This document provides guidance for a student assignment to write a short essay exploring a personal experience that demonstrates insight into moral issues and lessons learned. Students are asked to consider how they may have previously made wrong choices or struggled with authority and conscience, and to articulate a clear life lesson gained from reflection on their experience. The purpose is for students to develop a meaningful lesson for readers about becoming a morally good person through exploring their personal journey.

1. Focused Inquiry

2.  During our first full week of Focused Inquiry,
we’ve explored the idea of the banality of evil.
 What does that mean again?
 We considered explanations for this banal
evil:
 Inability/unwillingness to reflect
 Submission to authority
 Other explanations?

3.  For your first major unit assignment, you’ll
explore this phenomenon in your own lives.
 Now, probably none of us are “evil”, so let’s call
this the “banality of doing wrong”!
 The object of the essay assignment is to use a
personal story that demonstrates some moral
insight, in the spirit of our readings and
discussions.
 Your personal story should lead to a lesson that
might be relevant to other people’s lives.
 Can you clearly articulate a life lesson you gained
from experience and reflection?

4.  You will draw upon your memory and life
story to explore an issue of personal values.
This will be an issue of your choosing, but it
would be helpful if you approached it along
one of these lines:
 How I knew I was absolutely, positively doing the right
thing, but later realized I wasn't
 How I meant to choose the lesser of two evils, and then
realized I picked the greater
 How I came to do the right thing in spite of myself
 How my conscience prevailed over authority
 How I realized I was being hypocritical and what I did
about it

5.  The purpose of your essay should be to
develop a "lesson" for your audience. What
can your experience with a personal moral
issue teach us? This is one way in which the
element of critical thinking rears its head.
You can use your reflections to make a case
for an important conclusion being a morally
good person.

6.  The process of becoming a better person can be a
journey.
 What kind of person you were before your journey?
 What kind of person you were at the completion of your
journey?
 What happened on this journey that caused you to
change?
 Your story should have a significant amount of
detail.
 If you can’t share the details of a certain story, then tell a
different one.

7.  Rack your brain for an interesting story to tell
 It should involve a choice that raises moral
questions
 There should be a lesson to be gained from that
experience
 Keep in mind that your essays will be
discussed in our group presentations.
 Avoid any topics that you would rather not share
with the class.