Ports of Entry [antikvár]

PREFACE Ports of Entry: Social Concerns explores views of work, marriage, and social strata through the words of somé of our most perceptive and effective writers. The book will give high-intermediate to advanced students of English as a Second Language and other interested readers the opportunity to deepen their understanding of American culture while developing their language skills for academic study. The exercises open up social and literary considerations and, at the same time, improve reading, writing, and discussion skills. Social Concerns, of the Ports of Entry series, is appropriate for a semester of work. The volume begins with a selection from the personal journal of John Coleman, a college president and labor economist, who describes his experiences as a worker digging ditches. Next, Laurence Peter explains the cause of incompetence in the work place in an excerpt from his book, The Peter Principle. Then, Peter Drucker, an authority on management, sets down the requirements for effective management and the effective executive. Fourth, a physician and psychiatrist, Róbert Coles, looks at the people of Appalachia, an area of great poverty and unemployment in the eastern part of the United States. These four selections not only reflect diverse viewpoints, but alsó exhibit various forms of writing and language. We see the informality of a personal journal, the exaggerated formality of a social satire, the standard style of exposition on the subject of management, and an integrated style of writing about the people of Appalachia. The other selections continue, in similar fashion, to contrast views and styles. Included are an impersonal public opinion poll report by The Roper Organization; a parody of a newspaper feature article by Jane Mankiewicz; a surgeon's account of his practice by Richárd Selzer; two lyrical poems by Archibald MacLeish; an ethnic and demographic analysis of social advancement by Thomas Sowell; and, finally, a speech by the religious leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Classroom activities rangé from simulating university forums to involving students in debating. A question and answer session, a colloquy, panel discussions, and other exercises are included. Written exercises focus on structure, short answer quizzes, discussion questions, and composition practice. To consider the issues as they emerge, the text introduces and explains such concepts as "work ethic"; "labels" and "stereotypes"; and "blue-collar," "white-collar,"