#6. Compare Contrast

In paragraph 6, Siegel notes a “common wisdom” that is not very true today: that men are socially and biologically “programmed” to choose beautiful, youthful women because such women are likely to have good reproductive health. Cite another common piece of wisdom that is not borne out by experience and observation, and to inform readers, contrast it with the reality. For example, you can contrast the common belief that women are not good at math with the evidence that many women excel at math; or you might contrast the common notion that student athletes are “dumb jocks” with the fact that many student athletes are very smart. Use examples to support your contrasts.

The perception that women aren’t good at math is a flat out lie. There have been many cases in my life that have disproven that. According to the National Center for Education Statistics “In general, female students are just as likely as male students to take advanced mathematics and science courses in high school…” So, even though they have proven that there is a gap between interest in math during the late elementary school and middle school ages, it evens out in high school. I am a math major and am considered to be quite good at math. Though I will not claim to represent the general populous of women, I know from experience that there are many women who are good mathematicians. My best math teachers through junior high and high school were women. I work as a tutor in the Math lab and though there are about half as many female tutors as male tutors but those women are just as smart as the men in there. The days of mindless women are passing as more and more women find their love of the math and science fields.

#5 Process Analysis

Ch. 7, "In Your Journal" Assignment:

What did you think of the funeral industry before reading the selection? Have your views of death and the funeral industry changed after reading it? Were your views influenced at all by the graphic description in the essay?

            My views on the funeral industry were that they worked to respect the dead. They were there to help those who had suffered the loss of a loved one. I have had two of my grandparents pass away and then had funerals. I remember my grandpa looking very fake in his casket, but he looked restful enough. The funeral homes reminded me of churches with their lobbies with couches and chairs, and quiet, reverent atmosphere. I also had the daughter of a funeral home director in my psychology class in high school. Her house was attached to the funeral home and my teacher took full advantage of the slightly morbid and rather hilarious jokes.

What I didn’t think about was that it really is a business industry, and a large one at that. Oh, boy, this article gave me a reality check. I had never thought about what they must have had to do to a corpse keep it from looking so… dead. Some of the things they talked about doing to the dead body were a little disgusting to think about. It wasn’t the language they used (they were actually very tactful in their word choice) but the process itself. It was a very intriguing and enlightening article, and I know the knowledge and insight you must have to be a mortician is impressive, but sometimes I’d rather just think that my grandparents were buried without alterations… *Sigh* Yeah, I think I’ll try to keep it that way.