showing some organization of their notes is due and then a few days later, the final copy. This final copy will be their version of “Working,” New Haven style.