The Corinthian, Volume 11, Spring 2010

Transcription

Volume 11 • Spring 2010
The
Corinthian
The Journal of Student Research at GCSU
EDUCATION
Do Gateway Versus Non-gateway
Years Affect Students’ Anxiety Levels
and Attitudes Toward School?.................................................................................... 03
Catherine E. Logue and Stephanie R. McGehee
The Effects of Explict Metacognitive Strategy
Instruction on the Reading Comprehension
of Seventh Graders ...................................................................................................... 15
Anne T. McLane
Factors Contributing to Teacher Retention
in a Middle School ........................................................................................................ 45
Michael D. McNutt
The Effects of Peer Tutoring on Math
Posttest Scores ............................................................................................................... 63
Cindy B. Mize
The Changing Face of America’s Schools:
Investigating the Perceived Effectiveness of
Diversity Training Programs for Teachers ........................................................... 79
Courtney D. Thomas
HEALTH SCIENCES
Talocrural Dislocation with an
Associated Fibular Fracture: A Case Report .......................................................... 99
Mitchell D. Duncan
i
Multifaceted Analysis of Stress
and its Physiological Effects ...................................................................................... 113
Kathleen R. Ragan
LITERARY
The Poisoned Image of the Borgias:
A Look at the Public Image of Pope Alexander VI
and His Children ......................................................................................................... 133
Rachel A. Brochstein
Peace, Love, and Music: The Atlanta International
Pop Festival of 1970 and the Introduction of
the 1960’s Counterculture Movement in the Deep South ................................ 151
Travis D. Byrd
Black Comedians and the Legacy of
W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Philadelphia Negro .............................................................. 171
Christopher R. Cowen
How Did We Get In This Mess?:
Investigation into the Ontological Assumption
That Brought Us to Current Ecological Crisis ................................................... 185
John M. Raymond
The Architecture in Composing: Architectural
Aesthetics in the Literature of Douglass, Hawthorne,
Chopin, and Kingston ................................................................................................ 199
Brittany M. Stephens
He Only Did What He Thought Was Right:
Brutus and Booth - Influences of the Caesar Assasination
of John Wilkes Booth ................................................................................................ 209
Heather M. Wilson
SCIENCE
Cross Sections of Alpha Scattering on Boron 11 ............................................... 223
Andrew M. Smith
ii
The
Corinthian
The Journal of Student Research at GCSU
EDITORIAL BOARD:
Alexandria M. Duckworth, Editor
Hannah N. Fouts, Copy Editor
Erin E. Schubach, Copy Editor
John W. Bowen, Staff Advisor
Tim Vacula, Photography, Front Cover
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR:
The Corinthian has undergone tremendous changes in the past two years.
From restructuring the reviewing and editing processes to formatting the
entire Journal in-house, we have continued to uphold the highest standards of
The Corinthian.
This year, I was fortunate to work with two wonderful women: Hannah
Fouts and Erin Schubach. Our staff would not be complete without the
intrinsic support and mentorship of John Bowen. Shane Brooks has offered
invaluable advice when I have found myself at a loss.
The publication of this volume would not have been possible without the
dedication of volunteer faculty reviewers, faculty sponsors and student authors
published on these pages.
It has been my pleasure working with The Corinthian for the past two
years. I am truly grateful for this experience and look forward to reading future
volumes.
Best wishes,
Alexandria M. Duckworth
2010
iii
The Corinthian: The Journal of Student Research at GCSU
iv
Education
Education
1
2
Anxiety and Attitudes
Do Gateway Versus Non-gateway Years Affect Students’
Anxiety Levels and Attitudes Toward School?
Catherine E. Logue and
Stephanie R. McGehee
Dr. Stacy L. Swartz
Faculty Sponsor
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research is to determine if there is evidence of highstakes test anxiety, and if so, is there a difference between the anxiety levels
in students in gateway versus non-gateway years. Gateway refers to years in
which academic promotion hinges on the results of high-stakes standardized
tests. Ninety-four 4th grade students (non-gateway year) and ninety-two 5th
grade students (gateway year) enrolled at a rural elementary school in middle
Georgia participated in this study. The results indicate that both gateway and
non-gateway year students indicated close to medium level of test anxiety. No
statistically significant difference was found in the level of anxiety between
the gateway year students and non-gateway year students. However, nongateway year students showed a slightly more positive attitude toward school
as compared to gateway year students. The implications for practices and future
research are discussed.
INTRODUCTION
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to determine if there is evidence of highstakes test anxiety, and if so, is there a difference between the anxiety levels
in students in gateway versus non-gateway years. Gateway refers to years in
which academic promotion hinges on the results of high-stakes standardized
tests. In elementary school, this would include third- and fifth-grade. The focus
of this study will include fifth-grade, a gateway year, and fourth grade, a nongateway year.
Rationale
Today standardized testing is what drives education. The results of these
high-stakes tests determine if a school is a success or a failure. The results
are highly publicized and can be a public relations nightmare or the source of
bragging rights for at least one year. With the No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Act of 2002, the stakes will continue to get higher and higher as all students
are expected to be on grade level by the year 2014. In the state of Georgia, a
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law was passed in 2001 stating that students entering the third grade in 2003
would have to pass the reading portion of the Georgia Criterion Referenced
Competency Test (CRCT) in order to be promoted to the next grade. The
law stated that fifth-grade and eighth-grade students would face the same
requirements in later years. These are referred to as gateway years.
The consequences of a child not passing the test can be demoralizing
for both the school and the child. For that reason, teachers in gateway grade
levels feel added pressures from both administrators and parents, as well as the
pressure they place on themselves. The researchers in this study have taught in
both gateway and non-gateway grade years and feel the disparity in pressure is
noticeable. If teachers feel the difference, it is assumed that students will too.
Research Questions:
Our main research question is: Do gateway versus non-gateway years
affect students’ anxiety levels and attitudes toward school? In particular, the
following four questions guided the design and implementation of our study:
1. What factors contribute to test anxiety both in and out of the school setting?
2. Do gateway or non-gateway years affect students’ anxiety level and
attitudes towards school?
3. Is there a correlation between anxiety level and attitudes towards school?
4. If anxiety is evident, what is being done and what can be done to alleviate
it?
LITERATURE REVIEW
Stress is a condition that most adults experience at one time or another.
Unfortunately, children are not immune to it. Romano (1997) states that:
Given the major problems facing youth, schools, and society, it is important
for educators to be aware of student-identified stressors and their methods
of coping. Such knowledge can increase the educator’s understanding of
youth and assist them in their educational practices (p. 273).
Romano (1997) surveyed fourth- and fifth-grade elementary students to
identify the causes of their stress and what they did to cope with them. He
identified the top ten stressors in this order: tests, academic/school, oral
presentations, peer relationships, athletic performances, family stressors, nonathletic performances, personal safety, health, and being in trouble.
Skybo and Buck (2007) also focused their research on stress, but they
focused more specifically on stress as it relates to proficiency testing. In a
longitudinal study over the course of the 2003-2004 school year, they studied
the causes and effects of such stress and the coping methods used by the
fourth graders in the study. They found that “Children’s explanations of what
4
makes proficiency tests stressful were categorized as stressful, fear of failure,
uncertainty, nervousness, too difficult, and pressure from others to succeed” (p.
414).
Although it is evident from these studies that stress and test-anxiety
do exist among elementary-age children, the effects of testing are not as
obvious. In a study of fifth-grader students, Mulvenon, Connors, and Lenares
(2001) found little evidence of stress and “found that most students appear
to experience little or no negative effects from testing” (p. 20). While Skybo
and Buck (2007) identified stressors, they found that students adapted to the
stressors over time, and there was very little stress related to proficiency
testing.
Conversely, students studied by Triplett and Barksdale (2005) expressed
a great deal of anger towards the various impacts of testing, including time
constraints and inability to talk with friends. Triplett and Barksdale (2005)
had students in grades three through six draw pictures and provide written
descriptions of these pictures to represent their testing experiences. Triplett
and Barksdale (2005) examined third through sixth graders’ perceptions of
high-stakes testing in two different states. One state had long been using test
results to make promotion and retention decisions, while the other state had
just recently started using these measures. They were surprised to find that the
data from these two states did not differ either qualitatively or quantitatively.
Students in both states expressed similar concerns regarding passing or
failing high-stake tests. The general feeling conveyed by these students was
negativity:
The elementary students in this study were anxious and angry about aspects of the testing culture, including the length of the tests, long
testing periods, and not being able to talk for long periods of time. These
students were also anxious and angry about the possible consequences of
failing the test, including going to summer school, being retained, and
being the “guy at the Burger King drive through” (p. 255).
The only measurable difference between the students from these two states
appeared in one specific category: the representation of fire. In the state where
stakes were higher for the students, more students used fire in their drawings
to represent tests. Some of the students depicted a scene where tests were
being burned at school and students were celebrating beside the fire. Triplett
and Barksdale (2005) concluded, “The fire theme appeared to be a reflection of
anger and a sense of powerlessness about testing” (p. 250).
While researchers may disagree about the effects of testing on students’
attitudes towards school and on student achievement, it is certain that highstakes testing creates anxiety for some children. Sena, Lowe, and Lee (2007)
found that students with learning disabilities were more likely to suffer from
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test anxiety, which in many cases affected their cognitive abilities during
testing. For these children and all children, it is important to teach appropriate
coping skills, not only for testing but for real-life situations.
Skybo and Buck (2007) found that children most frequently use drawing,
eating, and watching television as their primary means of coping. The authors
suggest that children be encouraged to talk about their coping methods in
order to share them with other students. They also suggested that talking with
others, like counselors, parents, teachers, and friends, about their concerns is
one of the best strategies in dealing with stress and test anxiety.
In regards to high-stakes testing in general, Triplett and Barksdale
(2005) suggest several ideas for making students less anxious during testing.
They begin with the testing environment and recommend making small
changes to make the students feel more at ease. From their study, they found
that “some of the students in this study experienced a measure of relief by
simply taking their shoes off, chewing gum, or having a good book to read”
(p. 257). They also recommended that teachers provide more comfort and
coaching rather than “playing the role of drill sergeant” (p. 257). Triplett
and Barksdale (2005) argue, “Having a coach close by may decrease children’s
feelings of powerlessness and increase their self-confidence” (p. 257). They also
recommended the strategy which allows students to draw pictures and write
about their testing experiences, as they did in their own study. They even noted
that some teachers were using this technique prior to a test to alleviate some of
the anxiety. Perhaps the most controversial recommendation made by Triplett
and Barksdale (2005) is to critically examine the validity of our assessment
practices and to move away from a system that bases promotion or retention on
one high-stakes test.
METHODOLOGY
Participants
This study was conducted at Dames Ferry Elementary School in rural,
middle Georgia. The school had a total enrollment of 886 students at the
time of the study. The racial breakdown of this school was 14% Black, 83%
White, 1% Hispanic, and 1% Multi-racial. Thirty percent of the student
population was considered economically disadvantaged; 14% of the students
were identified as having some form of disability. All fourth- and fifth-grade
students enrolled at Dames Ferry Elementary at the time of the study were
invited to participate in our study. A total of 186 students returned the
research consent form signed by one of their parents or guardians. These 186
students constituted the sample of our research. Among those, 94 were 4th
grade students (non-gateway year), and 92 were 5th grade students (gateway
6
year); there were 81 boys and 105 girls in this group. Their demographic
background highly resembles that of the whole school. Nine students’ surveys
had missing responses on at least one item. These students’ responses entered
some analysis but not others, which will be specified later when the results are
reported.
Instrument
A 20-item questionnaire (see Appendix A) was used to collect the data
needed for this research. The questions were administered in the participants’
homeroom class over a period of one week and by the students’ own
instructors. The twenty questions were written on twenty frequency scales
each with five options available: never, very little, sometimes, quite a bit, and
all the time. Some of the questions targeted the impacts of various anxiety
sources related to standardized tests including pressures from the CRCT
test itself such as difficulty level of the test questions and time constraint on
the test, and pressures from the outside such as those from teachers, parents,
school, peers, and promotion requirements. Other questions on the survey
targeted students’ attitudes toward school, for instance, whether they like
going to school and whether they think learning is fun and enjoyable.
Data Analysis
The twenty item questionnaire was first subject to a factor analysis. Then
data from all participants were summarized using descriptive statistics. In
addition, statistical significant tests were used to compare the anxiety levels
and attitudes toward school between the students enrolled in the gateway
year (5th grade) and those enrolled in the non-gate way year (4th grade) and
between male and female students. Finally, multiple regression analysis was
performed to examine how anxiety level, gender and gateway year predict a
student’s attitudes toward school.
RESULTS
Factor Analysis
Survey responses were submitted to principal component exploratory
factor analysis with a varimax rotation. The factor analysis identified five
factors, but only two major factors were retained for further analysis: “test
anxiety” and “attitude toward school.” Eleven items (item 1-11) pertained to
the “test anxiety” (factor loadings ranging from 0.43 to 0.72). These items
loaded relatively lower on the “attitude toward school” factor (loadings ranging
from -0.05 to 0.17). Five items (items 16-20) pertained to the “attitude toward
school” factor (factor loadings ranging from 0.75 to 0.81). These items loaded
7
relatively lower on the “test anxiety” factor (loadings ranging from -0.23 to
-0.14). The above two factors cumulatively explained 40.9% of the variances in
the survey responses. Item 14 was deleted from further analysis because it had
low loadings on both factors. Item 15 alone was identified by the factor analysis
as a factor, but were deleted from further analysis because it was deemed not
directly related to the main research question. Finally, items 12 and 13 loaded
high on at least two out of the five original factors identified by the factor
analysis and were both deleted from further analysis.
Descriptive Statistics
Only the 177 completed survey responses entered this analysis. The
average responses for these 20 items range from 2.29 to 3.89 (also see Table
1). This result indicates that on average students believed that the CRCT
test caused them “very little” to “quite a bit” anxiety. Students’ responses to
the five items regarding their attitude toward school indicate that they found
that school was enjoyable “sometimes” to “quite a bit.” We paid particular
attention to the four items concerned with parents’ and teachers’ contributions
to students’ test anxiety. Students on average did indicate that they were quite
anxious about how their parents would react to their test scores (mean=3.72)
and at least somewhat anxious about how their teachers would react to their
test scores (mean=3.36). However, they did not feel a great deal of pressure
from their parents or teachers to perform well on the test (both means lower
than 3).
Comparison between Gateway and Non-gateway Year Students’ Test Anxiety
and Attitude toward School
Both gateway and non-gateway year students indicated close to medium
level of test anxiety (midpoint of the 11-item anxiety scale is 33, also see
Table 2). The non-gateway year students reported a slightly higher level of
anxiety than the gateway year students, but this difference was not statistically
significant. On average, both gateway and non-gateway year students believed
that school was “sometimes” or “quite” enjoyable to them. Non-gateway year
students showed a slightly more positive attitude toward school as compared to
gateway year students. This difference was statistically significant at the 0.05
level (p=0.036).
Comparison between Male and Female Students’ Test Anxiety and Attitude
toward School
Male and female students reported similar levels of test anxiety (male
mean: 33.08; female mean: 35.58, also see Table 3). The difference between male
and female students in test anxiety was not statistically significant. In addition,
8
male and female students were also similar in terms of their attitude toward
school (male mean: 16.47; female mean: 17.78). On average, female students
showed both a slightly higher level of anxiety and a slightly more positive
attitude.
Prediction of Attitude toward School from Anxiety, Gender, and Grade Level
A regression analysis was performed (see Table 4) with attitudes toward
school as the dependent variable and test anxiety, gender, and gateway year
as the independent variables. The result indicates that the three independent
variables combined only explain about 4% of the variance in students’ attitudes
toward school. Two of the independent variables (i.e., test anxiety and gender)
were not statistically significant predictors of attitude toward school. Gateway
year is the best predictor among the three. The result however, favors the
students enrolled in the non-gateway year. Despite having a slightly higher
level of test anxiety (non-significant statistically), non-gateway year students
showed a somewhat more positive attitude toward school than gateway year
students. Contrary to our hypothesis, test anxiety was not directly related
to students’ attitudes toward school. The bivariate correlation (Pearson’s)
confirmed the results of the regression analysis and indicated no correlation
between anxiety and attitude (r=-0.05).
DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION
Based on our stress levels as teachers in gateway and non-gateway years,
a significant difference was expected between the anxiety levels in students in
4th and 5th grade. Surprisingly, that was not the case. Fourth graders indicated
a slightly higher degree of anxiety, yet they also indicated that they enjoyed
school more. While the results contradicted our initial predictions, in many
ways, it did confirm the findings in our literature review.
Most of the research we reviewed showed that although anxiety and
stress exist among children, it rarely affects their performance on high-stakes
tests. It also showed that many students develop coping methods that help
them overcome anxiety (Mulvenon, Connors, & Lenares, 2001; Skypo & Buck,
2007). We may attribute these findings to the fact that students at such a young
age do not fully understand the impact of these high-stakes tests. Another
explanation may have been that test anxiety varies from student to student.
In some students, anxiety can be a positive factor that excels them to perform
better, while for others, it may affect them negatively by causing them to
freeze up during testing. In addition, many factors other than test anxiety may
affect a student’s attitudes toward school. Those factors may include teachers,
curriculum, extracurricular activities, classmates, and even influences outside
9
of school, such as family circumstances. For example, we compared two
different groups of students in twelve different classrooms. The innate
differences between these groups of students might contribute to different
levels of test anxiety and attitudes towards school. Future studies that examine
the direct relationship may test anxiety and attitude toward school may first
consider using these factors as covariate to control their effects. However, it
should also be noted that in a real-life school environment, these various factors
may interact with test anxiety and can hardly be separable from each other, and
this may further complicate the relationship between attitude toward school
and anxiety.
We plan to continue this line of inquiry by administering the
questionnaire to the same sample of students during the next academic year.
By then, our current 4th grade students will be 5th grade students; our current
5th grade students will be 6th grade students. Then we will compare the new
results with the results obtained in this study to gain a longitudinal view of
how these students’ test anxiety and attitudes toward school evolve over time.
In addition, we may also want to take a look at different performance levels,
such as high, middle, and low, to see if test scores correlate to test anxiety or
attitude toward school. Finally, by focusing on a smaller group of students and
using an ethnographic research design, we may be able to identify those who
are negatively affected by anxiety and concentrate on developing strategies
to help them cope with the various sources of anxieties and improve their
attitudes toward school.
APPENDIX AND FIGURES
Table 1: Means and Standard Deviations for Survey Responses (N=177)
________________________________________________________________
M
SD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1.
I feel anxious when…reviewing/practicing for the CRCT test.
2.75
1.11
2.
I feel anxious when teacher passes out the CRCT test.
2.99
1.43
3.
I feel anxious when I have difficulty answering test questions.
3.27
1.25
4.
I feel anxious when teacher calls “time” before I complete the test.
2.81
1.49
5.
I am anxious about how well I will do on the test.
3.73
1.29
10
________________________________________________________________
M
SD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6.
I am anxious about what my parents will think about my scores.
3.72
1.33
7.
I am anxious about what my teacher will think about my scores.
3.36
1.34
8.
I am anxious about how my scores will compare with other students.
2.54
1.40
9.
I am anxious about how my scores will affect my promotion to the next grade.
3.83
1.31
10.
I feel pressure from my parents to score high on the test.
2.80
1.42
11.
I feel pressure from my teacher to score high on the test.
2.68
1.34
12.
I think the CRCT test does a good job of measuring how much I know.
3.89
1.21
13.
I believe that my CRCT test motivates me to learn.
3.62
1.32
14.
My teacher seems stressed about giving the CRCT test.
2.29
1.28
15.
I like testing week because of less homework and less instruction.
3.64
1.41
16.
I look forward to going to school.
3.51
1.32
17.
I love going to school
3.34
1.39
18.
I enjoy learning at school.
3.80
1.25
19.
I think school is fun.
3.44
1.22
20.
I am eager to go to school.
3.19
1.32
11
Table 2: Comparisons of Test Anxiety and Attitude toward School between Nongateway Year (4th grade) and Gateway Year (5th grade) Students
________________________________________________________________
N
M
SD
t
p
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Test Anxiety (score range: 11-55)
Non-gateway Year (4th grade)
91
35.02
9.00
0.81
0.41
Gateway Year (5th grade)
89
33.93
8.96
Attitude toward School (5-25)
Non-gateway Year (4th grade)
94
18.02
5.39
2.11
0.036*
Gateway Year (5th grade)
92
16.38
5.19
________________________________________________________________
Note. * denotes statistically significant at the 0.05 level.
Table 3: Comparisons of Test Anxiety and Attitude toward School between Male and
Female Students
________________________________________________________________
N
M
SD
t
p
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Test Anxiety (score range: 11-55)
Male
79
33.08
9.45
1.88
0.062
Female
101
35.58
8.46
Attitude toward School (5-25)
Male
81
16.47
5.39
1.67
0.097
Female
105
17.78
5.19
________________________________________________________________
Table 4: Attitude toward School as a Function of Test Anxiety, Gender, and Gateway
Year
________________________________________________________________
Standardized Beta
t
p
R2
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Non-gateway year
-0.15
2.01
0.046*
0.040
12
Gender
0.13
1.73
0.085
________________________________________________________________
Standardized Beta
t
p
R2
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Test Anxiety
0.08
1.02
0.308
________________________________________________________________
Note. * denotes statistically significant at the 0.05 level.
Survey 1: Test Anxiety and School Attitudes Survey
Name:
_____________________
Grade level (circle one): 4th
5th
Gender (circle one): male female
After each statement below, circle the phrase that best describes how you feel.
1. I feel anxious when we are reviewing or practicing for the CRCT test.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
2. I feel anxious when the teacher passes out the CRCT test.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
3. I feel anxious when I have difficulty answering test questions.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
4. I feel anxious when the teacher calls “time” before I am finished with the test.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
5. I am anxious about how well I will do on the test.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
6. I am anxious about what my parents will think about my scores.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
7. I am anxious about what my teacher will think about my scores.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
8. I am anxious about how my scores will compare with other students.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
9. I am anxious about how my scores will affect my promotion to the next
grade.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
10. I feel pressure from my parents to score high on the test.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
11. I feel pressure from my teacher to score high on the test.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
13
12. I think the CRCT test does a good job of measuring how much I know.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
13. I believe that the CRCT test motivates me to learn.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
14. My teacher seems stressed about giving the CRCT test.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
15. I like testing week because we have less homework and less instruction in
class.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
16. I look forward to going to school.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
17. I love going to school.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
18. I enjoy learning at school.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
19. I think school is fun.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
20. I am eager to go to school.
never very little
sometimes
quite a bit
all the time
REFERENCES
Mulvenon, S. W., Connors, J. V., & Lenares, D. (2001). Impact of Accountability
and school testing on students: Is there evidence of anxiety? Paper presented at
the annual meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association,
Little Rock, Arkansas. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.
ED460155).
Romano, J. L. (1997). Stress and coping: A qualitative study of 4th and 5th
graders. Elementary School Guidance and Counseling, 31(4), 273-282.
Sena, J. D., Lowe, P. A., & Lee, S. W. (2007). Significant predictors of test
anxiety among students with and without learning disabilities. Journal of
Learning Disabilities, 40(4), 360-376.
Skybo, T., & Buck, J. (2007). Stress and coping responses to proficiency testing
in school-age children. Pediatric Nursing, 33(5), 410-418.
Triplett, S. F., & Barksdale, M. A. (2005). Third through sixth graders’
perceptions of high-stakes testing. Journal of Literacy Research, 37(2), 237260.
14
Metacognitive Strategy
The Effects of Explicit Metacognitive Strategy
Instruction on the Reading Comprehension
of Seventh Graders
Anne T. McLane
Dr. Chrispen Matsika
Faculty Sponsor
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of giving explicit
instruction in metacognitive strategies in order to help in reading
comprehension. Participants included forty seventh graders who were assigned
to one of two groups. The experimental group received the treatment of four
weeks of instructional modeling, supportive guidance, and application practice
in metacognitive strategies during a literature-based reading class. The control
group received no treatment. Advantage Learning’s STAR Reading ComputerAdaptive Reading Test served as the pretest and the posttest instrument in
the study. Following treatment, the experimental group showed a significant
increase in Instructional Reading Levels as compared to those students who
were not explicitly taught to use metacognitive strategies for recall and
comprehension of textual materials. Teacher observations and student surveys
also supported the findings of the STAR test, through discussion by students
that included language of metacognitive strategies and evidence of use of
metacognitive strategies for the purpose of aiding reading comprehension.
INTRODUCTION
It is generally believed that up until the age of seven or eight, a child
receives instructions for reading and from then on, a child reads for instruction.
Yet, everyday, children are left behind in their journey for an understanding
of the written word. Many children will remain incapable or inadequate at
sounding out words or recognizing them by sight. Many children will remain
deficient in the skills and processes that can help one to learn what the text
beckons them to know. Thus, any research that can promote new strategies
for assisting struggling students in their quest for reading efficacy should be
valuable to the promotion of literacy.
According to Pressley & McWharton (1997), when students are explicitly
and systematically taught to use strategies for recall and comprehension of
textual materials, students’ reading comprehension can improve through the
use of almost any technique. Yet, there are some strategies that appear to have
15
more powerful effects than others. Specifically a number of metacognitive
strategies, such as self-questioning before and during reading, self-monitoring
for comprehension, and using text-specific study enhancements have been
shown to be especially beneficial to students. This study will therefore try to
replicate the positive results of others in the hope of providing students with a
way to improve their comprehension of both narrative and expository texts.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether explicit instruction
of metacognitive strategies will affect the reading comprehension of seventh
graders. Explicit instruction of metacognitive strategies will be defined as
teacher-guided instruction, modeling, and independent practice in previewing,
self-questioning, clarifying, predicting, and summarizing text. Strategies will
be reinforced through student use of strategy cards to document practice
of metacognitive techniques. Changes in reading comprehension will be
determined by comparing students’ scores on a reading comprehension pretest
and post-test, teacher observations, and reading strategies surveys.
There are three specific sub problems that will have to be addressed in this
study. The first being, “What specific reading strategies will most effectively
aid student reading comprehension?” Another question that will need to be
addressed is, “What types of explicit instructional strategies will be taught by
the reading teacher?” Finally, the question, “What instrument will be used for
students to document practice of metacognition strategy practice?” will also
need to be attended.
Definition of Terms
The following definitions will apply to this study:
Explicit Instruction- instruction that is direct and specific; instruction that
provides instructional modeling, guidance, and application, including group and individual practice.
Metacognitive Strategies- strategies that require students to think about their
thought processes as they read, such as self-questioning before and during reading; self-monitoring for understanding; clarifying by discussing words
or rereading points that are unclear; summarizing by putting textual information into one’s own words.
Reading Comprehension- the ability to derive an author’s intended meaning
from print.
Previewing- to look at printed text before reading, seeking clues from pictures
and words in order to activate a student’s prior knowledge for the purpose
of accommodation.
16
Self-questioning- the process of students asking themselves specific questions
about their reading and reading goals before they begin reading, and also
guiding students to generate their own questions while reading. Such
questions may be answered while reading or after students finish reading.
Clarifying- Rereading or discussing words or points that were not clear.
Predicting- using clues from pictures or from what is read to try and figure out
what will happen next or what one will learn.
Summarizing Strategy- a during-reading and after-reading reading strategy
whereby a reader recounts important events or information in one’s own
words to demonstrate comprehension.
Strategy Sheet- a rubric that students will use to monitor and check themselves
for use of specific metacognitive strategies as prescribed by the treatment.
Literature Class- a literature-based reading course required for the seventh
graders in the study.
Georgia Performance Standards- a statewide curriculum based on scientifically
based research and national standards.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Deriving meaning from print is perhaps both the most complex and the
most crucial task a reader has to accomplish. Yet, observational studies of
classrooms reveal that “insufficient attention is directed to comprehension,
which needs to be taught and not just monitored” (Pressley & WhartonMcDonald, 1997, Pressley, 2002). Such studies have implications for
teachers across the curriculum, as reading for meaning plays an increasingly
consequential role in the success or failure of students as they progress
through grades. No longer can one simply assume that students are able to
comprehend a text because they are able to decode the words (Pressley &
Wharton-McDonald, 1997). Author Cris Tovani (2002) recounts her ability
to word call and her inability to read for meaning in her book, I read it, but I
don’t get it: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers. She states that
she did not have a problem decoding, she had a problem understanding text
and spent years faking comprehension (p. 2). These kind of anecdotes, as well
as my own experiences with students who read but do not seem to be able to
comprehend, makes me believe that a methodical approach to study readers,
both good and bad, is necessary to understanding both bridges and roadblocks
to comprehension. Therefore, all teachers first must study how good readers
comprehend what they read in order to discern what comprehension skills
should be developed through instruction. Once this task is accomplished,
research-supported trends in reading comprehension should be surveyed in
order to guide instructional implementation of strategies into the classroom.
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Conscious Reading Processes of Good Readers: according to Pressley and
Afflerbach (1995), “good readers actively interact with the text on a number of
levels as they read, articulating an abundant variety of processes as they go”
(cited in Pressley & Wharton-McDonald, 1997). The list of conscious reading
processes that good readers engage in is extensive. Therefore, only a brief
summary of the activities that are possible when reading are considered here.
One of the initial processes that good readers engage in is approaching text
with a purpose. Thus, before reading begins, good readers make certain they
know why they are reading a passage and can delineate what they want to get
from reading it. Consequently, a good reader generally will skim text to be sure
it is relevant to his or her purpose before reading.
Once text is deemed as relevant and useful reading begins. At this time,
good readers engage in actively identifying and giving selective attention to
parts of the text applicable to the reader’s goal. Information that is considered
pertinent toward the reader’s goal is processed more slowly than information
deemed applicable toward the reader’s goal. Additionally, good readers will
jump ahead and skip around the text to look for other information relative
to their goal or they may go back for clarification of confusing information,
especially if it is considered important to their purpose of reading the text
(Pressley & Wharton-McDonald, 1997; Swanson & De LaPaz, 1998, Block &
Israel, 2004). Thus, if students do not develop the habit of setting a purpose
for their reading each time they begin, they may not recognize text as pertinent
to their needs, whether in response to an assignment or to aid comprehension.
Thus, poor readers are much less likely to go back for clarification, even when
confused by text.
Another process that good readers engage in according to Harvey &
Goydvis (2007) is in making associations with prior knowledge and the ideas
presented in a text. This activation of prior knowledge assists readers to
explain ideas, to construct summaries, and to reason why ideas make or do
not make sense. Correspondingly, good readers continually create tentative
assumptions and conclusions while reading that are subject to revision as they
glean new knowledge from additional reading. Pressley & Wharton-McDonald
(1997) state that “ideas that clash with prior knowledge sometimes cause
readers to revise what they know.”
One characteristic of a good reader according to Pressley & WhartonMcDonald (1997), is that they often are passionate about what they read and
will react in kind. Verbal and non-verbal reactions, such as shouting, “alright!”
or giving a passage a “raspberry” are not uncommon occurrences when good
readers interact with text. This statement is consistent with research done by
Pressley and Afflerbach (1995), which showed that good readers invariably
agreed or disagreed with what they were reading, and continually react
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emotionally to what they read. Thus, reading appears to be a deeply affective
process for good readers, whereas poor readers may not experience emotions
on a deep enough level to react in kind.
After reading, processing may include skimming and rereading especially
important sections of text for the good reader. They may even restate ideas,
summarize to themselves, or take notes to be certain they will remember
key information important to their purpose for reading (Wilhelm, 2001).
Good readers may also reflect on a text long after they finish the actual
reading (Pressley & Wharton-McDonald, 1997). In conclusion, Pressley &
Wharton-McDonald (1997) suggest that good readers are highly strategic,
using strategies such as “overviewing, selectively reading, summarizing and
rehearsing information they want to remember.” They also propose that good
readers are highly metacognitive, as “they are aware of how reading is going
and of the many ways a text can be difficult.”
Thus, the educator who teaches reading comprehension skills has a
daunting task ahead of them. From the above summary of conscious reading
processes of good readers, teachers must design reading activities that call for
students to actively interact with text on many levels. Teachers must be sure
that students are approaching text with a concrete purpose and that they have
a clear idea of what they want to get from their reading. Teachers will have to
instruct students to be highly metacognitive as they read. Teachers will have
to teach students to activate and engage prior knowledge, instruct students to
relate information from one section of the text to a later section encountered,
and teach students to inference, to self-monitor, to skim, to reread, to rephrase,
and to summarize. By demonstrating their own comprehension strategies
through think-alouds, teachers can help students become thoughtful,
purposeful readers (Israel & Massey, 2005; Harvey & Goydvis, 2007). Beyond
these activities, teachers must tap into students affectively, by creating
assignments or choosing passages that seek to engage students emotionally.
Trends in Reading Comprehension Instruction
In the late 1970s, researcher, Delores Durkin (1979), published
documentation that teachers were merely assessing reading comprehension
skills and not teaching them (Pressley & Wharton-McDonald, 1997). Since
that time, heightened emphasis has been placed on reading comprehension
instruction and research of instructional strategies. However, it appears to
remain to this day, that very few schools are actually instructing in the use
of comprehension strategies while students are reading, although teachers
report themselves as teaching such strategies. What researchers state they are
actually observing are teachers “[describing] expectations for strategy use in
the absence of direct instruction” while students are involved in sustained,
19
silent reading (Pressley & Wharton-McDonald, 1997). Researchers Pressley
& Wharton-McDonald (1997) emphasize that merely reading a lot “does not
lead to as certainly to the use of comprehension strategies as does instruction
in the use of comprehension strategies.” They go on to say that observation of
many readers “suggest[s] that spontaneous development of comprehension
strategy use takes a long time (as in decades), when it occurs at all” (Pressley &
Wharton-McDonald, 1997). Thus, they encourage strategic, active instruction
of comprehension strategies. The question now remains, what are the current
reading comprehension strategies available to teachers and which of these are
effective?
Metacognitive Techniques
According to Eckwall & Shanker (1988), teaching metacognition strategies
to students may be one of the most beneficial approaches for promoting
growth in reading comprehension. Erickson, Stahl, & Rinehart (1985), state
that immature and poor readers approach reading as a passive activity whereby
they are merely translating symbols into sound (cited in Eckwall & Shanker,
1988). Thus, by training students to monitor and target their thoughts
toward comprehension objectives while reading, the act of reading becomes
an active operation rather than a passive activity. Studies inquiring as to the
effectiveness of metacognition strategies by Duffey et al., 1987, Haller, Child, &
Walberg, 1988, and Palincsar & Brown, 1985, have all reported decisive results
in reading comprehension for both average and low-achieving students who
were explicitly taught to utilize metacognitive strategies while reading (cited
in Katims & Harris, 1997). Thus, the duty of the teacher is to train students
to constantly monitor, revise, observe, and test their understanding of the
material they are reading.
Following pre-reading self-questioning, teachers should direct students to
generate their own questions while reading. In an early study by Palincsar (1981),
students were shown how to model the questioning behavior of the teacher.
In the study, once the students had learned how to ask appropriate questions,
their comprehension improved quickly, from an average of 15% to 80% (cited
in Eckwall & Shanker, 1988). Perhaps, one of the most familiar ways that
students are taught to generate questions is under the form of story grammar
elements. For example, the teacher may instruct students to ask themselves
while reading: Who is the main character? Where and when did the story take place?
What problem or problems is the main character facing now? Using story grammar
elements for self-questioning during reading has had positive results for
researchers Johnson & Graham (1997), Idol (1987), Idol & Croll (1987), and
Nolte & Singer (1985), as cited by Pressley & Wharton-McDonald (1997).
Other researchers suggest teaching and modeling the use of different types
20
of questions for students to understand the sorts of questions they should
be asking themselves as they read. For example, Marcia Heiman and Joshua
Slomianko (1986), suggest that students be taught that which questions are
good for definitions. Thus, what questions should be confined to defining new
and unknown terms. Correspondingly, they suggest students be taught that the
best forms of questions to generate are how or why questions, which will help
students look for connections within a text.
Teaching students text structure and organization is another suggested
metacognitive technique that can be used to teach students to generate
questions from reading material (Dimino, Gersten, Carnine, & Blake, 1990;
Gurney, Gersten, Dimino, & Carnine, 1990; Idol, 1987; Idol & Croll, 1987;
Vallecorsa & deBettencourt, 1997; cited in Gardill & Jitendra, 1999). For
example, after making students aware of the structure of a text, the teacher
can model how to translate headings and subheadings into questions and
perhaps also model how to combine two or more subheadings into one
question. Students will then need to practice this technique in the large group,
and subsequently use this strategy individually. The teacher should make sure
that many of the students’ questions are how and why questions (Heiman &
Slomianko, 1986; Harvey & Goydvis, 2007). When textbook headings cover
several paragraphs, students may be initially directed to read only the first
sentence of each paragraph and to find two or three keywords or phrases in
these sentences. Then, they will need to be guided in writing questions that
include these specific keywords and phrases. The questions students form from
several paragraphs can help students form an overall picture, or hypothesis,
about what the text in the paragraphs is going to tell them. Consequently, as
students actively read to find the answers to their questions they will also look
for support or contradiction of their hypothesis of the content of the reading.
Thus, the student is actively pursuing a goal while reading and is using the
scientific approach. In using this strategy, a student is also reading as good
readers do; by making guesses, following them, and making corrections as
needed (Marcia Heiman and Joshua Slomianko, 1986).
According to Gardill & Jitendra (1999), story maps, used as organizational
devices, can also assist students with narrative material to learn about story
structure and question generating. Teaching students to story map involves
teaching them to identify and track the important information about characters
and sequential events present in the story. Story maps thus become a visual tool
that assist students in outlining the most important concepts in a story, causing
them to question ideas and infer relationships between characters and events
in the stories they are reading. Story maps have proven effective for facilitating
reading comprehension in both regular reading students and students with
reading and learning disabilities. They have also proven effective with both
21
elementary and secondary school students (Baumann & Bergeron, 1993; Davis,
1994; Idol, 1987; Idol & Croll, 1987; Newby, Caldwell, & Recht, 1989; Dimino
et al., 1990; Gurney et al., 1990; cited in Gardill & Jitendra, 1999).
Many of the preceding metacognitive strategies naturally oblige a student
to use previously learned information, memories, and experiences to help them
make meaning from text. According to Robb (2000), this strategy otherwise
known as activation of prior knowledge, is based upon the 1938 observations
of Louise Rosenblatt who stated that all readers use the experiences and
information stored in their minds to make meaning from text. During reading,
Rosenblatt asserts a reader integrates his personal knowledge with the words.
Thus, as a reader decodes symbols into words, and words into meaning, the
passage’s meaning is actually created through the individual’s own personal
filter of their life’s experiences, moods, memories, and knowledge to create an
“original” text. Minsky (1975) and Anderson (1984), researchers of the 1970s
and 1980s, later named Rosenblatt’s observations of readers, “schema theory.”
The schema theory would strongly support having students engage in prereading activities and strategies such as predicting, studying text structure,
and hypothesizing. Creating moments for activating prior knowledge and
building on prior knowledge will help teachers to reflect on what students do
and do not know. Likewise, building additional knowledge before engaging
in reading pursuits will help improve students’ active involvement with what
they are reading and will help facilitate their comprehension. According to
Bryant, Ugel, Thompson, and Hamff (1999), a student’ ability or inability to
activate prior knowledge in content areas has real implications for his or her
achievement. Many content-area reading pursuits depend on word-knowledge
and students having experience with many types of reading materials. “Limited
experience affects reading comprehension because prior knowledge plays an
important role in helping students understand higher-level concepts discussed
in most secondary texts” (Bryant, Ugel, Thompson, & Hamff, 1999).
Imagery and Illustrations
Visualizing is another metacognitive strategy, whereby students are
taught to pause during reading and create mental images or scenes of what
is happening in their text. Using imagery as a comprehension strategy has
yielded overall positive effects (Walker, Munro, & Rickards, 1998; Mastropieri
& Scruggs, 1997; Pressley & Wharton-McDonald, 1997). Likewise, studies
that have emphasized extended instruction, modeling, and guided practice
using imagery, have shown even higher comprehension competence facilitation
in subjects over those who did not use imagery (Mastropieri & Scruggs,
1997). Imagery and visualizing activities are concurrently being promoted as
comprehension strategies for their abilities to activate prior knowledge by
22
creating and calling forth sensory memories (Walker, et al., 1998).
Research has also been conducted on other illustrative devices and their
effects on the facilitation of reading comprehension. Text adaptations, or text
enhancements, include providing pictures, the spatial organization of text
content, mnemonic illustrations and adjunct aids, the use of study guides,
and semantic relationship charts have all been found effective for facilitating
reading comprehension (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1997). However, it appears
that certain types of text enhancements are more beneficial than others in
furthering reading comprehension.
According to research, representational illustrations, which include
photographs, paintings, or drawings that depict information in an
accompanying text, yield the lowest effect on the facilitation of reading
comprehension. Some attribute these findings to the distractibility of children
with attention problems by illustrations. Yet, others assert that illustrations
that depict text materials may have affective and motivational qualities
(Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1997). Complex, spatial organizers of text that
include charts, graphs, and pictures to graphically display and organize text
materials appear to particularly assist students with comprehension. It may
be that they can visually explain concepts more efficiently (Winn, 1987), as
noted in the results of several studies cited by Mastropieri & Scruggs (1997).
In another study by Mastropieri & Scruggs (1997), visual-spatial organizers
were not necessary but were used. Students using the visual-spatial organizers
still showed a noticeable improvement in reading comprehension. This study
further helps support the visual-spatial organizer’s usefulness in facilitating
reading comprehension.
Listening to audiotapes of short passages of text had a positive effect
on reading comprehension for students in a study by Torgesen, et al. (1987)
researching reading comprehension for learning disabled students in a study
by Torgesen, et al (1987). Yet, when the same students listened to passages a
chapter-length or more, this strategy lost its effectiveness. In a study by Chan
and Cole (1986), underlining and self-questioning proved effective measures for
aiding comprehension (cited in Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1997).
Building Vocabulary and Developing Fluency
Reading teacher and author Laura Robb (2000) states there are nine key
reading strategies that teachers should build a comprehension curriculum
around for the purpose of creating proficient readers. These strategies include
activation of prior knowledge, having students decide what is important in a
text, synthesis and summarization of text, drawing inferences during and after
reading, self-monitoring of comprehension, repairing faulty comprehension,
posing questions before, during, and after reading, building vocabulary, and
23
developing fluency. Of the nine skills listed, these last two appear to cause
many problems with reading comprehension as students move away from early
reading experiences and enter into reading for information pursuits of later
elementary grades, middle schools years, and into high school. According to
Bryant, Ugel, Thompson, & Hamff (1999), “as students progress to middle
school, academic instruction shifts from an emphasis on learning how to read . .
.to using reading to learn content-area subject matter.” During this shift states
Robb (2000), students get bombarded with literally dozens of new, unfamiliar
words every week in content-area subjects that they must be able to extract
meaning from as they read. Thus, state Barr et al. (1990) and Gillett and
Temple (1990), “a primary task of teachers who learn with middle schoolers
is to enlarge their reading vocabulary” (cited in Ross, 2000). Presently, there
exists a continuum of methods for vocabulary instruction. At the two ends of
the continuum are direct instruction and contextual instruction, which include
many methods. Direct instruction involves the teacher providing guided
lessons and activities to teach the meanings of words to students. Examples
of the direct instruction approach include such methods as the keyword
method and semantic mapping. Numerous studies identify direct instructional
methods as “[providing] a foundation on which children can build more
intricate structures of contextualized understanding” (Burkhour H. E., 1999).
The keyword method, whereby students link a new word to a familiar soundalike “keyword” that is used to create a visual image of the meaning of the
new word, has been found effective by several studies (Burkhour H. E., 1999).
Semantic mapping has been reported as another effective direct instructional
method (Burkhour H. E., 1999). Semantic mapping involved students
conceptually exploring “their knowledge of a new word by mapping it with
other words or phrases, which categorically share meaning with the new word”
(Rupley, W., Logan J. W., & Nichols, W. D., 1998).
Yet, Burkhour (1999) states that there are limitations to direct
instructional methods such as they are “very time consuming and labor
intensive.” He also makes the point that only a limited number of words can
be taught directly (Burkhour H. E., 1999), citing that if a direct instruction
program taught 10 to 12 words per week a teacher would find it impossible
for students to learn the 3,000 new words that it has been estimated that the
student in middle grades and above needs to acquire in order to stay current
with each succeeding grade level (Harmon, J. M., 1998).
Thus, we find students learning vocabulary from the other end of the
continuum, by contextual instruction. According to Burkhour, “contextual
instruction involves teaching the students strategies which they can employ
independently that will facilitate them learning the meaning of the words
surrounding the target word, within the text they are reading (1999). One
24
contextual instructional method is known as internal contextual features
instruction. This method has students look for cues in a word such as prefixes,
suffixes, roots and word families so that they can associate a level of meaning
from knowledge they already have with the new word they are trying to
understand: “By building connections between old vocabulary words and
new words found in their reading, students begin to understand relationships
among words they encounter,” according to Rupley, Logan & Nichols
(1998). Another contextual method, contextual analysis, simply suggests
that students use the words surrounding the unfamiliar word to try to take
an educated guess at the word’s meaning. Burkhour (1999) concludes that
contextual learning methods are preferred “as the learner is guided by the
familiar content to his / her prior knowledge that already exists within his/
her conceptual base.” According to Smith (1997), teachers today face a dilemma
in deciding whether to teach vocabulary directly through traditional methods
or contextually through directed and incidental reading experiences. Some
studies state that direct instruction is more effective and more efficient for
the acquisition of particular vocabulary over contextualized instruction,
where others have concurrently found “no significant difference in raw scores
between the samples using the two different approaches” (Smith, C.B., 1997).
Likewise, Venetis (1999), tried to determine whether “learning words through
the context of literature and reading or through isolated lists” would be
more beneficial and found no significant difference between the scores of
both samples. In a meta-analysis by Swanboro and DeGlopper (1999), twenty
studies investigating “incidental word learning during normal reading” showed
that students learned about fifteen percent of the words they came across.
This metanalysis would appear to support the research by others who state
that, “Incidental word learning from oral and written contexts seems to occur
incrementally over long periods of time with multiple exposure to words”
(Harmon, 1998).
As students acquire strategies and progress in reading comprehension,
they must be made cognizant of the efforts they are making for the sake
of improvement. Making students think about their efforts, is perhaps as
important as any other metacognitive technique they will practice. This is
because often, students who are learning and reading disabled believe their
failures are beyond their control, attributing their failures to low ability and
their successes to the ease of a task (Miranda and Villaescusa, 1997). Thus, by
teachers training students to think about the efforts involved in achieving an
outcome, some attribution retraining may also take place. Attributional theory
hypothesizes that an individual’s belief of the cause of their own successes
or failures influences their future behavior. Thus, if a student believes their
success or failure is within their control as the result of their own effort,
25
self-control, and abilities, they are more likely to persevere or to attempt the
same task in the future (Vaidya, 1999). Accordingly, Vaidya (1999), states that
it is important to instruct students to recognize the “relationship between their
effort on a task and the achievement outcome” (p. 189). Attribution retraining
is thus another research-supported strategy shown to assist with reading
comprehension facilitation, as it has been shown to raise the self-efficacy
perceptions of students toward reading goals (Miranda and Villaescusa (1997).
Seventh graders who receive explicit metacognititve strategies instruction
will show no significant difference in reading achievement according to the
STAR reading test over students who do not consistently receive explicit
metacognititve strategies instruction.
METHOD
Participants for this study will be 7th grade literature students attending
a rural middle school in West Central Georgia. Convenience sampling will be
used, with two classes of homogeneously grouped students chosen out of five
general literature classes. These two classes will act as the sample, with one
class receiving explicit metacognititve strategies instruction and the other class
engaging only in literature-based reading instruction without metacognititve
strategies instruction.
The effectiveness of explicit metacognititve strategies instruction will
be determined by comparing the reading achievement of the two groups
as measured by the STAR Computer-Adaptive Reading Test. The STAR
reading test is a computer-based reading test developed by Advantage
Learning Systems. The STAR reading test is a norm-referenced assessment
that contains a bank of 1,432 items graded into 54 difficulty levels. Test
items measure reading comprehension by using a section of authentic text
passages in all tests administered to grades three and above. The STAR
reading test administers 25 questions to each student. By using computeradaptive procedures, the STAR reading test tailors each student’s test based
upon his or her responses to previous items and eliminates the need to expose
every student to a broad range of materials. Thus, the STAR reading test is
customized to test on items that appropriately match students’ current level
of proficiency. Of the twenty-five questions students answer, twenty of these
are vocabulary-in-context items, which require students to comprehend the
meaning of the sentence in order to choose the correct answer because all
of the answers “fit” the context sentence either semantically or syntactically.
The other five questions consist of authentic text passage items. Both types
of questions require students to demonstrate the ability to interpret correct
meaning, or the ability to draw meaning from text.
26
The STAR reading test was normed in the spring of 1999, by a nationally
representative sample of approximately 30,000 students from 269 schools
representing 47 states across the United States. An average .85 reliability
coefficient of the STAR reading test has been found by both test-retest
reliability and alternative form reliability studies. STAR reading test
scores correlated highly with other accepted procedures for determining
reading achievement level such as the California Achievement Test (CAT), the
Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS), the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS),
and the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT), thus determining external validity
(Advantage Learning Systems, 1999).
Scores on the STAR Computer-Adaptive Reading Test are reported
through transformed scores. The Instructional Reading Level (IRL) is one
such score that is particularly relevant to a reading instructor, as it gives an
“estimate of the grade level of written material with which the student can
most effectively be taught” (Advantage Learning Systems, 1999, P. 6-6). For
a reading teacher, assisting students with raising their IRLs, especially those
students who are deficient readers, is fundamental to supporting students’
abilities to comprehend texts across the curriculum.
In order to triangulate results, two other methods for gathering data will
also be included in the study. The first of these methods for data collection
will be teacher observation, whereby the teacher will act as an observer upon
students’ paired read-aloud think-aloud sessions. The observer will be listening
for evidence of discussion by students that includes language of and active
engagement using metacognititve strategies. The second alternative method
for collecting data will be a teacher-created survey for students to complete
on the final day of the study. The survey will ask students in the experimental
group to define metacognition, to explain the importance of metacognition,
to prioritize perceived importance of different metacognitive strategies, to list
the three reading strategies they use the most, and to name the one reading
strategy they believe aids their comprehension the most and explain why they
believe this. By observing and studying student surveys, I hope to look for
common trends or patterns in student responses from which to draw inferences
about student learning and understandings.
This study will be experimental in design. Two groups will be formed
through convenience sampling. The experimental group will receive the
treatment of receiving explicit metacognititve strategies training. The
control group will not receive the treatment. Both groups will be pretested
and posttested by the STAR Computer-Adaptive Reading Test as the
instrument. As the STAR reading test is customized to test on items that
appropriately match students’ current level of proficiency, each test is therefore
individualized and unique to a student’s ability. This feature of the instrument
27
will serve as a control for extraneous variables between the experimental and
control group.
Reading Comprehension achievement will be determined by comparing
the pretest instructional reading level (IRL) and the posttest IRL of the STAR
reading test, showing the amount of change over the course of the study as the
affected outcome for each group. The STAR Computer-Adaptive Reading Test
software renders transformed scores suitable for the purpose of comparison.
Significant achievement of reading comprehension will be exhibited by a mean
IRL change of .50.
Teacher observations and student surveys will also be used to support
the findings of the STAR test. During observations, the teacher will be
listening for evidence of discussion by students that includes language
of metacognititve strategies and active use of metacognititve strategies.
Students will also complete a teacher-created survey on the final day of the
study. The survey will ask students in the experimental group questions
about metacognition and metacognitive reading strategies. Student surveys
and observation information should present the teacher with data in support
of data from the STAR Reading test or data that is unsupportive of STAR
Reading test data.
Prior to the beginning of this study, the researcher will obtain permission
from the school administrator to conduct the research. In the middle of
February, consent letters will be sent home with students asking for permission
for students to be part of the research study. After consent forms have been
returned, forty seventh grade literature students will be selected from a
population of approximately one hundred and thirty students to participate in
the study. These forty participants will be chosen from two classes in order to
facilitate the study. One of these classes will be designated as the experimental
group with students receiving the treatment of explicit metacognititve
strategies instruction. The second class will be designated as the control
group and students in it will not receive the treatment. The same teacher
will provide instruction to both classes. Students will be pre-tested using
the STAR Computer-Adaptive Reading Test at the end of February. In midMarch until mid-April the designated experimental group will receive explicit
metacognitive reading strategies instruction.
The experimental group will begin each sixty-minute literature class with
a “mini-lesson” in using a metacognition strategy such as predicting. During
the lesson, the teacher will explain the strategy and model using it in front of
the whole class. Students will then be given a practice activity using the same
strategy and will work with a partner for whom each will model the strategy
using a read-aloud think-aloud with a class novel. As students read they will
use note cards, post-it notes, or a strategy sheet to document practice or to
28
indicate how they integrated the use of the strategy taught that day. For
example, on the day prediction is taught, students will list one prediction they
made on a note card, one reason why they made this prediction, and whether or
not this prediction came “to be” while they were reading.
The designated control group will engage in only literature-based reading
instruction without explicit metacognitive reading strategies instruction. Both
groups will cover the same Georgia Performance Standards objectives and
will use the same texts. Both classes will take the same tests and will have the
same homework assignments. The two groups will receive reading instruction
for the same amount of time in the same room by the same teacher, although
it will not take place at same time. After STAR posttests are administered at
the end of the study, each group’s Instructional Reading Level (IRL) will be
compared to their pretest IRL. Reading comprehension achievement will be
determined by comparing the pretest IRLs to post-test IRLs on the STAR
reading test. This comparison will show the amount of change over the course
of the study as the affected outcome for each group. The STAR software
renders transformed scores suitable for the purpose of comparison without any
further transformation of test scores. Significant achievement will be exhibited
by a mean IRL of .50.
RESULTS
The pretest Instructional Reading Level (IRL) and the posttest IRL of
the experimental and control groups were compared for change, citing the
amount of change over the course of the study as the affected outcome for each
group. A significant difference between the two groups has been determined
through this comparison. The mean IRL change of the experimental group
was +.725, whereas, the control group made a mean IRL change of .225.
Therefore, the original null hypothesis that “seventh graders who receive
explicit metacognititve strategies instruction will show no difference in reading
comprehension achievement according to the STAR Reading test over students
who do not consistently receive explicit metacognititve strategies instruction”
was not supported. Comparison data from the study is presented in the table
below. Experimental group data is presented in Table 2 and control group data
is presented in Table 3.
29
Table 1:
Total Change
in Instructional
Reading Level
(IRL)
Experimental
Group
Control Group
Comparison
of the Two
Groups
+14.5
Mean Growth
in Instructional
Reading Level
(IRL)
according to
change /
participants
+.725
+4.5
+10.0 IRL
Experiemental
Group
+.225
+.50
Experimental
Group
Total
Percentage of
Change
382.52%
92.99%
+298.53%
Experimental
Group
Other Instruments
A second way of measuring the effectiveness of explicit strategies instruction was for the teacher to act as an observer as students did paired read-aloud
think-alouds and to listen for discussions by students that includes language of
metacognition and demonstrates active engagement in metacognititve strategies.
I observed during both student interactions and private conferencing that
students in the experimental group appear to have quickly picked up the reading strategies with which we have worked. Almost every one of the students
can tell an observer what metacognition is and explain the reading strategies
we have studied and practiced. Most of the students can work with a partner to
do their own reading-aloud-thinking-aloud. I have noticed that those students
who are severely below grade level are very hesitant to read aloud with partners. They will, however, do so if they have a perception that the student they
are paired with also struggles with reading.
Another observation I have made is that students have become much more
animated with their reactions to text, whereas before the instruction, they
would often not say anything, now they will laugh out loud or say things such
as, “no way!” or “awwww man.” This shows me that students are interacting
with text to a degree that the text is able to interest them on an emotional
level. Researchers indicate this is one means of aiding textual comprehension.
I have also observed that struggling readers do not set a purpose for their
reading without prompting and so it is important that a teacher be explicit in
doing so each time text is encountered to model this important step in the prereading process for students. As the reading research shows, all students, good
30
and poor readers alike, who recognize information as relevant to their purpose are likely to go back and reread when they become confused (Pressley &
Wharton-McDonald, 1997; Swanson & De LaPaz, 1998, Block & Israel, 2004).
Thus, all students need to develop the habit of setting a purpose for their reading each time they begin, so they can recognize text as pertinent to their needs.
Of the twenty respondents to the Reading Strategy Survey, all twenty
were able to accurately define metacognition and nineteen responded to the
open-ended question, “How is metacognition important to your ability to understand text?” Some of the answers were: “because you can think about what
you are thinking is going to happen next in the story,” “you can do more,” “I
didn’t think that I actually thought about my thinking but I know what books
I want and what I do best,” and “metacognition is important to your ability to
understand what you read because when you think about what is in your head
when you read, you will know what you’re reading and it will help you understand it.”
On the survey, students were also asked to put the following strategies
in their order of helpfulness to their understanding of a text: previewing,
predicting, setting a purpose for reading, questioning, clarifying confusing
words for meaning, visualizing, making personal connections, reacting and
connecting, and summarizing to remember. Six students chose visualizing as
their first choice. Six other students chose setting a purpose for reading as their
first choice. The rest of the respondents chose either previewing, or predicting as
their number one strategy. I found it interesting that so many students chose
setting a purpose for reading as their first choice because when on the next question, when students were asked to name the three strategies that they use the
most, not one of the students listed setting a purpose for reading as one of their
three choices. The strategies students stated they use the most are predicting,
visualizing, making personal connections, questioning, previewing, and reacting and
connecting. When asked to name the one strategy they believe benefits their
comprehension the most and explain why, students chose visualizing more often than other strategies. Next, students listed questioning, and finally predicting
as strategies most beneficial to them. Explanations of why the strategy aided
their comprehension the most, included some of the following statements: “visualizing, because if I visualize what I read I can understand what I read better
because I can put myself in their position and it helps me remember more,”
“visualizing, because I will get more into the book,” “visualizing helps me see
the stuff in my head and it helps me understand better,” “reacting and connecting means you’re getting into the story,” “making personal connections helps
me because I always make connections to the real world,” “questioning because
it’s good to question yourself when you read,” “predicting because I can predict
what is going to happen next,” “predicting because when you predict you will
31
know what will happen later in the story,” and “the reason predicting helps me
with my comprehension is because it helps me think ahead in the book.”
DISCUSSION
After the participants for the study were chosen and pre-tested, it was time
to begin teaching metacognitive strategies. Examples of some of the lessons
taught are: Pre-Reading Activation and Pre-Reading Warm-ups; Skimming,
Scanning, and Adjusting Reading Rate According to the Purpose for Reading; Looking for Main Ideas and Supporting Details; Visualizing; Reacting
and Connecting; Self-Questioning; Rereading to Clarify; Analysis of Text
Structure; Recognizing Clues and Clunks for Clarifying Words; Summarizing
with Gist Summarizing; Summarizing with Graphic Organizers. Some lessons
were explicitly taught in one day. Alternatively, most lessons were taught and
practiced in a sequential manner over the course of two to four days. After
introduction of a strategy, the teacher modeled the strategy in a read-aloud
think-aloud within the first seven to ten minutes of class. Then, after being
given a practice activity for the modeled strategy, students chose their own
partners with whom they then reciprocally modeled the strategy. This generally took the next twenty minutes of class to do, depending on the strategy.
Self-questioning, predicting, and summarizing activities generally took the
longest for students to reciprocally model as it took both more time to read
and more time to synthesize materials. As students read independently for the
last fifteen minutes of class, they used post-it notes, a note card, or a strategy
sheet to document practice or to indicate how they have integrated the use of
the strategy taught on that day. For example, on the day prediction was taught,
students listed, on index cards, the predictions they had made while silently
reading. Students also stated one reason why they had made their particular
prediction and if they found out whether their prediction came true while they
were reading.
Thinking through and verbalizing processes were stressed over writing
activities during the study. Although, individuals were asked to complete the
strategy sheet of the day’s practice as can be seen in Figure 1, students in the
study preferred an index card or post-it notes rather than completing the strategy cards. I also observed that students often discussed or modeled strategies
orally but would not write down their thoughts. As the study was about becoming proficient with the strategies, I did not become combative with students to
write things down but praised their verbalization of strategy practice. I felt the
objective of the learning was for students to internalize and take ownership of
the reading strategies and so I did not demand students to do the writing that
would have given me better artifacts from which to look for common
32
trends and patterns. Excerpts for paired and individual reading practice came
from workbooks and expository texts, stories and articles from the internet
and newspaper, and from a class novel. Student response to the activities was
mixed. Predicting was a favored lesson, whereas making gist summaries of text
excerpts was a stressful lesson for some students. Data from this study appears
to support explicit teaching of metacognitive strategies, as the data shows that
students who did receive such training achieved reading comprehension gains.
The results of this study do not support the null that “seventh graders
who receive explicit metacognititve strategies instruction will show no difference in reading comprehension achievement according to the STAR Reading
test over students who do not consistently receive explicit metacognititve strategies instruction.” Contrary to the original hypothesis, results of this study
show that those students who participated in explicit metacognititve strategies
instruction aggregately gained ten instructional reading levels (IRL), making
a 289% gain in reading comprehension over the control group. The mean IRL
change of the experimental group was +.725, whereas the control group made
a mean IRL change of .225.
By comparing the changes of individual’s independent reading levels
(IRLs), one can see that both groups showed some losses in IRLs by five
percent of its students. Yet, whereas the experimental group showed a gain of
one-half a grade in their instructional reading level over the four week training
period by 65% of its members, only 30% percent of the students in the control
group showed a gain of a half of a grade in their IRL. Further contrasting the
gains made by both groups, show that those who received metacognititve reading strategies training moved farther up in IRLs at a higher percentage than
those who did not receive explicit metacognititve strategies instruction. Likewise, only 10% of the control group gained one or more instructional reading
levels, whereas three times more students in the experimental group had a gain
of one or more reading levels.
The results of the STAR testing, teacher observations, and student surveys implicate that explicit metacognitive strategies instruction is one more viable educational tool for the purpose of aiding reading comprehension. Results
however, may not be generalizable to all classrooms as sample was relatively
small and the subjects were not randomly chosen. Beyond these limitations the
duration of the effects of the training bears further study. However, the positive academic results of this study are consistent with others that have been
done on the effects of explicit metacognitive strategies training on the facilitation of reading comprehension.
33
Table 2: Experimental Group Data
Subject
Pretest
Posttest
Change in
Percentage
Instructional Instructional
Instructional of Change
Reading Level Reading Level Reading Level
(IRL)
(IRL)
(IRL)
1
3.5
4.0
+0.5
14.29%
2
5.6
6.1
+0.5
8.93%
3
3.1
5.3
+2.2
70.97%
4
4.3
5.8
+1.5
34.88%
5
3.6
3.0
-0.6
-16.67%
6
2.1
3.3
+2.6
57.14%
7
4.0
4.7
+0.7
17.50%
8
4.2
4.8
+0.6
14.29%
9
2.3
3.7
+1.4
60.87%
10
4.6
4.5
-0.1
-2.17%
11
9.0
9.8
+0.8
8.89%
12
4.8
6.4
+2.6
33.33%
13
4.4
5.6
+1.2
27.27%
14
4.9
4.8
-0.1
-2.04%
15
11.7
11.8
+0.1
.85%
16
6.0
7.1
+1.1
18.33%
17
5.5
6.2
+0.7
12.73%
18
4.7
5.2
+0.5
10.64%
19
4.3
4.2
-0.1
-2.33%
20
5.4
6.2
+0.8
14.81%
Total Change in Experimental Group IRL:
+14.5
Total Percentage Change:
382.52%
Mean Change in IRL:
0.725
Medium Change in IRL:
0.7
Mode Change in IRL:
0.5
34
Table 3: Control Group Data
Subject
Pretest
Posttest
Change in
Percentage
Instructional Instructional
Instructional of Change
Reading Level Reading Level Reading Level
(IRL)
(IRL)
(IRL)
1
3.9
3.8
-0.1
-2.56%
2
5.5
6.5
+1.0
18.18%
3
3.7
4.3
+0.6
16.22%
4
4.5
4.8
+0.3
6.67%
5
PP
PP
0.0
0.00%
6
6.1
5.0
-1.1
-18.03%
7
4.9
5.6
+0.7
14.29%
8
4.6
4.6
+0.0
0.00%
9
11.4
11.6
+0.2
1.75%
10
3.2
3.3
+0.1
3.12%
11
3.3
4.1
+0.8
24.24%
12
9.8
10.9
+1.1
11.22%
13
4.6
4.8
+0.2
4.35%
14
5.2
5.8
+0.6
11.54%
15
6.5
6.7
+0.2
3.08%
16
4.9
4.2
-0.7
-14.29%
17
4.2
4.6
+0.4
9.52%
18
3.5
3.4
-0.1
-2.86%
19
5.0
5.1
+0.1
2.00%
20
4.4
4.6
+2.0
4.55%
Total Change in Experimental Group IRL:
4.5
Total Percentage Change:
92.99%
Mean Change in IRL:
0.225
Medium Change in IRL:
0.2
Mode Change in IRL:
0.2
35
Figure 1: Strategies for Reading
BEFORE-READING strategies to use:
PREVIEWING - Answer ALL of the previewing questions
Ask yourself: What is my purpose for reading this?
List your purpose for reading here.
-What information do I need from what I am reading?
List the information you will need from what you are reading here.
-What speed or rate of reading will I be reading at? (Will I have to SLOW
DOWN for specfic information while I am reading?)
List the speed you will read at today . . .
PREDICTING - look at pictures, titles, heading, etc. and predict what you will be
reading about . . .
List at least one prediction that you make BEFORE your reading . . .
3 DURING-READING Strategies I used today were:
Use a checkmark (√ ) to show 3 strategies you used
Explain how you used the
strategy or answer the question below.
List at least one
prediction that you
make WHILE you are
reading . . .
PREDICTING - AS
YOU READ and get
new information, make a
prediction about
something you think
will happen . . .
QUESTIONING - Ask
a “how” or “why”
question that comes to
mind AS YOU ARE
READING
List a “how” or
“why” question that
comes into your head
WHILE you are
reading . . .
36
Figure 1: Strategies for Reading (con’t.)
List any words that
were confusing here.
Lable how you figured
out the meaning of
the words.
CLARIFYING CC=I used context
clues
RR=I reread a
confusing section
CH=I ‘chunked’;
looking for word parts
like roots and affixes
MAKING PERSONAL
CONNECTIONS This makes me think of
/ reminds me of . . .
List your connections
here . . .
This realtes to me
because . . .
Copy the author’s
words that have
created a picture in
your mind here . . .
VISUALIZING -
Survey 1: Reading Strategy Survey
Name __________
Class Pd. __________
What is metacognition? ___________________________________________
How is metacognition important to your ability to understand what you read?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Number the reading strategies we have practiced in the order that you find the
most helpful to your understanding of a text.
___Previewing
___Predicting
___Setting a Purpose for Reading
___Questioning
37
___Clarifying Confusing words for meaning:
-using context clues
-chunking into roots/affixes to look for meaning
-sounding out
-looking for parts of familiar words within the new word
___Visualizing
___Making Personal Connections (“This reminds me of…” or “This is like…”)
___Rereading to understanding confusing parts
___Reacting and Connecting
___Summarizing to remember
Of the strategies above which three do you use the most?
1. _____________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________
Which ONE during-reading strategy benefits your comprehension the most?
Why?
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Wilhelm, J. (2001). Improving comprehension with think-aloud strategies. New
York, NY: Scholastic Professional Books.
43
44
Teacher Retention
Factors Contributing to Teacher Retention in a
Middle Georgia School
Michael D. McNutt
Dr. Rui Kang
Faculty Sponsor
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors leading to
educators’ decisions to remain in the profession of teaching. Although it may
be easy to assume that the opposite of the factors that contribute to burnout
will serve as the reasons for retention, the researcher does not believe it is
quite that simple. This study seeks to determine if it is an absence of those
factors that lead to burnout or the way in which those factors are dealt with,
that causes teachers to stay in the profession rather than leave it. It is the
hypothesis of this researcher that factors that lead to burnout seldom change,
but the way in which those factors are dealt with among professional educators
makes a significant difference in the decisions of teachers regarding their
dedication and commitment to the profession. It is also hypothesized that
the reasons teachers stay in the profession are intrinsic in nature rather than
extrinsic, but considerable reform of extrinsic factors would enhance existing
intrinsic factors, therefore, increasing teacher retention. The instrument used
to determine the factors leading to teacher retention was a survey developed
by the researcher. The questions were adapted from an existing survey used in
a master’s degree candidate’s thesis at the University of North Texas (McKee,
2003).
INTRODUCTION
According to Elfers, Plecki, and Knapp (2006), teacher shortages and
teacher retention is a worldwide matter of extreme importance. If we are
to retain qualified excellent professional educators for the future of this
profession, it is necessary for significant, relevant, and documented research
to be conducted that will offer insights into the reasons why teachers decide
to stay within the profession regardless of the factors that contribute to their
level of burnout. There has been significant attention paid to the topics of
school climate, school safety, school integrity, and school success in the very
recent past. All of these topics are interwoven with the subject of retaining
highly qualified, professional educators.
This can be accomplished through the use of surveys to ask teachers,
45
especially veteran teachers, why they have chosen to dedicate themselves to a
profession that modern media and research tells us has so many factors that
lead to early exits nationally and worldwide. While indeed more teachers may
be choosing other professions as a result of negative media or the existence of
burnout factors that outweigh retention factors in their first years as teachers,
there must be examples of retention factors that outweighed burnout factors
among many teachers who chose to stay in the profession. Research that
focuses on identifying and analyzing those factors for practical application will
help to turn the tide of teacher retention to a more positive outcome.
CONTEXT
This study was designed to establish a snapshot of educators’ responses
to questions developed by the researcher based upon relevant research on the
topic. A middle Georgia school consisting of approximately 900 students with
approximately 75 teachers and administrators was surveyed with the hope that
the data will have practical value for the policies of the school surveyed, and
the findings may have important implications for policies on teacher retention
in general.
The school chosen is the worksite of the researcher. It consists of 92%
Caucasian students, 7% African American students, and 1% of the students
in the multiracial or multiethnic category. The faculty consists of 98%
Caucasian, 2% African American; 75% female, and 25% male. The school is a
predominantly rural school located in a county of nearly 13,000 residents. The
school system has been traditionally considered one of the top performing
small school systems in the state.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.
2.
3.
Based on responses to a survey on teacher retention, what are the most
common reasons cited by those who have decided to remain in the
teaching profession?
What can be done to increase teacher retention?
How do teachers’ demographic profiles predict their decisions to remain or
leave the teaching profession?
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act signed into law in 2002, requires
that every classroom be staffed with a “highly qualified teacher” (Strunk &
Robinson, 2006). This being said, it is obvious that every state in the nation
46
Teacher Retention
must seek to fulfill this requirement in order to be in accordance with the law.
Therefore, every state confronts the issues of teacher shortage and attrition
as it seeks to fulfill its federally mandated obligation. With almost one half
of all new teachers leaving the profession within the first five years (McKee,
2003), there are more teachers currently leaving the profession than there are
entering it. Existing literature is cohesive in its identification of the factors
or reasons for teachers’ attrition. While a very small percentage of teachers
leave the profession as a result of career progression, the majority of the
factors leading to teachers’ decisions to leave the profession are broadly
agreed upon. They include inadequate pay, lack of administrative support,
workplace conditions, student related issues, and collegiality with peers, to
name a few. If we understand why teachers leave the profession or decide to
pursue another career path, what then leads some teachers to choose teaching
in spite of negative statistics that experts say lead to attrition? Also, why do
some teachers choose to stay in the profession when they could have bolstered
the negative numbers? To consider these and other questions requires a
comparative analysis of factors experts attribute through research to teacher
attrition and the careful analysis of teachers who ignored those factors, while
acknowledging their existence, and decided to remain in the profession.
Salary
Commonly recognized as the bottom line with regard to job satisfaction,
salary or lack thereof is generally accepted across the literature continuum
as a factor contributing to teacher burnout or attrition. Salary was found to
be the strongest and most reliable predictor of attrition. (McKee, 2003) The
literature is cohesive in this finding. Goldberg and Proctor, (2000), identified
financial incentives as the most effective recruitment strategy for new teachers.
According to Strunk and Robinson (2006), the higher the salary, the lower
the likelihood of a teacher quitting or transferring. 67% of the 214 teachers
surveyed by Allan, Nevill, and Rhodes (2004) stated salary was a deeply
dissatisfying element of their job. Boe, Bobbitt, Cook, Whitener, and Weber
(1997), concluded that if you want to retain teachers, place them in full time
assignments for which they are fully certified and pay them high salaries.
As consistent as the literature is with regard to salary, it is equally uniform
in its findings that salary alone does not determine teachers’ decisions to
remain or leave the profession. While salary is almost unilaterally considered
a negative attribute of teacher retention, factors commonly associated with
salary or income such as benefits, work schedule, and job security positively
affect retention. Inman and Marlow (2004) found the reasons teachers left
the profession were less often due to insufficient salaries than to a lack of
professionalism, collegiality, and administrative support. Berry (2004) says
47
money alone is not sufficient, and the field has yet to define clearly how to fairly
pay teachers for performance.
Support Factors
Along with salary concerns, support factors rank as one of the most
attributable reasons to teachers’ decisions to leave the profession. Buckley,
Schneider, and Shang (2005) find that job dissatisfaction among teachers is
primarily due to three factors: poor salary, poor administrative support, and
student discipline problems. While teachers who leave the profession cite
poor administrative, parental, system level, and mentor support as reasons
for leaving, teachers who stay say that support factors such as feedback,
encouragement, and opportunity for participatory decision making given by
school principals or teacher leaders were significant factors in their decision to
stay (McKee, 2003). Buckley et al. (2005) support this perspective by observing
that teacher preferences across a range of job and school conditions may be
just as important as salary in retention. They find that most teachers are
willing to accept lower salaries in exchange for better working conditions.
Therefore, it is easy to contend that teachers who have decided to stay
have found adequate support from leadership, or they are willing to trade
inadequate support for other factors they deem as more important. In any case,
administrative support is almost universally recognized within professional
literature as a significant determinant in teachers’ retention decisions (Barmby,
2006).
Interwoven within support factors are the responses given by teachers
with regard to their perceived worth and value within the school setting.
Teachers who stay feel valued, supported, and integral to the school’s overall
effectiveness. Mihans (2008) observes that a lack of support is a major cause
of teacher burnout and dissatisfaction. Similarly, Hope (1999) argues that
the principal who conveys a perception of value and importance to teachers,
especially veteran teachers, dramatically increases their commitment and
dedication level.
Workplace Conditions or Environments
Poor workplace conditions or environments are significant contributors
to teachers’ decisions to leave the profession. These may include feelings
of alienation, low expectations of student learning outcomes, student
misbehavior, heavy paperwork, multiple preparations, time pressures, and
demands on after-school time. While these factors have obvious media-rich
connotations in popular society, they are undeniable influences on teachers and
their decisions to stay or leave the teaching profession. Teachers cite in
the literature that each of these factors have significant influence on their job
48
Teacher Retention
satisfaction level. In their conclusions, Goldberg and Proctor (2000) and Shann
(2001) found that teachers who stay find teaching intrinsically rewarding, love
the relationship they develop with kids and believe they can make a difference.
In light of these findings, perhaps it is adequate to say, that teachers who
stay are able to overlook or deal with situations that are less than favorable
to experience fulfillment despite work condition shortcomings. Inman and
Marlow ( 2004) state that teachers who stay, regardless of work conditions,
stay for job security, tend to be teaching for at least five years, are primarily
female, are allowed to be creative, and feel respected professionally within the
community. Some of the factors included within the category of workplace
conditions overlap into the area of perceived or real support such as discipline
of students, adequate school resources, and school facilities. Therefore, the
literature offers perspective on these issues collectively and not individually.
Demographic Variables and Predictors
The instrument used in this study seeks to define variables that may serve
as predictors of retention. Age, gender, certification area, certification level,
degree level, years of experience, marital status, parenthood, ethnic/racial
background, income level, and current professional development status are all
solicited from the participants. The literature provides some insights into what
may be discovered. Boe et al. (1997) found that age played a significant role in
decisions to stay or leave. Young teachers with less than five years experience
under the age of thirty and older teachers over the age of forty nine were
much more likely to leave. Parenthood among this same group had an effect on
their decisions as well. These age groups with dependent children were more
likely to stay. Marital status was significant among those who experienced
a change in marital status relative to their decision to leave the profession.
Certification level was statistically insignificant, while certification area was
also insignificant. Teachers with higher degrees were more likely to stay. This
was true also for teachers with higher base salaries. I found no specific data
supporting a relationship between ethnic/racial backgrounds and decision to
stay in teaching.
METHOD
Participants
This study took place in a public middle school located in rural, middle
Georgia (Zebulon, Georgia). At the time of this study, 98% of the teachers
and administrators were Caucasians; 2% were African Americans. The teachers
who participated in this study taught 6th, 7th, and 8th grades with certification
levels ranging from entry level to terminal status. Their teaching experience
49
ranged from 1 to 25+ years. The teachers surveyed were predominantly
female, but their ages varied from early 20’s to close to retirement. Most of the
participants were married with children. The majority of the participants also
held an advanced or graduate degree (e.g., M.Ed, Ed.S. or Ph.D).
Instrumentation
Participants were given a researcher-generated survey after proper
documentation and permission were obtained. The survey was developed based
on an existing survey designed by McKee (2003) at the University of North
Texas for her master’s thesis. The self report survey instrument consists of
three sections (See Appendix). The first section (“teaching profile”) requests the
teachers to provide information about the grade level they teach, certification
area, and years of teaching experience. The second section contains two parts.
The first part consists of 14 close-ended items written on five-point linear,
numeric scales with options ranging from not at all important (1) to extremely
important (5). Each of these items represents a factor that may contribute to a
teacher’s decision to remain in the profession. The second part contains three
open-ended questions asking teachers to name additional factors or reasons
that influence their decisions to stay in the profession. Finally, the third section
contains eight demographic questions including gender, marital and family
status, age, ethnic/racial background, income, and degrees received. The
questions were developed primarily from McKee’s (2003) original survey and
modified from a further review of related literature on teacher retention. An
instructional review board made up of university professors at the University
of North Texas was responsible for establishing the content validity of the
original survey (McKee, 2003).
Data Analysis
Quantitative responses were entered into an Excel file and analyzed using
the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics were
calculated for all survey respondents. Subsequently, the average responses for
male versus female respondents, teachers with more than ten years of teaching
experience versus those who had less than ten years of teaching experience,
and teachers with advanced degrees versus those with a bachelor’s degree were
compared and tested for statistically significant differences.
RESULTS
Descriptive statistics for all the survey responses are summarized in Table
1. Overall, teachers’ responses indicated that the majority of the items on the
survey represent factors that will potentially make important
50
Teacher Retention
contributions to their decisions to remain in the field. In particular, three
factors stood out as the most important when they make decisions to stay in
teaching: a belief you can make a difference, supportive school administrators,
and teaching assignment. The average responses to all of these three items
were above four points out of a five-point scale. Other factors that stood out
as important include feeling of safety, collegiality with peers, and supportive
district administrators. In addition, three factors are considered relatively
less important for this group of teachers when they make decisions to leave
or stay in the profession: the perceived social status of teaching, outstanding
mentoring, and great student teaching. The average responses to all of these
three items were below the midpoint of the five-point scale.
A comparison of the average responses from the female and male
teachers is summarized in Table 2. Out of all 14 items, on only one item,
feeling of safety, the average responses from the male and female teachers are
significantly different from each other (t=2.30, df=44, p=0.03). On the rest of
13 items, the responses from female and male teachers are highly comparable.
A comparison of the average responses from more experienced and less
experienced teachers is summarized in Table 3. The results of this comparison
indicate that teachers with different years of teaching experiences rarely differ
in their responses to the survey questions. Out of 14 items, on only one item,
the perceived level of social status of teaching, the average responses from
the more experienced teachers indicate that they consider this factor more
important than the less experienced teachers when they make decisions to leave
or stay in teaching (t=2.14, df=44, p=0.04).
Finally, I also compared the average responses from teachers with an
advanced/graduate degree to those with only a bachelor’s degree. This result
was summarized in Table 4. No statistically significant difference was found
in the average responses between these two groups of teachers on any of the
survey questions.
DISCUSSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
The reasons that the teachers gave for staying in teaching in this study
are primarily consistent with the findings of the reviewed literature. First,
administrative support is almost universally recognized as a significant
factor in teachers’ retention decisions (Barmby, 2006). A supportive school
administration reinforces teachers’ commitment and dedication level to their
profession (Hope, 1999). Second, reviewed literature also indicates that teachers
who stay find teaching intrinsically rewarding (Shann, 2001). Similarly, I found
in this study that the belief that one can make a difference is a significant factor
in teachers’ decisions to stay in teaching. Third, I found teachers who
51
are comfortable with their teaching assignments and believe that their teaching
assignments are of significant status tend to choose to stay in the profession
longer. This finding is similar to the Boe et al. (1997) finding that teachers
who are assigned to teach full-time and in an area that they are certified to
teach tend to stay in the field longer than those who are part-time or teach in
a field that is incompatible with their certification area. Intervention policies
implemented based upon this research may require further identification of
generalized accepted actions, behaviors, and practices utilized by administrators
considered supportive in nature. In addition, school leadership should make a
targeted effort to ensure that teachers are assigned to positions that fit their
expertise and talents best.
Some of the findings of this action research were less consistent with
those found in some of the previous research (e.g., Allen et al., 2008; Goldberg
& Protor, 2000; McKee, 2003). For example, several crucial factors that
previous researchers claimed have played the most important role in teachers’
decisions to remain in the field such as salary, discipline problems, and adequate
resources are considered only moderately important by this group of teachers.
Making a difference and supportive school administration, on the other hand,
are viewed by this group of teachers, regardless of demographic background,
as two of the most important factors. Questions arise from these findings
however. For teachers who feel they are still making a difference, what are they
basing their assessment on? How school policies can be geared toward making
teaching more meaningful to teachers? What school administrators can do to
make the teaching environment more friendly and encouraging to teachers?
These questions are critical for formulating effective retention policies because
there is a possibility that teachers who believe they can make a difference and
are supported by their school administrators remain in teaching in spite of the
existence of a myriad of other factors that may lure them away from being a
teacher. Since the reasons teachers stay in the profession are intrinsic in nature;
reform policies intended for teacher retention that focus on only extrinsic
incentives may have only limited success.
In addition, female teachers considered the feeling of safety a more
important factor to stay in the profession than male teachers. Therefore, school
policies designed for enhancing the safety level and providing a safe working
environment may potentially attract more female teachers to stay in the
profession. Moreover, more experienced teachers tend to view the social status
of teaching as more important than less experienced teachers. Therefore,
school policies that emphasize professionalism of teaching, teacher leadership,
and continuous professional development are likely to keep the experienced
teachers in the teaching field. Finally, I found very few differences between the
responses from male and female teachers, teachers with more and less
52
Teacher Retention
experience, and teachers with and without an advanced/graduate degree. The
implication of these findings is that one set of retention policies, under the
circumstances similar to those in this study, may be sufficient for teachers with
different demographic background with small variations on a few factors such
as increasing school safety and social status of teaching.
Since the findings of this study are based on only 46 teachers from a rural
middle school in Georgia, they obviously cannot be generalized to teachers
outside this region or even those outside this school. However, the findings of
this study also point out that the formulation and implementation of teacher
retention policies can be a highly localized process and may vary from region
to region, district to district, or even school to school. Administrators who
intend to increase the retention rate at a particular school need to collect and
analyze local information carefully before making the retention policies that
more accurately target a specific group of teachers. Finally, I mentioned at
the beginning of this study that the reasons that lead to teacher burnout and
decisions to leave the profession may not be exactly compatible with those
that make them stay in the profession. The findings of this study seem to have
confirmed this conjecture. While previous research shows that teachers listed
external factors such as state mandates, paperwork, and low salary as major
reasons for them to leave the profession, the reasons that they gave for staying
in teaching are more intrinsic than extrinsic. School retention policies may
target both sides of the issue by reducing the impact of the negative, external
factors and simultaneously increasing the influences of the positive, intrinsic
factors.
Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of Survey Responses (N=46)
_______________________________________________________________
Factors that affect decisions to remain in teaching
M
SD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(1) Income
3.54
0.91
(2) Lack of student discipline problems
3.11
1.12
(3) Supportive parents
3.35
1.06
(4) Supportive school administrators
4.28
0.78
(5) Supportive district administrators
3.72
1.15
(6) Adequate resources
3.74
1.02
(7) Feeling of safety
3.89
1.18
(8) Teaching assignment
4.20
1.09
53
Factors that affect decisions to remain in teaching (con’t.)
M
SD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(9) Great student teaching
2.76
1.40
(10) Collegiality with peers
3.89
0.97
(11) Outstanding mentoring
2.67
1.28
(12) A belief you can make a difference
4.37
0.93
(13) The perceived social status of teaching
2.43
1.15
(14) School facilities
2.98
1.06
_______________________________________________________________
Table 2: Comparison of mean survey responses between male and female teachers
_______________________________________________________________
Female
Male
(N=34)
(N=12)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(1) Income
3.53
3.58
3.26
2.67
3.44
3.08
4.35
4.08
3.88
3.25
3.83
3.71
(7) Feeling of safety*
4.12
3.25
4.26
4.00
(9) Great student teaching
2.91
2.33
3.97
3.67
2.74
2.50
4.44
4.17
(13) The perceived social status of teaching2.47
2.33
3.08
2.94
_______________________________________________________________
Note. *denotes statistically significant at .05 level. The rest of the comparisons
yielded no statistically significant differences between male and female teachers.
54
Teacher Retention
Table 3: Comparison of mean survey responses between teachers with more than ten
years of experience and teachers with less than ten years of experience.
_______________________________________________________________
More than
Less than
10 years
10 years
(N=28)
(N=18)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(1) Income
3.64
3.39
2.96
3.33
3.21
3.56
4.32
4.22
3.82
3.56
3.79
3.67
4.07
3.61
4.36
3.94
3.00
2.39
3.89
3.89
2.86
2.39
4.43
4.28
(13) The perceived social status of teaching*2.71
2.00
2.93
3.06
_______________________________________________________________
Note. *denotes statistically significant at .05 level. The rest of the comparisons
yielded no statistically significant differences between teachers with more than
ten years of experiences and teachers with less than ten years of experiences.
Table 4: Comparison of mean survey responses between teachers holding advanced
degrees (e.g., M.Ed., Educational Specialist, Ph.D.) and teachers with a Bachelor’s
degree.
_______________________________________________________________
Advanced
Bachelor’s
(N=31)
(N=15)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(1) Income
3.71
3.20
3.06
3.20
3.29
3.47
4.29
4.27
3.84
3.47
55
Advanced
Bachelor’s
(N=31)
(N=15)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(6) Adequate resources
3.84
3.53
3.97
3.73
4.16
4.27
2.65
3.00
3.97
3.73
2.71
2.60
4.26
4.60
(13) The perceived social status of teaching2.65
2.00
3.00
2.93
_______________________________________________________________
Note. None of the comparisons yielded a statistically significant difference
between teachers with an advanced degree and teachers with a Bachelor’s
degree.
Figure1: Teacher Retention Survey
SECTION I: Teaching Profile
What grade levels are you certified to teach? Circle all that apply.
1 All levels
2 Secondary
3 Elementary
4 Early Childhood
5 Other (please specify) _______________
If you are certified in a content area, please identify the content area(s). Circle
all that apply.
1 Language Arts
2 Social Studies
3 Science
4 Kinesiology/Health
5 Mathematics
6 Other (please specify) _______________
Years of early childhood/elementary/middle and/or secondary teaching
experience.
1 None
2 1-5
3 6-10
56
Teacher Retention
4 11-15
5 16 or more
SECTION II: Please indicate how important each of the following reasons
were to your decision to remain in teaching.
1. Income
Not at all important 1 2 3 4 5 Extremely important
2. Lack of discipline problems with students
3. Supportive parents
4. Supportive in-school administrators
5. Supportive district administrators
6. Adequate resources in school
7. Feeling of safety in school
8. In field teaching assignment
9. Great student teaching experience
10. Collegiality with peers
11. Outstanding mentoring
12. A belief that you can make a difference (idealism)
57
13. The perceived social status of teaching
14. School facilities
15. Other (please elaborate)
_______________________________________________________________
16. If you were to leave teaching, what factor(s) would most influence your
decision?
a ___________________________________________________________
b ___________________________________________________________
c ___________________________________________________________
d ___________________________________________________________
e ___________________________________________________________
17. If you have remained in early childhood/elementary/middle and/or
secondary teaching, please list up to five reasons why.
a ___________________________________________________________
b ___________________________________________________________
c ___________________________________________________________
d ___________________________________________________________
e ___________________________________________________________
SECTION III: Describe Yourself
18. Gender
a male
b female
19. Marital status
a married
b single
20. What is your age group? Circle one number.
a 21-30
b 31-40
c 41-50
d 51-60
e 61 and above
58
Teacher Retention
21. Do you have children?
a Yes
b No
22. What is your ethnic / racial background? Circle all that apply.
a Asian / Pacific Islander
b African American
c White (non-Hispanic)
d Hispanic
e Other (please specify) ___________________
23. What is your approximate annual household income? Circle one number.
a $24,999 or less
b $25,000 to $49,999
c $50,000 to $74,999
d $75,000 to $99,999
e $100,000 or above
24. What is the highest degree that you have earned?
a Bachelor
b Masters
c Specialist
d Doctorate
25. Are you currently working toward an advanced degree?
a Masters in content area (Please specify: _____________________________)
b Masters in education
c Educational Specialist in content area (Please specify: __________________)
d Doctorate in education
Thank you!
Please return this survey using the envelope provided!
REFERENCES
Allan, J., Nevill, A., & Rhodes, C. (2004). Valuing and supporting teachers:
a survey of teacher satisfaction, dissatisfaction, morale, and retention in an
English local education authority. Research in Education, 71(1), 67-80.
Barmby, P. (2006). Improving teacher recruitment and retention: the
importance of workload and pupil behavior. Educational Research, 48(3),
59
247-265.
Berry, B. (2004). Recruiting and retaining “highly qualified teachers” for hard
to staff schools[electronic version]. National Association of Secondary
School Principals NASSP Bulletin, 88(638), 5-28.
Boe, E. E., Bobbitt, S. A., Cook, L. H., Whitener, S. D., & Weber, A. L. (1997).
Why didst thou go? Predictors of retention, transfer, and attrition of
special and general education teachers from a national perspective. The Journal of Special Education, 30(4), 94-127.
Buckley, J., Schneider, M., & Shang, Y. (2005). Fix it and they might stay: school
facility Quality and teacher retention in Washington, D.C.. Teachers
College Record, 107(5), 1107-1123.
Elfers, A. M., Plecki, M. L. & Knapp, M. S. (2006). Teacher mobility: looking
more closely at “the movers” within a state system. Peabody Journal of
Education, 81(3), 94-127.
Goldberg, P. E., & Proctor, K. M. (2000). Teacher voices: A survey on teacher
recruitment and retention. Retrieved 12 November 2008, from <http://
www2.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/v/voices_part_1.
pdf>.
Hope, W. C. (1999). Principals orientation and induction activities as factors in
teacher retention. The Clearing House, 73(1), 54-56.
Inman, D., & Marlow, L. (2004). Teacher retention: why do beginning teachers
remain in the profession? Education,124(4), 605-614.
McKee, K. L. (2003). A study of factors related to teacher retention.
Unpublished master’s thesis, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas.
Milhans, R. (2008). Can teachers lead teachers? Phi Delta Kappan, 89(10), 762766.
Shann, M. H. (2001). Professional commitment and satisfaction among teachers
in urban middle schools. The Journal of Educational Research, 92(2), 67-73.
Strunk, K. O., & Robinson, J.P. (2006). Oh, won’t you stay: a multi level
analysis of the difficulties in retaining qualified teachers. Peabody Journal
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Teacher Retention
of Education, 81(4), 65-94.
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62
Effects of Peer Tutoring
The Effects of Peer Tutoring on Math Posttest Scores
Cindy B. Mize
Dr. Lee Woodham Digiovanni
Faculty Sponsor
ABSTRACT
The purpose of my research was to determine if peer tutoring would
increase students’ scores on the math posttest. I used an experimental-control
group design which incorporated convenience grouping. The study took place
with my second graders at Putnam County Elementary School. Six of my
students used peer tutoring, while the other six used total class lectures with
independent class work. In this study, the experimental group did not score
higher than the control group on the posttest versus the pretest.
INTRODUCTION
Since the first one-room schoolhouse teachers have probably used some
form of peer tutoring. Older siblings probably helped younger ones and more
competent students probably worked with less competent ones. Yet, much has
changed in the course of education. Since the onset of No Child Left Behind
(NCLB), more is expected of teachers and students. High stakes testing is
used to evaluate teacher and student performance. More is known about the
many ways students learn and the best practices of effective teaching. With
the influx of research and the quickening pace of society, much is expected
of the educational system. Many teachers feel the need to “crack the whip” to
get their students to exceed. This is understandable with the ever-increasing
demands and the push to have all students on grade level by the year 2014.
How can one teacher help 18+ students when new skills are introduced? How
can students’ needs be met when their background knowledge and learning
styles are so diverse? More is expected, and this push for excellence has
actually done much to widen the reading levels and skill bases so that even in
the typical elementary classroom, students reading levels span several academic
years.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The economic downturn and budget cuts of 2008 and 2009 have caused
changes in education. The maximum second grade class size has been changed
from 20 (in 2008-2009) to 22 (in 2009-2010). With these changes occurring at
all grade levels it is more important than ever that teachers utilize assertive
63
classroom strategies. Today’s teachers are facilitators of learning. Not only do
they teach, but they learn new ways to become more effective teachers. In other
words, they seek to utilize more effective classroom strategies.
The use of peer tutoring does not require fiscal cost. It does not involve
elaborate scheduling of outside help. Nor does it require parental permission.
Yet, it does allow students to interact with other students, explaining the skills
in their own age-appropriate language. The use of peer tutoring should assist
students in lessening their wait time for an answer and give peers confidence as
they “teach” their classmates what they have learned.
RESEARCH QUESTION
The question that my study seeks to address is:
• Does peer tutoring increase the scores on the math posttest compared to
the math pretest? In other words, does it enable students to learn more and
to be able to apply what they know at test time? The findings of this study
should help teachers, including myself, to plan, implement, and utilize effective
collaborative practices that will benefit student learning.
HYPOTHESIS
My hypothesis is that the experimental group will show greater gains on
the posttest than the control group. I believe this will be true because of the
combined effort they exhibit on their work and on their daily tutelage. Each
student will be accountable to their partner in explaining the rationale behind
their answers.
LITERATURE REVIEW
What is Peer Tutoring?
Peer tutoring is an educational strategy that utilizes teams of students
to teach or practice a scholastic activity. It is an informational framework for
presenting group-oriented tasks. Computer programs have even been designed
(Greenwood, 1993) to aid in the dependability of peer tutoring methods,
application accuracy, and teacher directives based on student performance.
Types of Peer Tutoring
Peer tutoring can consist of reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT), peer-assisted
learning strategies (PALS), classwide peer tutoring (CWPT), companion
tutoring, same-age (Fuchs, 1996) or cross-age tutoring, where the tutee is
younger than the tutor (Warger, 1991). In most types of peer tutoring, teams
64
compete daily and weekly with an extensive point system, but companion
tutoring typically does not incorporate a point system.
Training and Modeling for Students
1. The teacher prepares materials and models strategies of how the tutor
and tutee conduct themselves. Teachers may establish two or more groups to
provide differentiated instruction using different subject matter for each group.
“Students serving as tutees are trained to use auditory, visual, and writing
modalities to practice and learn the new concepts” (Arreaga-Mayer, 1998).
Tutors are told how to correct errors. If their answers are different than their
partners’, they are to ask how they got that answer. They are to come to an
agreement, before changing either answer.
2. The teacher designates partners. New partners are often assigned each
Monday. Each team works with his or her partner three to five times each
week.
3. Students are allowed time to practice explaining procedures to each
other. The tutee (student) is allowed time to practice the skill that was taught.
4. Students take turns being the tutor (teacher) and the tutee (student)
during any given day.
5. The teacher walks around the room, observing student interactions
and providing comments on how they are doing. Some studies used a point
system where teams gained points for correct answers. When students give an
incorrect answer they are to correctly state the answer, then restate it correctly
three times. They get points for this correction process. They also gained
points for positive interaction and time on task. Since half my class employed
peer tutoring and the other half did not, the point system was not a viable
option.
Positive Benefits of Peer Tutoring
One of the main benefits of peer tutoring is that it maximizes students’
scholastic performance by enabling their occurrence of accurate conclusions to
be intensified. It enables students who are diverse learners to be helped in their
specific areas of need. As stated by Arreaga-Mayer, “Classwide Peer Tutoring
is a powerful instructional procedure that actively engages all students in a
classroom and that promotes mastery, accuracy, and fluency in content learning
for students with and without disabilities” (1998). It increases occasions
for response. Students can also gain social behaviors through peer tutoring
(Arreaga-Mayer, 1998, p.89; King-Sears & Cummings, 1996; Maheady, 1991).
It allows for more time on task, by enabling students to get immediate positive
feedback and by having errors corrected promptly (King-Sears & Cummings
1996). “As a procedure, it has much to offer teachers and students looking
65
for flexible, adaptable, motivating, and cost- and time-effective approaches
to increasing active student responding and positive academic outcomes”
(Arreaga-Mayer, 1998). It has been found to be motivating for both teachers
and students (Maheady, 1991). Its point system encourages students to strive
harder. It enhances the educational task in allowing it to be viewed in a more
purposeful manner. It is easy to carry out. “It allows for early intervention,
self-pacing, monitoring of students’ progress, direct teaching of academic
and cognitive skills, teaching of self-management, and offering positive
consequences for improvement” (Arreaga-Mayer, 1998).
Negatives of Peer Tutoring
Sometimes more time can be spent on the techniques of peer tutoring
than the subject matter being presented. In a 30 minute lesson, 10 minutes
is devoted to one partner being the tutor, 10 minutes for the other partner
being the tutor, and 10 minutes for totaling up points. However, in companion
tutoring the use of points is not employed, therefore, classroom time is used
for academics. Student attendance can be a problem in that some students
are scheduled for other classes, such as Title 1, while tutoring is occurring
(Greenwood, 1992). When students are absent from class, it affects both
partners in the group, and ultimately affects the group score. Social conflicts
have to be resolved at times. More time is spent on teacher planning to ensure
that the materials are appropriate and on the academic level of the participants.
It is necessary for teachers to circulate around the room, giving feedback and
monitoring students during peer tutoring. It has been found (Greenwood,
1992) that some students have been caught cheating on their points earned
and the peer partner did not correct them. Teachers need to implement
consequences when this happens. Teachers’ attentiveness in monitoring often
wanes as the program continues. With special needs students and behavior
problem students, correct pairing is very crucial. Learning styles, academic
levels, and student temperaments need to be considered when placements are
made.
Examples of Peer Tutoring Results
Fuchs (1996) used Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) to teach
reading skills in three areas: 1) one partner reading orally and the other
partner retelling the story 2) dual paragraph summary, and 3) prediction relay
where each participant predicts what will happen on a page of text before they
read. The No-PALS group was the control group. After 15 weeks the PALS
group scored higher on the posttest for all areas. PALS showed extensive
improvements on reading comprehension for students with learning disabilities
(LD), students who were low-performing (LP), and students who were
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average-achieving (AA).
In the use of classwide peer tutoring, King-Sears & Cummings (1996)
reported spelling gains of 20% made by their low achieving students and gains
of 35% by their students with disabilities. Their high to moderate students
showed gains and were more consistent with correct answers.
In a study of 8 elementary classrooms (Maheady, 1991) peer tutoring
was used to assist spelling instruction. Teachers received 90% accuracy in
implementing the program after 1.5 hours of training. After peer tutoring was
in place the test scores increased by an average of 10%. While peer tutoring
was implemented all mean scores were above 85%. When peer tutoring was
stopped, the average spelling test grade dropped about 11%. Four of the
teachers initiated used peer tutoring in other subject areas.
In using the Peabody Classwide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) method Mathes
(1995) found that most students made higher gains in reading than those who
were in non-CWPT classrooms. The tutoring sessions focused on using three
main activities: Paragraph Shrinking, Partner Reading with Retelling, and
Prediction Relay. The use of a computer based program, Curriculum-Based
Measurement (CBM), enabled teachers to graph student performance, guide
instruction, and focus attention on areas of weakness.
METHODOLOGY
Participants
This study was conducted at Putnam County Elementary School. This is
the only public elementary school in Eatonton, Georgia. The school serves over
1,400 PreK – 5th grade students. I have 15 second graders, but two of these
are new enrollees. I have a student who is being tested for special education,
so I have chosen not to include her in this study. Six students were in the
experimental group, and six in the control group. The experimental group
contained 2 males, 4 females, 4 of which were white and 2 African American.
The control group contained 3 males, 3 females, 3 of which were white, 2
African American, and 1 Hispanic. (See Figure 1)
How Groups Were Divided for Peer Tutoring
I used an experimental-control group design. In the study done by
Arreaga-Mayer (1998) students were assigned to a different partner each week.
That way they would end up with a good match at least some of the time.
During the nine-week period the partners in my class stayed the same. With
six students in each group it was not feasible to change them. In my classroom,
students were matched more on congeniality than on academic performance.
Based on the fourth nine week’s pretest scores, I worked diligently to
67
ensure the groups were academically equal. Six students were placed into
the experimental group and six were placed into the control group. For the
experimental group, the total composite on the pretest was 394.22, with a
mean score of 65.70. For the control group, the total composite was 394.44,
with a mean score of 65.74. The experimental group contained four girls and
two boys, whereas, the control group contained three girls and three boys. (See
Figure 1)
Instrumentation
At Putnam County Elementary School pretests and posttests are given
every nine weeks. These tests are given in math, language arts, social studies,
and science. Of course, we have a scope and sequence designed for the year, but
each nine weeks we take the results of the pretest and gear our teaching efforts
toward the skills our students need most.
My students take the math tests in the computer lab. These tests are
prepared by the math coach and are designed according to the standards that
are to be taught during that nine weeks. Usually the teachers in each grade
level receive a hard copy of the test. They are encouraged to give input and
make corrections before the test is given to the students. The questions are
similar in scope and type of those presented on the Criterion-Referenced
Competency Test (CRCT). The pretest and posttest (that are given each nine
weeks) are identical, although the numerals and the order of the problems are
often changed.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Approval to conduct this study was given by the Institutional Review
Board of Georgia College & State University. My principal, Dr. Susan Usry,
gave written consent as well. Parents received a letter of explanation and all
student participants brought back their signed permission slips. I had one
parent conference to answer questions of concern before the parent would give
consent. Research began at the beginning of the fourth nine weeks.
My students take the math pretest and posttest in the computer lab. It is
administered under the direction of Kathy Smith, our math coach. The
classroom teacher is invited to stay and assist. The students are randomly
placed at a computer with dividers in between the computers. They are given a
sheet of paper containing any problems that will require “figuring out.” They
are reminded to check subtraction problems with addition. When all students
have finished their “paper and pencil” exercises, the computer test begins.
Students are shown on the large screen what their computer screen should look
like. The instructions for each problem are read to them. As soon
68
as they mark an answer they are told to click “next” on their screen and wait
for the instructions to be read. Mrs. Smith and I monitor the students at all
times. When appropriate, I restate the question, so the terminology is the same
as what they have been hearing in the classroom. When the problems on the
computer match the ones they did on the “paper and pencil” exercise, they are
told to find the answer for that number and select it on their screen. As soon as
the students finish, the math coach prints their grades and hands the scores to
the teacher. My students have been taking the math pre and posttests in the lab
all year, so they are very comfortable with this routine. At the end of the nine
weeks, the posttest is given to all the students in like manner.
RESEARCH PROCEDURES
The students in the experimental group had their desks placed sideby-side with their partner. I used classwide, same-age peer tutoring for the
experimental group. They were instructed on how they were to discuss any
difficulty they had with their math assignments. They were taught what to
say and allowed time to practice the strategy. To remind them of this daily
collaborative practice, they were to put a paper clip on their papers before
putting them in the tray. Each morning the students have a math worksheet.
Each day we have a 30-minute lesson, followed by 30 minutes of independent
work. During the independent time, partners were reminded to collaborate
together and check over their answers before turning their papers in. This is
what we studied each week:
Week 1 – Graphs & Calendars
Week 2 – Graphs & Venn Diagrams
Week 3 – Introduction of Multiplication
Week 4 - CRCT Review
Week 5 – CRCT
Week 6 – Varied Approaches to Multiplication
Week 7 – Multiplication
Week 8 – Division
Week 9 – Division
RESULTS
On the fourth posttest average, the control group gained 6.5 points higher
than the experimental group when comparing pretest versus posttest gains.
Due to this, I wanted to compare the average gains for the first three pretests
/ posttests to see what tendencies the students exhibited throughout the year.
Figure 2 shows that the experimental group made an average of almost 7
69
points gain over the control group on the first pretest / posttest comparison.
Figure 3 shows that the control group made an average of over 10 points gain
over the experimental group on the second pretest / posttest comparison.
Figure 4 shows that the experimental group made an average of almost 5
points gain over the control group on the third pretest / posttest comparison.
As stated above, the control group made 6.5 points gain over the experimental
group on the fourth pretest / posttest comparison, as seen in Figure 5. As
seen throughout the year, half of the time the control group made more gains,
while the experimental group made more gains the other half of the time.
Keep in mind that peer tutoring was not in place for the first through third
nine weeks; I only ran the data to see if it would reveal any tendencies, which it
did not. (See Figures 2-5)
CONCLUSION
It is somewhat disheartening for me to observe that the control group
made more gains on the posttest over the pretest when compared to the
experimental group. Since the class gains throughout the year were half and
half when it comes to all the pretest / posttest results, I believe it emphasizes
the equal distribution of the students into the experimental and control groups
(although the grouping was based only on the results of the fourth pretest). It
is important to note that all students made gains over the course of the nine
weeks. Since this study was conducted with a very small convenience sample,
it would be difficult to show gains from one group to the next. This study
took place during the last nine weeks of school. Many of the studies cited
in this paper were conducted over a 15 week period (or longer). My students
had many distractions such as: spring break, CRCT, summer vacation, and
end-of-the-year programs. We did not use peer tutoring during the weeks of
CRCT practice and the CRCT. Students perform randomly on any test on any
given day. There are too many variables to consider when looking at student
performance, especially for seven and eight year olds. We had a problem with
using the lab on the first testing day. On the second testing day, there was a
substitute for the math coach. Even though this person did a very good job
of filling in, it is hard to say that the students took the test seriously. My
students are used to taking the pretest and posttest in the lab. When they
take the pretest, I have to ensure them that they are not supposed to know the
information; otherwise they become overwhelmed and consumed by the fact
that they do not know the material. Even though you try to help your students
to be test smart, there is a fine line between them taking the test seriously
(even the pretest, which covers material they have never seen before) and not
becoming over-anxious about the process.
70
I would like to use peer tutoring again, but this time implement it at the
beginning of the school year. With the whole class using the techniques, I will
be able to spend more time teaching the process (with stricter guidelines) and
implementing it. In most studies, it took the students three weeks to master the
techniques. Last year, my students were more focused on “getting the answer
right,” than working through the process. This is probably typical of seven
and eight year olds. It takes more cognitive thinking to help someone on the
process than to just help them get the answer.
I plan to use peer tutoring more with language arts and buddy readings
(Fuchs, 1996), and not just with math. One technique I plan to use is to have
a student read a section and then have their partner retell it. I want to learn
more about “Paragraph Shrinking” as used by Mathes (1995). Since my
students have seen Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, this activity could be used as a fun
way to practice telling the main idea. Prediction relay is another activity I plan
to use. This is where a student predicts what will happen on the next page,
and the other student reads orally to find out if their hunch was correct. Peer
tutoring has proven to be very effective with spelling practice (King-Sears &
Cummings, 1996 and Maheady, 1991). I plan to use it with students who need
additional help with spelling. I also plan to use it with students who need help
with their vocabulary words.
There are many benefits to peer tutoring. Early intervention is one benefit
to peer tutoring. It is important to note that the teacher has to be aware of
how each student is performing on specific skills. If a skill is being covered
during a week, the teacher has to know which students are struggling and how
to scaffold the lessons to maximize learning. When students work together,
sometimes the tutor can be too helpful in leading the student to an answer
without the student really learning the material. It is important to know
(before Friday’s exam) what can be done to help students who are struggling.
It takes an attentive teacher to intervene early on. Self-pacing is also a benefit
of peer tutoring. Teachers can tailor the lessons to meet individual needs
and learning styles. Students who excel in a specific skill will need to know
what activity comes next, so they can move on to the next activity without
interrupting the teacher who may be helping another student or student pair.
As mentioned before, teacher monitoring is crucial in peer tutoring. This is
an area that will need more focus, study, and refining when I implement peer
tutoring in my classroom.
I want to learn more about Companion Tutoring. I like the benefits of not
having to keep up with points, but I am not sure how to implement companion
tutoring and monitor student progress. I was not able to find much information
on companion tutoring, but with time I am sure more studies will incorporate
it. Since I teach second grade, I did not want my students to use class time to
71
total their points, and I did not want them to base their learning on their daily
score. I also did not want the competition among students and groups to cause
jealousy or a desire to cheat.
Figure 1: Below you will see the demographics for the experimental and control groups.
As you can see, there is not a significant difference in the makeup of the two groups.
Experimental Group
student 1
student 2
student 3
student 4
student 5
student 6
Control Group
student 7
student 8
student 9
student 10
student 11
student 12
Gender
Race
0
0
0
1
1
0
Gender
0=female
1=male
0
1
0
1
0
0
Race
0=Caucasian
1=Black
2=Hispanic
Gender
0
0
1
1
1
0
Gender
0=female
1=male
Race
1
1
2
0
0
0
Race
0=Caucasian
1=Black
2=Hispanic
72
Figure 2: These tables show how the experimental group and the control group did on
the first pretest and posttest. Notice how the experimental group gained 6.84 points
more than the control group.
Experimental
Group
student 1
student 2
student 3
student 4
student 5
student 6
Average
Pretest 1
Control Group
student 7
student 8
student 9
student 10
student 11
student 12
Average
Pretest 1
Posttest 1
Points Gained
45
65
30
50
60
45
50
80.95
90.48
85.71
76.19
80.95
90.46
84.12667
35.95
25.48
55.71
26.19
15.95
46.46
34.12666667
50
30
45
60
50
Posttest 1
71.43
71.43
66.67
80.95
80.95
47
74.286
Points Gained
21.43
41.43
21.67
20.95
30.95
0
27.286
the second pretest and posttest. Notice how the control group gained 10.33 points more
than the experimental group.
Experiental
Group
student 1
student 2
student 3
student 4
student 5
student 6
Average
Pretest 2
Posttest 2
35
60
45
55
65
40
50
90
70
80
80
75
95
81.66667
73
Points Gained
55
10
35
25
10
55
31.66666667
Figure 3: (con’t.)
Control Group
student 7
student 8
student 9
student 10
student 11
student 12
Pretest 2
Average
Posttest 2
45
60
35
40
30
80
95
75
80
90
Points Gained
35
35
40
40
60
0
42
84
42
the third pretest and posttest. Notice how the experimental group gained 4.85 points
more than the control group.
Experimental
Group
student 1
student 2
student 3
student 4
student 5
student 6
Average
Pretest 3
Posttest 3
80
76
48
72
72
68
69.3333
77.72
95.45
95.45
90.91
90.91
100
91.665
Points Gained
-2.73
19.45
47.45
18.91
18.91
32
22.33166667
the fourth pretest and posttest. Notice how the control group gained 6.48 points more
than the experimental group.
Experimental
Group
student 1
student 2
student 3
student 4
student 5
student 6
Average
Pretest 4
Posttest 4
66.67
83.33
44.44
61.11
83.33
55.56
65.74
74
77.78
88.89
83.33
72.22
94.44
94.44
85.18333
Points Gained
11.11
5.56
38.89
11.11
11.11
38.88
19.44333333
Figure 4: (con’t.)
Control Group
student 7
student 8
student 9
student 10
student 11
student 12
Average
Pretest 4
72.22
61.11
66.67
88.89
61.11
44.44
65.74
Posttest 4
100
100
72.22
100
100
77.78
91.66667
Points Gained
27.78
38.89
5.55
11.11
38.89
33.34
25.92666667
Graph 1: Bar graph for Experimental Group
100
80
60
40
20
0
Pretest 4
Posttest 4
st
st
ud
en
ud t 1
e
st nt 2
ud
e
st nt
ud 3
e
st nt
ud 4
e
st nt 5
ud
en
av t 6
er
ag
e
Points gained
Graph 2: Bar graph for Control Group
100
80
60
40
20
0
Pretest 4
Posttest 4
st
ud
e
st nt
ud 1
e
st nt 2
ud
e
st nt
ud 3
e
st nt
ud 4
e
st nt 5
ud
en
av t 6
er
ag
e
Points gained
75
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Children, 16(1), 19-47. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.
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78
Changing Face of America’s Schools
The Changing Face of America’s Schools: Investigating
the Perceived Effectiveness of Diversity Training
Programs for Teachers
Courtney D. Thomas
Dr. Charles Martin
Faculty Sponsor
ABSTRACT
The face of the American student is changing. More than ever before, it is
critical that teachers understand and embrace the individual differences among
students of all backgrounds, races, and socioeconomic classes. At the forefront
of this initiative are local school professional development programs and their
efforts to educate and enable teachers as they work to provide all students,
regardless of background, with opportunities for academic success. This
study examines teacher attitudes and opinions toward current professional
development programs as they relate to diversity awareness and training.
This mixed-method study utilized a survey and focus group as data collection
instruments. Findings indicate that teachers recognize a need for greater
understanding and education in the area of diversity awareness, but they do
not feel that system and school professional learning programs address these
issues adequately. Issues raised here include suggestions for improving current
professional learning practices, ideas for practical classroom application, and
the need to address teacher concern and apprehension when working with
groups of diverse learners.
INTRODUCTION
American schools are changing. Long gone are the days of cookie-cutter
instruction and one-size-fits-all curriculum. Federal and state initiatives push
school systems to the limits of student achievement and, in turn, school
systems place more and more critical responsibility for student success on
the shoulders of teachers, fledgling and veteran. The face of the American
schoolchild is also changing rapidly. Classrooms buzz with a myriad of
different languages, cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, races, and skin tones.
It is an amazing phenomenon to behold as America finally begins to realize
its dream of being the world’s “melting pot.” Interestingly, the face of the
American schoolteacher is not changing as rapidly, and, still, the majority of
public school teachers in our country are white, middle-class females. While
nobody should question the desire and drive of the American school teacher
79
to effect change in her students, several questions arise: What does she have
to change about her instruction in order to educate effectively this emerging
and increasingly diverse American student body? Are school systems meeting
the professional learning needs of teachers as they navigate these uncharted
instructional waters? How do teachers perceive their evolving roles? And, most
importantly, do teachers feel confident enough in their professional preparation
to be successful in this new arena?
The Changing American Student
A simple look around your local grocery store paints the picture of a
new and evolving America. Even the smallest rural hamlets boast a host of
cultural groups, languages, races, and ethnicities. Nowhere is this monumental
population shift more apparent than in the American classroom (Brown, 2007).
In fact, by the year 2010, 40 percent of American students will be children of
color (Hill-Jackson, Sewell, & Waters, 2007). America has always prided itself
on a willingness to welcome people of all backgrounds into the collective fold.
However, many American institutions and establishments are rooted firmly in
Eurocentric ideals, principles, and practices. The American educational system
is no exception. Consequently, as the American demographic shifts away from
being primarily white and middle-class, schools must redefine their roles and
responsibilities in order to meet the needs of a changing population. Federal
mandates such as No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act include guidelines protecting the rights of growing groups
of diverse learners. Even with these mandatory safeguards in place, students
of diverse backgrounds consistently fail at higher rates than their white
counterparts and are increasingly overrepresented in high-incidence special
education categories. Additionally, they are markedly underrepresented in
programs for gifted and talented students (Trent, Kea, & Oh, 2008).
The American Schoolteacher
One demographic that remains relatively stable in the United States is that
of the American schoolteacher. Despite dramatic shifts in demographics across
the spectrum of American society, the American teaching population remains
approximately 85 percent white and female (Hill-Jackson, Sewell, & Waters,
2007). There are many reasons for this. A primary reason may be the simple
fact that the American schoolteacher is a cultural icon. She is youthful, pretty,
idealistic, and, yes, white and female. Add to this the fact that teaching is a
profession requiring years of postsecondary training, and the pool of potential
teachers becomes more exclusive -- only those with the social capital and
financial wherewithal to attend college may become teachers. Consequently, the
majority of pre-service teachers are likely to become teachers of children
80
whose cultural background and life experiences are very different from their
own (Thomas & Kearney, 2008).
Current Practices in Diversity Training
The goal of any school is to ensure that all students, regardless of
background, succeed to potential. This goal becomes increasingly complex
when students are not homogeneous and do not share a collective store of
cultural and social knowledge. What are teacher education programs and
school system professional learning programs doing to ensure that teachers
are properly equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to instruct
effectively students from diverse backgrounds?
During the 1970s, the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher
Education developed recommendations to address multicultural issues as they
related to teacher education programs (Trent, Kea, & Oh, 2008). Teacher
education programs nationwide reacted by adding a multicultural component
to the curriculum. This usually translated to one course that is at best
“dismissive and pacifist” (Hill-Jackson, Sewell, & Waters, 2007). One isolated
course in multicultural education is not adequate to meet the needs of today’s
teachers (DeCastro-Ambrose, & Cho, 2005). Pre-service teachers tend to view
these courses as obligatory and repetitive (Hill-Jackson et al, 2007). Some
programs offer multicultural clinicals that include experiences in an array of
diverse settings (Landerholm, Gehrie, & Hao, 2004). While these experiences
are valuable, they continue to be taught in isolation. The message is clear that
multicultural instruction is merely an additive to the prescribed traditional
methods of teaching. As a result, pre-service teachers tend to feel a distinct
lack of cultural knowledge and, consequently, feel ill- equipped for teaching
diverse groups of students (DeCastro et al, 2005).
Over the past few decades, administrators and legislators have challenged
teachers to design and implement learning experiences that enable children
from all cultural groups to achieve academically (Thomas & Kearney, 2008).
Unfortunately, these demands are usually made reactively -- teachers are not
formally instructed and informed on best practices for multicultural education
before being asked to produce high quality, multiculturally sound instruction.
School systems tend to emphasize professional learning programs based on
multicultural teaching methods only after system demographics have changed
significantly. Even then, training sessions are superficial and do not address
the critical needs and issues surrounding the creation of a culturally inclusive
learning community.
Teacher Attitudes
The focus of this research is to ascertain whether teachers feel properly
81
equipped by professional learning programs to instruct successful students
from diverse backgrounds. At the crux of this is the issue of teacher attitude
towards diversity, diversity training and teacher efficacy where groups of
diverse students are concerned. Considering the aforementioned fact that
85 percent of American schoolteachers are white, middle-class females, it is
critical that we take into account their perspectives, opinions, and feelings
toward this issue. Mahon (2006) reports that a number of studies reveal
teachers have negative attitudes and beliefs about different cultures and many
express an unwillingness to work in urban school environments. White
teachers who have been taught throughout their own educational careers to
“see no color” may become uncomfortable when asked to be straightforward
and blunt about race and culture (Solomon, Portelli, Daniel, & Campbell, 2005).
Many white teachers believe that seeing only the child’s “heart and mind” is
best practice. It may be difficult and uneasy for the white teacher to label her
students as “Black,” “Hispanic,” “Jewish,” or “Muslim.” The ingrained message
here is that all people are essentially the same and share a similar set of wants
and needs (Mahon, 2006). Mahon asserts that teachers must understand,
however, that to discount a child’s culture is to reject an integral portion of
that child’s identity and render invisible a very important component of that
child’s willingness and ability to learn (2006).
Hill-Jackson, Sewell, & Waters (2007) found that most educators agree that
all students, regardless of race, gender, social class, or cultural characteristics
should be treated equitably and that all students have the capacity to learn.
Given the vast array of cultures that are present in today’s American
classroom, it can be difficult for the teacher to translate “success” across the
multicultural board. Subtle communications between the teacher and the
student can influence student achievement (Tenenbaum & Ruck, 2007). When
the cultural characteristics of the teacher differ significantly from those of the
students (and the students from those of their classmates), communications
can easily become muddled and misunderstood (Brown, 2007). For example, a
European-American teacher’s beliefs about student behavior during teachercentered instruction may be at distinct odds with those of some of her
students. What is exuberant participation in the eyes of the student may be
viewed as defiant disrespect in the eyes of the teacher (Mahon, 2006).
Interactions Between School and Home
Common sense tells us that parental involvement is central to student
success. Interestingly, parental involvement becomes even more pivotal when
students hail from low-income, multicultural populations. Research from the
Headstart program in the United States in the 1960s asserts that schools must
make special efforts to build rapport with and provide support to these
82
families (Landerholm, Gehrie, & Hao, 2004). Both teachers and parents agree
that communication is essential to a successful school-home relationship, but
each feels that the other is responsible for initiating communication (DeCastroAmbrose & Cho, 2005). The cultural divide that exists between many teachers
and parents tends to exacerbate this problem. Teachers still tend to view
parental involvement strictly as time spent “volunteering” in the classroom or
at school functions. Many low-income parents are single and work multiple
jobs, thus leaving them with little time for such interactions. Teachers tend
to rate these parents as “less involved” (Landerholm et al, 2004). Additionally,
teachers report believing that the home environment and lack of value that
parents place on education are main causes of student failure. When teachers
do make contact with parents, it is usually for negative reasons such as poor
grades or behavior. This further alienates parents from the school. In order for
students from diverse backgrounds to succeed, it is imperative that teachers
take the responsibility for initiating frequent, positive communication with
parents and families (DeCastro-Ambrose et al, 2005). School systems must
provide proper supports in order to facilitate this communication.
Suggestions from Field Experts
Research surmises that student achievement increases when classrooms
take on characteristics of the student’s home culture. When academic
subjects are situated relative to a student’s cultural context, learning becomes
personally meaningful and applicable, and, in turn, academic information is
more interesting and learning is facilitated (Brown, 2007). Teachers must be
enabled to create classroom environments that are welcoming to a wide variety
of learners and not just learners with backgrounds similar to the teacher. The
more aware a teacher is of cultural diversity, the more culturally relevant her
teaching practices become (Thomas & Kearney, 2008). Professional learning
programs must reach beyond the “touchy feely” and equip teachers with
concrete tools and strategies for transforming instruction (Solomon, Portelli,
Daniel, & Campbell, 2005). These programs should give teachers frank
and straightforward information about the cultures and home lives of their
students (Brown, 2007). Most importantly, professional learning programs
should stop treating multicultural education as a separate entity and begin
enmeshing culturally relevant teaching strategies throughout the entire
professional schema.
The purpose of this study is to ascertain which types of diversity training
the teachers at this school have received, from what sources this training has
come, which types of training have proven to be successful, and how the school
and system can improve diversity training programs in order to better serve
the needs of teachers and students. I expected to find that teachers do not feel
83
they have been properly trained in order to meet the needs of diverse learners.
I also expected to find that teachers have received a very narrow range of
types of diversity training. Finally, I expected that teachers have suggestions
and ideas on how to improve these types of training programs. I hoped to
engage teachers in a meaningful dialogue that will lead to the creation of more
effective training programs in the future.
METHOD
Participants and Setting
Participants teach at an elementary school located in a large suburban
area approximately 30 miles south of Atlanta. Currently, the school system
is one of the largest in the state of Georgia, serving approximately 40,000
students. The system has experienced exponential growth over the past
decade and, consequently, has experienced an unprecedented shift in racial
and socioeconomic demographics. The school involved in the study serves
an affluent enclave in a northern section of the county. School demographics
are not congruent with those of the rest of the county. For example, 42% of
all students enrolled in the county are African American compared to only
17% of this school’s students. This school’s student body is 77% Caucasian,
while countywide Caucasian students comprise only 46% of the student body.
Additionally, 38% of all county students qualify for free or reduced lunch, while
only 14% of this school’s students qualify (Georgia Department of Education,
2009). In recent years, this school’s demographics have begun to shift towards
being more in line with those of the rest of the county. This rapid shift in
student demographics has caused school personnel to reexamine teaching
practices and strategies to include students of various backgrounds.
This school employs 54 certified teachers. Of these, 51 are female and
three are male. All teachers classify themselves as Caucasian with the exception
of one African American teacher and one Asian teacher. Ten teachers hold the
Bachelor’s degree, 35 hold the Master’s degree, and nine hold the Specialist’s
degree. Teachers have an average of 18.74 years of teaching experience.
Twenty-one teachers have greater than 21 years of teaching experience
(Georgia Department of Education, 2009). Currently, there are no teachers at
the school with less than one year of teaching experience.
Diversity training practices currently utilized within the county are
dated, simplistic and usually involve one annual “professional learning” session
conducted by central office personnel. For instance, last year’s training was a
one-hour “diversity awareness” seminar. This seminar included a “get-to-knowyou” activity that involved teachers grouping themselves according to a colored
dot sticker. In schools where faculties work together every day, spending time
84
on activities such as this is wasteful and unproductive. The county delivered
an identical seminar to all elementary, middle, and high school faculties
regardless of individual school make-up or need. Individual schools may choose
to include additional diversity training programs at the discretion of school
administration, but the study’s target school did not offer or provide additional
training opportunities beyond the county’s mandated seminar.
Teachers at this school were invited to participate in this study. All
teachers were invited to participate in polls and surveys. Additionally, teachers
were invited to participate in strategy-sharing sessions, interviews, and round
table discussions.
Instrumentation
Teachers received a survey assessing their experience with diversity
training programs, perceived satisfaction with the quality of the training,
and implications for classroom practices. The author of the study created
the survey in order to ascertain teacher opinion and attitude toward current
diversity training programs offered by the school and school system. Questions
also addressed teacher attitudes toward administrative motivation behind
and design of diversity training programs. Additionally, the survey sought
to discover teacher attitudes toward working with students of diverse
backgrounds. In the pilot study, the author distributed the survey to a group
of fifteen teachers. The teachers completed the survey and included questions,
comments, and other feedback on the wording, purpose, and pertinence of each
survey item. The author used this information to further refine the survey for
use in the study..
In addition to information garnered through the survey, the author
conducted a focus group in order to discuss survey results. The focus group
discussion served to clarify and further explain opinions and attitudes
presented in the survey. All teachers were invited to participate, and five
teachers were willing to participate in this phase of the data collection process.
Procedure
The school principal signed a letter of consent granting permission for
the study to commence. No students were directly involved in this study.
The teacher sample was drawn from the entire faculty. Participating teachers
completed a survey asking for their opinions and feedback on the quality of
any diversity training they have had. Participation was on a voluntary basis
and teachers were asked to remain anonymous. Specific emphasis was placed on
training provided by the school and local school system. Additionally, willing
teachers met with the researcher in a small group for discussion of survey
results and strategy sharing. The goal of both the survey and small
85
group sessions was to glean information on teacher perception of diversity
training programs as well as gain insight into what steps can be taken to
improve diversity training programs. Teachers were also invited to submit
comments and ideas to the researcher anonymously if they did not feel
comfortable participating in a small group session. The study was designed to
last approximately ten weeks. Upon receipt and analysis of all collected data,
results will be compiled and shared with the school’s Leadership Team. Results
may be used to redesign diversity training programs within the school and
system in keeping with county and school Continuous Improvement Programs.
Data from the questionnaires was entered into a spreadsheet. Notes were
kept of responses from the structured interviews and other sources.
Design and Data Analysis
This descriptive study used mixed methods to determine the extent of
prior diversity training and the need for more training at the targeted school.
The survey question responses were compiled and recorded in percentages and
then entered into a table. These results were analyzed to determine strengths
and weakness (needs analysis) of the respondents.
The qualitative data from the focus group session notes were analyzed
for major themes, content similarities, suggestions for further training, etc.
Examples such as quotations from participants were used to illustrate common
or novel ideas. A revised diversity training plan may emerge from the overall
findings.
RESULTS
Approximately fifty surveys were distributed to certified teachers and
classified paraprofessionals within the school. Thirty-one surveys were
completed and returned. Among respondents, 90% reported their race as
being Caucasian, 7% reported Other, and 3% reported African American.
Respondents averaged 17.6 years of teaching experience.
An examination of survey results revealed that approximately three
quarters of educators in the sample group feel the school system clearly
recognizes a need for quality diversity training (Item 4). Over one-half of all
respondents reported that current training programs are not helpful (Item 7).
Only one-third of respondents reported feeling training programs are “indepth and thoughtful” and only one quarter of respondents reported that they
had gained “valuable instructional insight” from attending current training
programs (Items 8 & 9). Eighty-seven percent of respondents agreed that
school demographics are congruent with shifts within the county (Item 10).
Conversely, sixty-five percent of respondents reported feeling comfortable
86
communicating with the families of diverse students, and fifty-eight
percent reported feeling adequately prepared to teach students from diverse
backgrounds (Items 11 &12). Only forty-seven percent of respondents
reported feeling pressure from school administrators to ensure that students
from diverse backgrounds achieve at high levels (Item 13).
A focus group session was held in order to give participants an
opportunity to review and discuss the results of the survey. All teachers and
paraprofessionals were invited to attend. Due to time constraints and additional
after school obligations, attendance was low. Several teachers who were unable
to attend submitted written comments through e-mail. Only two teachers
participated in the face-to-face focus group session. A sampling of questions
posed during the discussion is included in Appendix B.
Comments from participants include the following:
“I feel diversity training is much more prevalent in other schools in our
school system. As our demographic continues to change, it is a subject we will
need to address in more depth at our school.”
“Training programs should address all cultures, not just AfricanAmerican.”
“It’s not that we don’t have training programs, it’s that they are ineffective
and elementary. We understand that we have more diversity, we get it – what
we need are strategies to help us bridge the gap.”
“It’s almost as if the county is saying to us, ‘Here are the results we want .
. . now you figure out how to do it.”
“Nobody wants to talk about the real issues. Nobody wants to say the
truth.”
“We already have no time, no planning, and no help. We don’t need more
training programs. We need help.”
“Nothing is going to change until we all start to think about diversity
differently and not just in black and white.”
“The frustration level is high. We can’t do everything alone.”
“Nobody at the county level talks to each other. They are all asking us to
do different things without knowing what we’ve already been asked to do. Most
of the time the assignments we are given contradict other assignments.”
“Why do all of the schools get the exact same diversity training program?
None of the schools are the same. Isn’t that kind of the point of diversity and
teaching?”
DISCUSSION
Teachers are clearly disillusioned with the current quality of diversity
training programs offered by the school system. Teachers report being
87
asked to make great strides with groups of diverse learners without being
offered adequate training by knowledgeable presenters. Diversity training is
considered another “hoop through which to jump,” rather than an opportunity
for real discussion and professional growth. Teachers desire programming with
classroom applicability rather than “one size fits all” seminars. Additionally,
some survey findings suggest that there are large numbers of teachers who
do not feel any change needs to take place at all. This could be interpreted as a
sign that teachers are not aware of the exact nature of the diverse learner and
the different instructional and psychological strategies that are appropriate and
effective in dealing with diverse groups of learners.
The findings are troublesome in that the results seem to suggest a
disconnection between teachers and the need for greater understanding
and change in instructional strategy in order to serve students of diverse
backgrounds most effectively. During the focus group discussion, there was
an overwhelming sense of frustration and gloom as teachers discussed their
experiences with diversity training. While the teachers who participated
did agree that there is a definite need to recognize the different perspectives,
learning styles, and cultural differences between groups, they did not feel that
school and county administrators had any tangible answers as to how teachers
should address these issues in the classroom. Teachers consistently referred
to professional learning programs involving diversity as being theoretical
in nature with no real world application. Survey results echo this sentiment.
Teachers seem to desire more thoughtful and classroom-applicable diversity
training. Without real-world strategies and ideas, many teachers feel these
training programs are simply “fluff and filler” seminars that take them away
from their myriad other classroom duties.
Of particular concern is the lack of urgency that seems to be inherent
on both the part of the teachers and the county office administrators creating
and implementing diversity training programs in the school system. With one
countywide training session per year given to all schools in the same manner
and the ensuing disillusionment on the part of the teachers receiving the
training, it seems as though thoughtful attention is not being devoted to an
increasingly critical component of effective classroom strategy. At the same
time, local, state, and national mandates continue to demand students from
these subgroups achieve at consistently high academic levels. Given the rapidly
changing nature of diversity in the county, professional learning in this area
should be pioneering and innovative, not repetitive and shallow.
In what direction should future professional learning move? One
suggestion would be to create a countywide committee comprised of teacher
representatives devoted to developing effective and well-received diversity
training programs. By soliciting teacher input, programming could be
88
designed to address the areas in which the greatest needs are felt. Additionally,
by making teachers an integrated component of the professional learning
machine, teachers would feel validation that their concerns are being addressed
and their needs met.
Another suggestion for improvement is to create professional learning
programs that are data-driven and tailored to the particular needs of individual
schools. Doing this would maximize time spent in the sessions. Teachers
would only hear the information and strategies most pertinent to each school’s
particular situation. Teachers working in elementary schools where a majority
of students do not speak English have different needs than high school
teachers working with low-income, inner city African American students.
Sessions in which teachers are afforded the opportunity to share experiences
and strategies in an open and non-threatening environment would prove more
beneficial and productive than time spent in cookie-cutter programs that do
little more than state repeatedly, “we are all different.” By allowing teachers to
directly influence the content of diversity training programs, areas of need can
be targeted and instructional implications maximized.
In a time when economic resources are scarce and teachers must work in
overdrive to effect change, professional development programs must, more than
ever before, be justified in the time they take teachers away from their other
duties, be valid in their content, and maximize classroom results. As American
classrooms become increasingly diverse, it will become critically important
that school systems prepare teachers to face the new and unique challenges this
shift presents. We must not allow budgetary constraints, personal differences,
or lackadaisical attitudes to act as blinders to this reality. In order to continue
to meet the challenges of the 21st century classroom and world, teachers and
students deserve nothing less than thoughtful, useful, and dynamic diversity
training programs.
Table 1: Survey Results from the 31 Participants
_______________________________________________________________
Instructions: Rate each of the following statements according to the following
scale:
SD=Strongly Disagree
D=Disagree
A=Agree
SA=Strongly Agree
89
Table 1: (con’t.)
SD
3%
D
41%
A
45%
3%
42%
48%
9%
39%
45%
0%
26%
68%
10%
48%
35%
7%
43%
40%
13%
48%
32%
10%
55%
32%
13%
58%
26%
0%
13%
68%
3%
39%
42%
0%
35%
45%
SA
10% 1. My school system’s professional
learning program emphasizes
multicultural components that adequately
equip me to teach students from diverse
backgrounds.
6% 2. Diversity training programs in my
school system are effective.
6% 3. Diversity training programs in my
school system provide effective instructional strategies for working with students from diverse backgrounds.
6% 4. My school system recognizes a need for
better diversity training for teachers.
6% 5. My school system provides me with
the tools I need in order to help students
from diverse backgrounds achieve academic success.
10% 6. I feel diversity training provided by my
school system is adequate.
6% 7. Diversity training programs offered by
my school system are helpful to me.
3% 8. Diversity training programs offered
by my school system are in-depth and
thoughtful.
3% 9. I have gained valuable instructional
insight from my participation in school
system diversity training program.
19% 10. The student population of my school
reflects changing trends in the demographics of my county.
16% 11. I feel adequately prepared to teach
students from diverse backgrounds.
19% 12. I feel comfortable communicating
with parents from diverse backgrounds.
90
Table 1: (con’t)
SD
3%
D
50%
A
27%
10%
48%
29%
7%
20%
50%
SA
20% 13. I feel pressure from my school administration to ensure that students from diverse backgrounds achieve at high levels.
13% 14. There is a need within my school for
effective diversity training.
23% 15. I have paticipated in some type of
system-level diversity training over the
last twelve months.
I have 17.6 (avg. from respondents) years teaching experience.
My race is:
African American:
Asian:
Caucasian:
Hispanic / Latino:
Other:
3%
0%
90%
0%
7%
Appendix A: Teacher Diversity Training Questionnaire
Instructions: Rate each of the following statements according to the following
scale:
SD=Strongly Disagree
D=Disagree
A=Agree
SA=Strongly Agree
SD
D
A
SA
1. My school system’s professional
learning program emphasizes
multicultural components that adequately
equip me to teach students from diverse
backgrounds.
2. Diversity training programs in my
school system are effective.
91
Appendix A: (con’t.)
SD
D
A
SA
3. Diversity training programs in my
school system provide effective instructional strategies for working with students from diverse backgrounds.
4. My school system recognizes a need
for better diversity training for teachers.
5. My school system provides me with
the tools I need in order to help students
from diverse backgrounds achieve academic success.
6. I feel diversity training provided by my
school system is adequate.
7. Diversity training programs offered by
my school system are helpful to me.
8. Diversity training programs offered
by my school system are in-depth and
thoughtful.
9. I have gained valuable instructional
insight from my participation in school
system diversity training program.
10. The student population of my school
reflects changing trends in the demographics of my county.
11. I feel adequately prepared to teach
students from diverse backgrounds.
12. I feel comfortable communicating
with parents from diverse backgrounds.
13. I feel pressure from my school administration to ensure that students from diverse backgrounds achieve at high levels.
14. There is a need within my school for
effective diversity training.
15. I have paticipated in some type of
system-level diversity training over the
last twelve months.
92
I have _____ years teaching experience.
My race is:
African American
Asian
Caucasian
Hispanic / Latino
Other
Appendix B: Possible open-ended questions for use in interviews and strategy sharing
sessions.
• In your opinion, are your school system’s diversity training programs
effective?
• What types of diversity training have you received during your
undergraduate, graduate, and professional learning educations?
• What types of training have you found beneficial?
• Do you feel diversity training is necessary?
• What about your experiences with diversity training have appealed to
you?
• Have you had negative experiences with diversity training programs?
• How do you feel when you attend diversity training programs?
• What specific elements you would like to see included in diversity
training programs?
• Have you gained valuable instructional strategies from diversity training
programs?
• Do you feel your school system values diversity training for teachers?
• What ideas do you have for valuable diversity training sessions?
• Does your school offer resources for teachers attempting to initiate
communication with parents of students with diverse backgrounds?
• Do you believe students from diverse backgrounds feel welcome in your
school?
• What is your definition of diversity training?
• What is the value of diversity training?
• Do you feel supported/informed in teaching students from diverse
backgrounds?
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Tucker, C. M., Porter, T., Reinke, W. M., Herman, K. C., Ivery, P. D., Mack,
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Health Sciences
Health Sciences
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98
Talocrural Dislocation
Talocrural Dislocation with an Associated
Fibular Fracture: A Case Report
Mitchell B. Duncan
Dr. Kirk Armstrong
Faculty Sponsor
ABSTRACT
A 20-year-old football left defensive end was running on the field when he
was blocked by an opponent. The patient’s right ankle everted, plantarflexed,
and externally rotated while the foot remained planted on the ground. Onthe-field evaluation found obvious deformity in the right ankle. The athletic
training staff immediately splinted the ankle with a vacuum splint, and the
on-site EMTs transported the patient to the hospital. Radiographs taken at
the hospital revealed a dislocation of the right talocrural joint and fracture of
the right distal fibula. Radiographs revealed calcification in the syndesmosis
region, indicative of a previous syndesmotic sprain that was not managed
appropriately, which left a separation between the tibia and fibula. This
separation put additional pressure on the fibula, which predisposed the patient
to fracturing the fibula and dislocating the talus. The patient underwent an
open-reduction, internal fixation (ORIF) procedure to stabilize the right fibula
and reduce the talocrural dislocation. The patient then completed conservative
treatment and rehabilitation to increase range of motion, decrease edema,
strengthen the ankle musculature, and improve proprioception. The previous
unmanaged syndesmotic ankle sprain likely predisposed the patient to the
talocrural dislocation and fibula fracture. Proper recognition, evaluation, and
management of this injury were crucial in providing optimal care to this
patient.
INTRODUCTION
Football is a competitive contact sport that combines high velocity
movement with high impact collisions. Together, these characteristics
create the potential for a multitude of serious injuries. The most common
injury reported between 1988-2004 were internal knee derangements, with
ligamentous sprains of the ankle as the second most common injury. In the
spring season sports, ankle sprains accounted for 13.9% of the total injuries
sustained, while 11.8% of all injuries in the fall season sports were ankle
sprains. In all, ankle sprains accounted for 15.9% of the total injuries sustained.
It was reported that ankle sprains constituted 12.4% of the severe injuries
99
sustained during athletic competitions. Severe injuries were those characterized
by an injury that required more than 10 days loss from participation.1
The fibula is tucked into a bony groove formed by the anterior and posterior
tibial processes, which provides stabilization. The primary stabilizers of the
ankle and syndesmosis are its ligaments and the interroseous membrane.
The ankle joint is made up of three primary sets of ligaments: medial
ligaments, lateral ligaments, and syndesmosis ligaments. The medial ligament
is referred to as the deltoid ligament, which consists of four distinct bands:
anterior tibiotalar band, posterior tibiotalar band, tibionavicular band, and the
tibiocalcaneal band. The medial ligaments are often sprained as a result of
excessive eversion motions at the ankle joint. The primary lateral ligaments of
the ankle are the anterior talofibular ligament, posterior talofibular ligament,
and calcaneofibular ligament. The lateral ligaments are often sprained as a
result of excessive inversion and/or plantarflexion motions. The primary
syndesmosis ligaments are the anterior and posterior tibiofibular ligaments.
The interosseous membrane is often included as part of the syndesmosis.2
Syndesmosis injuries often result from excessive rotary motion in conjunction
with ankle dorsiflexion.2-6
There is debate on the mechanism of syndesmotic sprains, but the
most commonly accepted mechanism is external rotation with the ankle
in a dorsiflexed and pronated position.3,5 It has also been shown that
hyperdorsiflexion, eversion, inversion, plantarflexion, pronation, and internal
rotation can be mechanisms for a syndesmotic sprain.6 The two primary
ligaments that provide stabilization at the syndesmosis are the anterior and
posterior tibiofibular ligaments. The anterior band of the tibiofibular ligament
is 18 mm wide and between 2-4 mm thick. The posterior tibiofibular ligament
is 18 mm wide and 6 mm thick.5 The stability of these ligaments is one reason
that syndesmotic sprains are not as prevalent with an ankle injury as lateral
ankle sprains.3,6 It is estimated that approximately 20% of severe ankle injuries
are those that involve the distal syndesmosis ligaments.6
Initial treatment of a syndesmotic sprain is splinting and nonweightbearing.2,5-7 Poor treatment of a syndesmotic sprain can lead to
tibiofibular diastasis. Diastasis can be diagnosed by an anteroposterior
radiograph, and is identified by an added separation of 6 mm or greater
between the tibia and fibula.5 The classic treatment of syndesmotic diastasis
is surgical intervention requiring one to two screws inserted through the
fibula into the tibia. This intervention requires a second surgery to remove the
hardware or the joint will remain too stiff. Bearing full weight with screws in
the syndesmosis can damage or loosen the hardware.8
A newer corrective procedure involves an Arthrex tightrope mechanism to
reduce the separation between the tibia and fibula to stabilize the syndesmosis.
100
During this procedure, an endobutton and suture are used to decrease the
sydesmosis diastasis. This type of surgery has been shown to decrease the time
to full weight-bearing status compared to the traditional surgical method.8
The endobutton allows for some movement at the distal tibiofibular joint,
eliminating the need for a second surgery.
As stated previously, lateral ankle injuries are common in sports
participation. Several researchers have examined lateral ankle injuries
involving a talocrural dislocation and fibular fracture. 4,9-11 Previous research
has not identified predisposing conditions that could lead to this injury.4 The
following case report describes a collegiate football player with a history of
an unmanaged syndesmosis sprain, and attempts to link the previous injury
to the talocrural dislocation and fibula fracture. This case report utilizes at
a non-traditional surgery used to stabilize the syndesmotic diastasis, clearly
illustrating the importance of understanding a syndesmotic ankle sprain
and the proper management and evaluation of this injury during the initial
evaluation.
PERSONAL DATA
The patient is a 20-year-old collegiate football defensive end (6’5”, 286
pounds) at a Southeastern institution, a member of the National Junior College
Athletic Association. The patient was competing in his first game of the season
after red-shirting his first season of eligibility. The injury occurred near the
end of the second quarter when the patient was blocked by an opponent.
His right ankle everted, plantarflexed, and externally rotated while the foot
remained planted on the ground. When the Certified Athletic Trainers (ATs)
arrived on the scene, the patient was on his back with his right foot externally
rotated. Both ATs recognized an obvious deformity in the patient’s ankle. The
ankle was splinted using a vacuum splint for immobilization. The patient was
then placed on a stretcher provided by the on-site EMTs and was taken to the
local hospital.
At the hospital, radiographs were taken of the right ankle. Upon review of
the radiographs, the orthopedic surgeon noticed calcification between the distal
tibia and fibula. The orthopedic surgeon determined that the interosseous
membrane and the anterior and posterior tibiofibular ligaments were stretched,
causing a medial shift in the position of the tibia. Radiographs also revealed
calcification between the distal tibia and fibula. The continual stress on the
syndesmosis caused the calcification formed between the tibia and fibula to
inhibit further medial shift of the tibia.
101
Medical History
During a discussion, the patient revealed that he had sustained a
substantial right ankle sprain during this senior year of high school (2 years
prior). The high school did not have a Certified Athletic Trainer on-site, and
the patient reported that he continued to play on the sprained right ankle.
The patient explained that he did not have his ankle examined or treated after
this injury, but that he continued to play on the injured ankle. He explained a
similar mechanism to the current injury, having run around an opponent and
having his foot caught underneath him. The opponent then fell on the patient,
causing his ankle to evert, resulting in a loud “pop.”
Prior to the injury, gait observation noted that the patient walked with
his right foot externally rotated, and that he was flat footed, pes planus. An
externally rotated foot may be a sign of ankle diastasis since external rotation
is the primary mechanism of a syndesmotic sprain.2-6 It would make sense
that stretched syndesmosis ligaments with diastasis would allow the foot to
remain in an externally rotated position. Ankle diastasis can occur after a major
syndesmotic sprain. When a syndesmotic sprain is mismanaged, the tibiofibular
ligaments and the interroseous membrane stretch, allowing the tibia to shift
medially.
DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT, CLINICAL COURSE
Initial Management and Surgical Intervention
The gross deformity of the lower leg and ankle joint warranted the
orthopedic surgeon to use fluoroscopic images to diagnose the talocrural
dislocation and fibular fracture. The dislocation was reduced under sedation,
and the lower leg, including the ankle joint, was splinted using a gutter splint.
A computed tomography (CT) scan was utilized to confirm the diagnosis
of a fractured fibula and confirm that there were no other injuries in the
syndesmosis (See Figure 1). The fibular fracture was diagnosed as a transverse
fracture with a butterfly fragment in the posterior aspect. The patient was
instructed to follow-up with his team physician upon returning from the away
trip.
The day the patient returned from the competition, the team orthopedic
surgeon examined him and placed him in a fracture boot with crutches
for ambulation. The orthopedic surgeon explained that the amount of
edema in the foot and ankle were too great to perform surgery; however,
reconstructive surgery would be performed once the edema had subsided. The
patient underwent surgery to stabilize the fibula and reduce the syndesmosis
separation seven days later.
The orthopedic surgeon explained that the previous ankle injury made
102
it difficult to determine if the syndesmosis could be reduced completely. The
surgeon chose an Arthrex tight rope syndesmotic repair device, which uses
endobuttons and sutures to reduce the synedsmosis rather than screws to
repair the syndesmosis separation. Because of the large extent of syndesmosis
separation, the surgeon determined that a semi-tubular lock plate was also
needed for stabilization. The surgeon secured the semi-tubular lock plate with
locking screws proximal and distal to the fracture, with one additional standard
cortical screw over the proximal aspect, and the tight rope syndesmotic repair
device in the most distal hole of the plate. Near normal anatomical alignment
was obtained after the procedure was complete (See Figure 2).
Post-Surgical Rehabilitation
After surgery, the patient remained in the fracture boot and relied on
crutches for ambulation for three weeks. The rehabilitation exercises for
the first 2 weeks post-operatively focused on increasing range of motion in
the sagittal and coronal planes, as well as increasing contractibility of the
ankle musclulature, including the anterior tibialis, gastrocnemius, soleus,
and peroneals. At week 3, crutches were discontinued as tolerated and gait
training in the fracture boot was incorporated. At this point, a Dynasplint
was fitted to the patient, and was also added to his stretching outline for both
plantarflexion and dorsiflexion. The Dynasplint system was chosen because it
used slow prolonged stretches to increase range of motion (ROM). The braces
(plantarflexion and dorsiflexion) were worn for 30 minutes each, and were
extended to one hour after acclimatization. ROM had increased to 18 degrees
plantarflexion and 10 degrees dorsiflexion at 4 weeks post-operatively. 20
degrees of motion were also added to the fracture boot to promote increased
ROM and allow for normal gait. A summary of the ROM exercise progression
can be found in Table 1.
Simple proprioceptive exercises were added at week 4, with the
discontinuation of crutches. Cardiovascular exercises were also added to the
rehabilitation exercises, in the form of non-weightbearing cycling. At week 7,
gait training without the fracture boot was added, with the intention that the
boot could be phased out and discontinued. The fracture boot was discontinued
at week 9, and one week later (week 10) light plyometric exercises of the lower
leg were added to the rehabilitation program, including jump rope. The patient
began light jogging on grass.
The patient was given a home exercise program to complete during
Winter Break, while home for the holidays (weeks 13-18). The patient was
given a home exercise program including exercises to maintain ROM and
increase strength. A summary of strengthening exercise progression can be
found in Table 2.
103
The patient returned to school at 18 weeks post-operative. ROM had
increased to 50 degrees plantar flexion; however, dorsiflexion remained at 10
degrees. Because of this deficit, the patient began using a moist heat pack with
his dorsiflexion Dynasplint to aid in the stretch. In addition to ROM exercises,
multi-joint exercises were added, including tire push, tire flip, figure-8, and
T-drill. Proprioceptive exercises were added to emphasize neuromuscular
control, including single-leg balance on a dynadisc, mini squats and singleleg squats on a dynadisc, and single-leg football toss on a mini trampoline. A
summary of proprioceptive exercise progression can be found in Table 3.
At week 21 post-operative, the patient was released to workout and run
as tolerated with the team. It was determined that the patient was lacking
calf strength. Rehabilitative exercises were added to focus on this muscular
weakness. After running with the team for a few days, the patient complained
of soreness along the medial aspect of the ankle and foot. The athletic training
staff determined that the pain was from tenosynovitis of the flexor hallicus
tendon. Conservative treatment, including moist heat packs, therapeutic
ultrasound, massage, and stretching of the tendon were used to alleviate the
pain.
ROM gains had begun to plateau, and the use of Dynasplints was
discontinued. Propioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching
was began to regain the remaining ankle ROM. At week 25, soreness along
the medial aspect of the ankle had been eliminated. Functional activities
were added to the rehabilitation program to increase functional return to full
activity. The octagon exercise was added, where the patient was instructed to
jump in and out of each side of the octagon. The patient was given a home
exercise program of proprioceptive exercises for weeks 28 and 29, with
instructions that his functional return to play status would be evaluated upon
his return.
Criteria for Return to Play
The orthopedic surgeon and athletic training staff determined that the
patient must have full ROM before completing any functional or strengths
tests. The patient must also obtain full strength (5/5) on strength tests in
plantarflexion and dorsiflexion with the absence of pain. At week 30 postoperative, all ROM and strength tests were completed successfully. The
orthopedic physician also determined that return to play would be based upon
several different functional tests, including the Star Excursion Balance Test
(SEBT) and other sport specific activities.
The SEBT was performed by creating a “star” out of athletic tape with
each line 45o from the adjacent line. The patient stood at the apex of the star
on his right leg and was instructed to reach out as far as he could along each
104
line of tape with his left leg. After each touch, he would come back to the
original stance position and then repeat touching each line clock-wise around
the star. The patient completed two practice trials of the test, and then
completed the test three times to assess his functional return to play. An
average at each position was determined and compared with the uninjured left
leg. A small difference was found between the mean scores of the right and left
foot in each direction; however, the overall mean score of the right foot was
77.1 cm compared to 77.8 cm for the left foot. A difference of less than 1 cm
was determined not significant. A summary of SEBT results can be found in
Table 4.
Additional functional movement tests included the 40-yard dash, with the
patient starting in his defensive stance. In addition, a 10-yard back pedal, turn,
and 10-yard sprint test was used. As determined by the orthopedic surgeon, the
patient completed the each test without any pain or abnormal changes in gait.
Sagittal and coronal plane motions were included in functional tests,
including the figure-eight test and a t-test. The figure-8 test was completed
by placing two loops beside each other that were approximately 15 feet in
diameter. The patient ran around the loops in a figure-eight pattern from his
positional stance. He completed this test without any pain or change in gait.
The patient was able to complete all of the tests without any dysfunction
or pain. He was then cleared to participate fully in spring practice, with
prophylactic taping during practice sessions. A summary of return to play
activities and criteria can be found in Table 5.
Deviation for Expectations
The uniqueness in this injury resides in the improper management of the
previous right ankle injury sustained two years prior to the current injury.
Previous research has not examined a link between an improperly managed
syndesmotic sprain as a predisposing factor to a talocrural dislocation or
fibular fracture. In the current case, the orthopedic surgeon hypothesized that
the diastasis between the fibula and tibia due to a previous syndesmotic sprain
added pressure on the fibula. The medial shift of the tibia created additional
pressure on the fibula, which was a predisposing factor for the talocrural
dislocation and fibular fracture.
Syndesmotic ankle sprains are considered the most serious of ankle
sprains and are the most difficult to stabilize. Initial management should
include proper splinting and non weight-bearing ambulation, depending on the
severity of the injury. This case serves as an example to clearly illustrate the
importance of understanding syndesmotic ankle sprains and how they present
during the initial evaluation. Proper recognition, evaluation, and management
of this situation were crucial in providing this patient with optimal care and a
105
favorable long-term prognosis.
Table 1: Overview of Range of Motion Rehabilitative Exercise Progression
Week
Range of Motion Exercises
1 Joint Mobilizations
Passive
Active ROM
(Midfoot, Talar, &
ROM
(PF, DF,
Subtalar)
(PF, DF,
Inversion, &
Inversion, & Eversion, 2 x 5
Eversion, 2
each)
x 5 each)
2-3
Passive ROM
Active
(PF, DF, Inversion,
ROM
& Eversion, 3 x 10
(PF, DF,
each) Inversion, &
Eversion, 3
x 10 each)
4-6
Passive ROM
Active
(PF, DF, Inversion,
ROM
& Eversion, 3 x 15
(PF, DF,
each) Inversion, &
Eversion, 3
x 15 each)
7-13
Dynasplint
(PF & DF x 1 hour
each)
18-20
Dynasplint with
Moist Heat Pack
(PF & DF x 1 hour
each)
106
Nonweightbearing
Dynadisc
(PF & DF,
Inversion &
Eversion, &
Circles, 3 x 10
each)
Dynasplint
(PF & DF x 1
hour each)
Non-weightbearing Dyn
disc
(PF & DF,
Inversion &
Eversion, &
Circles, 2 x 5
each)
Dynasplint
(PF & DF x 30
min each)
Table 1: (con’t)
Week
21-28
Range of Motion Exercises
PNF Stretching
(PF with Digit
Flexion & DF
with Digit
Extension x 5
min. each)
DF= Dorsiflexion
PF= Plantar Flexion
Table 2: Overview of Strengthening Rehabilitative Exercise Progression
Week
1
2-3
4-6
7-9
10-12
13-17
Theraband
(PF, DF, Inversion, & Eversion
2 x 10 with Blue
T-band)
Theraband
3 x 15 with Blue
T-band)
Theraband
3 x 10 with Black
T-band)
Dynadisc heel
raises
(3 x 3 min.)
Dynadisc Heel
Raises
(3 x 3 min.)
Walking Lunge
(4 x 15 yards)
Strengthening Exercises
Non-weightbearing
Dynadisc
(PF & DF, Inversion &
Eversion, & Circles)
Non-weightbearing
Dynadisc
Non-weightbearing Stationary
Dynadisc
Bike
(10 min.)
Bike and elliptical
(10 min. each)
Elliptical and Jogging
on Grass
(15 min. and 5 min.)
Jogging on Grass (2 x
5 min.)
107
Jump Bilateral
Rope Heel Lifts
(3 x 1
(4 x 10)
min.)
Jump Bilateral
Rope (3 x Heel (3 x
1.5 min.)
20)
Table 2: Overview of Strengthening Rehabilitative Exercise Progression (con’t.)
Week
18-20
21-24
25-26
27
28
Bilateral Heel
Raises
(3 x 10 @ 40
lbs.)
Seated Soleus
Heel Raises
(3 x 10 @ 45
lbs.)
Seated Soleus
Heel Raises
(3 x 10 @ 60
lbs.)
Octagon Exercise
(3 x 1 min.)
Jump Rope
(3 x 2 min.)
Stengthening Exercises
Assisted
Multi-joint exercises
Single-leg Heel (Tire push, Tire flip, figure-8, &
Raises
T-drill)
(3 x 10)
Single-leg
Assisted Dynadisc Heel
Ankle Press Single-leg Heel
Raises
(3 x 12 @ 140
Raises
(3 x 3 min.)
lbs. and final
(3 x 10)
set to exhaustion)
Single-leg
Assisted Dynadisc Heel
Ankle Press Single-leg Heel
Raises
(4 x 6 @ 200,
Raises
(3 x 3 min.)
190, 180, 160)
(3 x 15)
Assisted Takeoffs
(2 x 5)
Lateral Line Single-leg Heel
Jump
Raise
(3 x 1 min.)
(3 x 10)
DF= Dorsiflexion
PF= Plantar Flexion
Table 3: Overview of Proprioceptive Rehabilitative Exercise Progression
Week
2-3
4-6
Proprioceptive Exercises
Gait Training
in Boot
Gait Training
in Boot
Single-leg Balance
(ground, 3 x
30 s.)
108
Heel-to-toe
Walking
(3 x 10 yards)
Table 3: Overview of Proprioceptive Rehabilitative Exercise Progression (con’t.)
Week
7-9
10-12
13-17
18-20
21-24
25
Gait Training
without Boot
Single-leg Balance
(Dynadisc, 3 x
1 min.)
Walking on
Toes
(3 x 20 yards)
Single-leg Balance
(Dynadisc, 3 x
3 min.)
Single-leg
Football Toss
(Trampoline, 3
x 15)
Single-leg
Football Toss
(Trampoline 4
x 15)
Proprioceptive Exercises
Single-leg BalSingle-leg
ance
Football Toss
(Trampoline, 3 (Ground, 3 x 5)
x 1 min.)
Single-leg
football toss
(Ground, 3 x
10)
Single-leg Balance
(Folded Towel,
4 x 2 min.)
Single-leg
Football Toss
(Trampoline, 4
x 10)
Dynadisc
Squats
(3 x 10)
Dynadisc
Squats
(3 x 15)
Heel-to-toe
Walking and
Walking on
Toes
(3 x 10 yards
each)
Walking on
toes
(4 x 15 yards)
Dynadisc
Squats
(3 x 10)
Single-leg
Squat
(Trampoline,
2 x 5)
Single-leg
Squat
(Dynadisc, 2
x 10)
Single-leg
Squat
(Dynadisc, 3
x 10)
Table 4: Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) Results
Direction
Anterior
Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) Results
Right Limb Average (cm) Left Limb Average (cm)
(cm)
(cm)
54
61.3
70
73
63.5
72.5
66.5
76.5
109
Table 4: Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) Results (con’t.)
Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) Results
Direction
Right Limb Average (cm) Left Limb
(cm)
(cm)
52
60.7
54
Anterolateral
59
57
71
61
54
68.2
50.5
Lateral
71
54
79.5
61
83.7
84.5
Posterolateral 76.6
85
89.5
89.5
93
79
84.2
81
Posterior
86
86
87.5
90
96.8
97
Posteromedial 92
96.5
101
102
103.5
76
82
74
Medial
82.5
77
87.5
82.5
80
76
Anteromedial 75.5
80
83.5
84.5
93
Average
77.1
Average (cm)
57.3
55.2
89
85.7
100.5
77.8
77.8
Table 5: Return to Play Tests, Completion Criteria, and Results
Tests
ROM
Criteria
PF=50
DF=15
Inversion=35
Eversion=25
Purpose
Results
Range of Motion PF=53
DF=20
Inversion=36
Eversion=25
110
Table 5: Return to Play Tests, Completion Criteria, and Results (con’t.)
Tests
Isometric Strength
SEBT
40-yard-dash
Criteria
5/5 in PF, DF,
IR, and ER
No significant
difference
between right
and left limb
No pain or
change in gait
Back-pedal with
Sprint
No pain or
change in gait
Figure-eight
No pain or
change in gait
T-Test
No pain or
change in gait
Purpose
Strength
Results
5/5 in PF, DF,
IR, and ER
Dynamic Balance Right limb=
77.1cm
Left limb=
77.8cm
Movement in the No pain or
sagittal plane
change in gait
was noticed
Movement in
No pain or
the sagittal pain
change in gait
with a turn in the was noticed
transverse plane
Movement in the No pain or
sagittal, coronal, change in gait
and transverse
was noticed
planes
Movement in
No pain or
the sagittal, and
change in gait
coronal plane
was noticed
with change of
direction
DF= Dorsiflextion
PF= Plantar Flexion
IR= Internal Rotation
ER= External Rotation
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112
Multifacted Analysis
Multifaceted Analysis of Stress and its
Physiological Effects
Kathleen R. Ragan
Dr. Scott M. Butler
Faculty Sponsor
Stress is a concept that is difficult to define; yet, it is experienced on a daily
basis by millions of people in our culture. According to the American Institute
of Stress (AIS), stress is often triggered by demanding situations throughout
the day and, if it accumulates, can have detrimental, long-term effects (AIS,
2009a). The complexities of stress result in a phenomenon that is often difficult
for scientists to define, conceptualize, and empirically assess. Currently, there
are several classifications and levels of stress as well as varying personality
types that influence how one copes with stressors (Health Stress Wellness,
2009). Certain amounts of stress have proven to be beneficial and are seen
as an essential component to life fulfillment. However, when stress begins to
dominate one’s life, the side effects can be debilitating and even disastrous to
one’s health (AIS, 2009a).
The concept of stress is subjective and highly individualistic, leaving
the etiological elements of distress (i.e., the “negative” form of stress) often
multi-factorial. The development of distress is often provoked by occupational,
financial, social, or environmental factors (AIS, 2009b). Several studies suggest
that severe amounts of stress may lead to an increased risk for diseases, drug
abuse relapse, and suicide (American Psychiatric Assoication, 2009; Miller
& Smith, 2004; National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, 2008;
National Insitute on Drug Abuse, 2005). There are many methods that can
help individuals learn to deal with stress effectively, which may counteract
dangerous long term side-effects (American Psychological Association, 2007a).
Assessment of the current research on stress, including the many means in
which stress affects our emotional and physical health, is crucial for the fastpaced modern world. In addition, the identification of stress management and
prevention techniques is necessary to combat the negative effects of stress. The
purpose of this literature review is to examine the physiological, emotional,
and mental aspects of stress and to identify its effects upon health.
History
The terms isonomia and disharmony surfaced as early as the 6th century
BCE and were used by the philosophers Pythagoras and Alkmaeon to
respectively express the modern terms homeostasis and distress. A century
later, Hippocrates began linking health to proper homeostasis, and disease
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to disturbed or threatened homeostasis (Tsigos & Chrousos, 2006). In other
words, ancient Greek history suggests what researchers are still in the process
of rediscovering today – that homeostasis and positive levels of stress appear
to be directly related to health while poor body balance is related to morbidity
and mortality. The term ‘homeostasis,’ coined by Cannon circa 1930, is used to
“describe the maintenance within acceptable ranges of several physiological
variables, such as blood glucose, oxygen tension and core temperature”
(Goldstein & Kopan, 2007, p. 109). According to noted stress researcher
Walter Cannon, when the body’s homeostasis level is threatened, activation
of the sympathetic nervous system occurs to restore the body’s homeostasis.
Cannon coined this process as the stress response, more commonly known as
the fight or flight response. This response can occur due to physical stressors
(such as traumatic pain), non-physical stressors (such as emotional distress),
real threats, or perceived threats (Goldstein & Kopan, 2007). Furthermore,
according to Tsigos and Chrousos (2006), periods of stress may facilitate the
“fight or flight reaction,” a state accompanied by increased cardiac output,
respiration, catabolism, and increased blood flow to the brain, heart and
muscles.
Another pioneer in stress history was Canadian endocrinologist Hans
Selye. Selye is credited with redefining and popularizing stress and for
developing three universal stages of coping with a stressor, known as the
general adaptation syndrome (GAS). According to Tsigos and Chrousos
(2006), Selye conceptualized GAS as a “stereotypic, nonspecific” reaction
associated with prolonged stress which can take the form of either physical or
psychological. The first stage, alarm reaction, is analogous to Cannon’s fight
or flight response. Resistance, the second stage, includes a stage of adaptation
where the body develops a resistance to the stressor or alarm. The last stage,
exhaustion, is a stage of organismic death where one or more targeted organs
begin to fail (Goldstein & Kopan, 2007).
Types of Stress
There are many social constructions of the word stress, and, hence, varied
cultural meanings surrounding stress-related concepts and their ability to
impact health. Despite this, two general categories have readily evolved into
modern health-related discourse: eustress and distress. Eustress, literally
meaning ‘good stress,’ is considered to be the positive stress response and
plays a significant role in achieving motivation and idealized performance
(Nelson & Cooper, 2005). According to Nelson and Cooper (2005) there are a
variety of potential indicators of eustress such as hope, meaningfulness, and
manageability. According to Nelson and Cooper’s editorial, most individuals
prefer eustress and actually enjoy the positive response to demands they
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encounter at work.
Distress, or ‘bad stress,’ is commonly viewed as the opposite of eustress
and is generally what people are referring to when discussing stress in
everyday discourse. There are two main types of distress: acute and chronic.
Acute distress is the most prevalent form and most people are able to
recognize its affiliated symptoms. Extensive damage does not occur due to
acute distress because it is only a short term occurrence. Some of the most
common symptoms include: emotional distress, muscular problems such as
tension headaches, back or jaw pain, and stomach, gut, and bowel problems
such as heartburn and acid stomach. Individuals who frequently suffer
from reoccurring acute distress fall under the category of “episodic.” These
individuals commonly exhibit excessive ‘nervous energy’ and are always
pursuing tasks. Ceaseless worriers, episodic acute distress sufferers often
pursue excessive tasks and are commonly unaware that a lifestyle problem
exists (Miller & Smith, 2004).
The second type of distress, chronic, is often very detrimental. Chronic
distress includes financial, relationship, and occupational worries that tend to
degrade the sufferer day after day. A chronically distressed individual often
gives up easily and sees no hope in life. Chronic distress is affiliated with
morbidity and mortality indicators such as suicide, violence, heart attack,
stroke, and possibly cancer, and is considered difficult to treat (Miller & Smith,
2004). As with all types of stress, the effects of chronic distress differ between
individuals and may not always be harmful. One investigation conducted by
Luine and colleagues (2007) using rodents suggests that differences appear
between sexes as well at varying levels of age. Results indicated that when
under chronic distressful conditions, females demonstrated improved memory
ability while males decreased in ability. In addition, distress was found to
alleviate anxiety in the males while generating levels in the females. However,
in the aged rodents, chronic distress was found to increase recognition memory
in both males and females, but not affect spatial memory while younger rodents
exhibited opposite effects.
These different types of stress can be triggered by many factors. Major life
changes such as divorce or death of a loved one, illness, family concerns, and
daily hassles such as minor traffic violations may all contribute to a stress-filled
life (Sarason, Sarason, & Johnson, 1985). However, according to the American
Institute of Stress (2008), the most significant contributor appears to be
occupational stress.
Occupational Stress
The AIS (2008) reports that job stress is the leading source of stress, and
that it has seen a steady increase over the past few decades. According to the
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National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), occupational
stress is defined as “the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur
when the requirements of the job do not match the ca¬pabilities, resources,
or needs of the worker” (NIOSH, 2008, pg. 1). Occupational stress is not
just a problem in North America; it is a global issue that affects millions of
workers on a daily basis. Data from surveys of work-related illness conducted
in Britain from 2001-2002 estimated that 563,000 (95% CI 530,000 -- 596,000)
individuals were suffering from work-related stress, depression, or anxiety.
Furthermore, an estimated 80,000 people reported having work-related heart
disease (Jones, Huxtable, Hodgson, & Price, 2003). Barkhuizen and Rothmann’s
(2008) investigation of academic staff in South African higher education
institutions concluded that staff members exhibited high levels of occupational
stress resulting from financial issues, benefits received, and job requirements
that were overbearing or conflicted with personal obligations when compared
to the normative data. Another study conducted by researchers in China
investigated the association between high levels of occupational stress and
burnout, a physical state characterized by an overall feeling of exhaustion
related to excessive occupational demands (Wu, Zhu, Li, Wang, & Wang, 2008).
The study concluded that burnout was commonly experienced by the doctors
due to several predictors including role overload, responsibility, and role
insufficiency.
According to one survey on occupational stress, 40% of workers reported
their job was “very” or “extremely stressful,” and 25% view their jobs as the
number one stressor in their lives (NIOSH, 1999). Although occupational
stress may seem to only affect workers on an individual level, businesses are
also highly influenced. In 1997, the average number of days absent from work
due to cases of occupational stress was 23, which equates to more than four
times the average absence for cases of non-fatal occupational injuries and
illnesses (US Dept of Labor, 1999). According to the AIS (2008b), job stress
costs U.S. businesses over $300 billion annually due to accidents, increased
absenteeism, employee turnover, diminished productivity, medical, legal and
insurance expenses, and workers’ compensation payments. In addition to these
setbacks, hospitals are also negatively influenced by factors such as burnout,
employee intent to leave, reduced patient satisfaction, and diagnosis and
treat¬ment errors (NIOSH, 2008). Yet another way businesses are affected due
to their employees’ stress levels is reflected by the association of occupational
stress and increased rates of heart attack, hypertension, and other disorders
(AIS, 2008b).
A review published by editors of The Safety and Health Practitioner
(2008) examined part of the Whitehall II study. The study has been following
10,308 London-based civil servants since 1985, and it found that “workers
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under 50, who said work was ‘stressful,’ were nearly 70% more likely to develop
heart disease than the stress-free” (p. 8). When it comes to health problems
associated with substance abuse, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA,
2005) reports, “Many clinicians and addiction medicine specialists suggest that
stress is the number one cause of relapse to drug abuse, including smoking”
(par. 2). As stress levels at work rise and more and more workers revert back
to damaging old habits, job productivity is likely to decrease, in turn hurting
employers.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 1997, four industries
accounted for the bulk of occupational stress cases: services (35%),
manufacturing (21%), retail trade (14%), and finance, insurance, and real
estate (12%; US Dept of Labor, 1999). One field in particular that appears
to be highly affected by occupational stress includes the health care industry.
According to the NIOSH (2008), “Studies indicate that health care workers
have higher rates of substance abuse and suicide than other professions and
elevated rates of depression and anxiety linked to job stress” (p. 1). This
disparity is associated with the increased pressures, role ambiguity, and patient
difficulties that individuals in the health care industry encounter on a regular
basis when compared to other less-demanding occupations (NIOSH, 2008).
Gender
In addition to role conflict, job dissatisfaction, and poor work environment,
another significant factor that contributes to job stress is the presence
of gender disparities, which gives rise to a multitude of problems in the
workplace. Key stressors that particularly affect women include childcare
concerns, sexual harassment, workplace violence, inflexibility of scheduling,
unequal pay and benefits, and gender and racial discrimination (Kazarian &
Evans, 2001). A U.S. study of 166 married couples (predominantly Caucasian
and middle-class) suggests that gender differences in daily distress is largely
related to the wives having more onsets of daily distress episodes and not
from the women being any more likely to continue in a state of distress over a
subsequent period of days (Almeida & Kessler, 1998).
An investigation by McCarty, Zhao, and Garland (2007) assessed
differences in stress levels between male and female police officers. Their
findings indicated that female police officers may experience unique stressors,
but that significantly different levels of occupational stress and burnout did not
exist between the two genders. Prior research is mixed concerning the levels
of reported stress among female and male officers, with some studies reporting
significantly higher levels of psychological stress in women and others
reporting insignificant differences between male and female officers. However,
reviews of the literature suggest that female officers do experience
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discrimination, both out in the field and in the initial hiring process, and that
unfair problems may arise in terms of irregular working hours since many
women are primary caregivers (McCarty, Zhao, & Garland, 2007).
Due to these gender-specific stressors, women may place extra strain
on themselves to work harder alongside their male counterparts in hopes of
procuring a raise in income, or even just equal treatment in the work setting.
These factors in turn tend to increase their psychological stress levels. Because
types of hormones differ in women and men, research suggests that women
may deal with their stress differently. Women have the hormone estrogen,
which boosts the effects of the calming chemical oxytocin. Oxytocin, the
same chemical released during childbirth, is believed to promote the ‘tend
and befriend response.’ This response suggests that women handle stress in a
unique way where they tend to protect and care for their children and seek out
and receive social support during particularly stressful times (U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, 2005). With job loss and financial stressors
increasing due to the recent recession, it would seem likely that women would
respond by becoming more family-oriented and socially involved. In a national
poll, 76% of women report that they have become more involved with positive
activities such as spending more time with family and friends, devoting more
time to their spirituality, exercising, reading, and listening to music when
compared to the previous six month period (American Psychiatric Association,
2009).
Other research suggests that elevated oxytocin levels are a signal for
relationship distress in women (Taylor, 2006). Taylor (2006) examined plasma
oxytocin levels in women who were experiencing gaps or problems in their
positive social relationships. Elevated levels were found specifically in women
who reported reduced contact with mothers, close friends, pets, and social
groups. Furthermore, elevated plasma levels were found in women who were
more likely to report reduced displays of affection by their significant others
and feelings that their partners were not supportive, did not understand them,
and did not care for them. Further research needs to be conducted, but it is
suggested that higher levels of oxytocin promotes affiliation and is the reason
women experience the need to ‘tend and befriend’ others.
Physiological Effects
In cases of severe or excessive stress, people may experience negative
adverse effects that can range from an increase in anger and hostility to
dangerous, and sometimes fatal, stress-related illnesses. According to the
American Psychological Association (APA), 43% of all adults suffer adverse
health effects from stress. Furthermore, the APA reports that stress is linked to
the six leading causes of death, and that 75% to 90% of all physician
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office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints (Miller & Smith,
2006). This high percentage is directly linked to three different body systems
associated with the stress response: the nervous system, the endocrine system,
and the immune system.
Neuroimmunology, a new interdisciplinary field, focuses on the
relationship between mind and body in health and disease (Saladin, 2007).
Specifically, it is concerned with studying the three-way communication
between the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. This view treats the
body in a holistic way, acknowledging that the systems of the human body are
all interconnected and that if one system is affected, others are likely to be as
well. This helps researchers see the relationship between stress and disease,
and understand how a person’s state of mind can significantly influence their
health.
Knowing the basic inner-workings of these systems helps to understand
how stress can play a role in the onset or aggravation of multiple disorders.
The following list is only a fraction of stress-affected disorders: depression,
cardiovascular disease, HIV/AIDS, cancer, upper respiratory infections,
asthma, herpes viral infection, autoimmune diseases, and wound healing
(Cohen, Janicki-Deverts, & Miller, 2007; Verdhara, 2005). According to Tsigos
and Chrousos (2006), “stress is increasingly and convincingly being blamed
for causing metabolic, cardiovascular, and other complex diseases in large
components of the adult population, with widespread morbidity and premature
mortality as a consequence” (p. xi).
In the body, the central nervous system (CNS) consists of the brain and
spinal cord, while the peripheral nervous system (PNS) is composed of nerves
and ganglia (Saladin, 2007). The visceral motor division (also known as the
autonomic nervous system) of the PNS is composed of two ‘reflex’ divisions:
the sympathetic division and the parasympathetic division. These divisions
work with the CNS to help maintain a homeostatic balance in the body. Recall
that the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is activated when the body feels
threatened due to a wide variety of stimuli, such as a change in temperature,
pain, or emotional distress (Goldstein & Kopan, 2007). The SNS mediates
the initial response to stress, known as the alarm reaction, by releasing
norepinephrine, and the adrenal medulla mediates the response with the release
of epinephrine (Saladin, 2007). These catecholamines are what prepare the
body to respond to threats in the “fight or flight” stress response.
The second stage of the stress response, the stage of resistance,
is dominated by the endocrine system and the actions of cortisol. The
hypothalamus secretes corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH), which
stimulates the anterior pituitary to secrete adrenocortiotropic hormone
(ACTH). ACTH then stimulates the adrenal cortex to secrete cortisol
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along with other glucocorticoids. Cortisol has a glucose-sparing effect,
and it also inhibits protein synthesis which promotes gluconeogenesis (the
production of glucose). These metabolic processes help the nervous system
but negatively affect the immune system which depends on proteins. Long
term cortisol exposure causes lymphoid tissues to atrophy, antibody levels to
drop, circulating leukocytes levels to drop, and a reduction in the release of
inflammatory chemicals by mast cells. As a result, a person under chronic stress
becomes more susceptible to infections. Cortisol also suppresses the secretion
of sex hormones, which may cause problems with fertility and sexual function
(Saladin, 2007). However, a Swiss study has found a direct correlation between
reduced daily salivary cortisol levels and couples who show intimacy (Ditzen,
Hoppmann, & Klumb, 2008). Fifty-one mostly married German couples were
studied for one week. During this time, they provided reports on time spent on
intimacy and problems of work organization, as well as multiple daily saliva
samples. The results concluded that the couples who reported higher levels
of chronic problems of work organization had the biggest drop in salivary
cortisol levels in relation to intimacy. These results are not specific to any one
action of affection, however. The study suggests that any actions that create
positive feelings for both partners can be beneficial, which further supports
previous epidemiologic literature that suggests happy couples experience
beneficial health effects.
The last stage of the stress response, the stage of exhaustion, occurs when
fat is depleted in the body and stress overwhelms homeostasis, often resulting
in death due to heart failure, kidney failure, or overwhelming infection (Saladin,
2007).
Immune System
Dhabhar (2008) states, “One of the most underappreciated effects of stress
on the immune system is its ability to induce significant changes in leukocyte
distribution in the body” (p. 2) and alter immune function by enriching or
depleting different body compartments of leukocytes. The proper circulation
and rapid recruitment of immune cells throughout the body is essential for
maintaining an effective immune defense network. If stress happens to induce
changes in leukocyte distribution within the body, the immune cells may
not be readily available for recruitment, therefore having a negative effect
on the defense network (Dhabhar, 2008). In addition, when hormones and
neurotransmitters are produced in response to stress, the function of certain
cells of the immune system will be altered (Reeves, 2008). According to Reeves
(2008), “These altered cells cause the immune system to respond improperly,
either by over-responding or under-responding, to bacteria, viruses, allergens,
fungi and parasites” (p. 40). In a 10-year study of medical students, researchers
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discovered that the students’ immunities decreased every year during a threeday exam period (Kiecolt-Glaser & Glaser, 1993). They concluded that the
students had fewer natural killer cells and that their production of immunityboosting gamma interferon almost ceased. Furthermore, the sensitivity of
infection-fighting T-cells decreased.
Current research has shown a significant relationship between stress
and skin disorders, particularly wound healing times. The immune system
promotes wound healing by helping to prepare tissue for repair and increasing
the mobilization of key cells to the injured site (Graham, Christian, & KiecoltGlaser, 2006). In particular, intimate partner relationship stress has been
shown to greatly affect wound healing time. Graham and colleagues (2006)
have assessed the impact of stress-related conflict upon healing time in married
couples. The investigators induced blister wounds upon the couples and
observed recovery time in couples under emotional conflict compared to those
participating in supportive dialog. Results indicated that negative emotional
engagements as well as negative and hostile interaction slowed the healing
response. In addition, when comparing the results by gender, women were
found to experience higher degrees of immune impairment.
In addition to playing a role in wound healing, stress can also have a
significant impact on skin cells and has been linked to skin cancer. Under
normal healthy conditions, the immune system has the ability to destroy
pathogenic invaders, such as bacteria and viruses, and potentially eliminate
newly created cancer cells (Consumer Reports on Health, 2008). An immune
system impaired by chronic stress, however, would not properly operate in this
way. Dhabhar (2008) reports that “stress-induced alterations in lymphocyte
redeployment may play an important role in mediating the bidirectional effects
of stress on cutaneous cell-mediated immunity” (p. 8). These findings are
important because of the role cutaneous cell-mediated immunity plays in the
elimination of immunoresponsive tumors such as squamous cell carcinoma
(Dhabhar, 2008).
Asthma
Another common disease that shares close ties with stress is asthma.
Asthma is a chronic pulmonary condition associated with airway restriction
and breathing difficulties and is present in over 20 million Americans (Asthma
and Allergy Foundation of America, 2008). A 2007 CDC report indicated
that 16.2 million non-institutionalized adults as well as 6.7 million children
currently have asthma (CDC, 2009a). For some individuals, the stressors are
environmental such as tobacco smoke, dust mites, air pollution, pets and mold.
For others, the stressors could be anything ranging from strong emotional
states to physical exercise, exposure to freezing temperatures, and some foods
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and food additives (CDC, 2009b). According to the National Ambulatory
Medical Care Survey, in 2006, there were 10.6 million visits to office-based
physicians by asthma patients. In addition, the National Hospital Discharge
Survey reported that the average length of stay for inpatient care for asthma
was 3.2 days (CDC, 2009a).
In an interview-driven study funded by the National Institute of
Health, participants of differing races over age 50 provided insights into
their troublesome lives as asthma sufferers (Pohlman & Becker, 2006). The
study found that stress is linked to asthma in several ways depending on the
individual and the stressors they experience. The participants made comments
about the stressful lifestyle changes related to asthma, such as buying new
household items (e.g., air filters) or extensive dusting and laundering, and how
they often trigger asthma attacks. Medication troubles, such as having to deal
with the asthma symptoms for long periods while waiting for prescriptions or
the financial burden that costly medications can create, were also mentioned as
stressors that contribute to a greater risk for an attack. In the study, a 74-yearold European American woman reported that she had struggled with being a
single parent for several years, and that stress was the primary cause of her
asthma episodes. In addition, the participant explained that the added stress
led to many severe asthma episodes, and that she now suffered from permanent
reduced airway function. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the chronic
effects of asthma can be debilitating psychologically as well as physically. One
52-year-old African American man’s narrative is as follows: “You know I feel
fortunate. I have been fighting this asthma all my life, and I have some terrible,
terrible things with it, and you wonder how you stay sane physiologically from
all that stress from being sick and stuff like that” (p. 279).
HIV / AIDS
Other studies have revealed that high levels of stress and strain
can greatly impact the health of individuals infected with the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV; AIDS Patient Care and STDs, 2008). This new
research suggests a link between decreased states of mental health/ positive
attitudes and the progression of HIV to the fatal acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome (AIDS; AIDS Patient Care and STDs, 2008). Because stress can have
such a negative impact on the immune system, it is understandable that high
levels could cause HIV/AIDS symptoms to progress faster.
One study out of North Carolina examined the progression of HIV
infection in relation to the effects of stress, depressive symptoms, and amount
of social support (Leserman et al., 1999). Participants included 82 HIV-infected
gay men that were asymptomatic and without AIDS at baseline. Follow-up
assessments with the participants were conducted every six months for a
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period up to 5.5 years. Findings indicated that increased cumulative stressful
life events, depressive symptoms, and less cumulative social support were all
significantly associated with increased progression to AIDS.
According to the CDC, in 2006, there were an estimated 1.1 million
persons in the United States living with diagnosed or undiagnosed HIV/
AIDS. In 2007, 42,655 new cases of HIV/AIDS in adults, adolescents, and
children were diagnosed in the 33 states, and, with the utilization of new
technology, the CDC now estimates that 56,300 new HIV infections occurred
in 2006 (CDC, 2009c). According to the 2007 Stress in America annual report,
49% of all respondents stated that, during times of stress, stress had an
overall negative effect on their emotional well being. Furthermore, 46% of all
respondents reported that their level of stress had an overall negative effect
on their physical health (American Psychological Association, 2007b). These
statistics suggest that stress definitely takes a toll on Americans, and that the
need for effective stress management programs is on the rise. Current research
suggests that enhancing and adopting stress management techniques can prove
to have beneficial effects in terms of immune system health (AIDS Patient Care
and STDs, 2008).
Managing Stress
Stress is often viewed as one sided with the negative effects always taking
precedence over the positive aspects. Extensive research has shown how
harmful stress and its side effects can be, but stress can also be beneficial.
According to McGowan, Gardner, and Fletcher (2006), “If negotiated
appropriately, stress can be energizing, stimulating and growth producing
for the individual as abilities are extended and new accomplishments made”
(p.92). By following suggestions for combating stress, individuals can learn to
turn their harmful distress into beneficial eustress. Some stress management
strategies include: identifying stressors, monitoring moods, setting aside daily
personal time, walking away when angry to regroup thoughts, prioritizing
schedule, and setting reasonable goals (American Psychological Association,
2007a). Accomplishing a few of these suggestions could make a significant
difference in reducing daily stress and burnout symptoms.
Numerous activities and techniques for managing stress exist, allowing
people to explore many avenues and learn to channel their stress in the way
best suited for them. One very effective technique for neutralizing a stressful
life is participating in moderate amounts of exercise on a regular basis. A
Scottish study of nearly 20,000 adults revealed that one weekly twenty–minute
exercise session is enough to reduce stress, ease anxiety, and boost happiness
and energy levels. Results indicated that everyday activities such as house or
yard work, or even a brisk walk, help lower levels of mental distress (Kesner,
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2008). The latest guidelines on physical activity suggest that all healthy adults
ages 18–65 should be acquiring at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity
activity five days of the week (American Heart Association, 2008). According
to the American Academy of Family Physicians (2008) “Regular physical
activity is important for cancer survivors because it can help reduce tiredness
and stress. It can help improve self esteem, heart and muscle strength, and
body composition” (p. 1).
Meditation is another efficacious relaxation technique and stress reliever. In
a two-year investigation conducted at the Southern Illinois University School
of Medicine, researchers focused on implementing a curriculum-based stress
management program to help premedical students manage their perceived
academic stress and / or test anxiety (Paul, Elam, & Verhulst, 2007). The
study followed 64 students (32 students per year) who were enrolled in two
classes that incorporated deep breathing meditation techniques. At the end of
the study, students reported decreased feelings of test anxiety, nervousness,
self-doubt, and concentration loss. Furthermore, they reported practicing the
technique outside of the classroom and believed it helped them academically
and would help them in the future.
Paul-Labrador and colleagues (2006) conducted a sixteen-week trial of
transcendental meditation in patients with coronary heart disease hoping to
conclude that meditation may improve cardiac risk factors for patients with
CHD. Findings revealed that participants in the transcendental meditation
group had significantly lowered blood pressure and improved fasting blood
glucose and insulin levels (Paul-Labrador et al., 2006). Overall, the trial’s
results suggest that the effects of transcendental meditation are similar to
the physiological impact of exercise conditioning, and that mediation may
modulate response to stress rather than alter the stress itself. As with any new
investigation, further research is warranted in hopes of developing this new
method of stress management into a treatment or prevention plan for CHD
patients.
A healthy lifestyle built around proper nutrition and strong, supportive
work and personal relationships, is another key to living a stress-free and
possibly disease-free life. Many people voluntarily choose a healthy lifestyle
and take preventive measures by consuming nutrient-rich foods and exercising
regularly. However, others struggle with dietary decisions, especially when
their stress levels are elevated. According to the Stress in America annual
report, 43% of the participants overeat or eat unhealthy foods, and 36%
skipped a meal because of stress over the past month (American Psychological
Association, 2007b). Emotional eating often results in people consuming large
amounts of high-fat “comfort foods” in response to stressful situations. Poor
eating habits related to stress can lead to many disorders such as depression
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and obesity, which is why proper nutrition and stress management techniques
are so crucial. Overall, a diet poor in essential nutrients such as iron, selenium,
zinc, folic acid, and vitamins A, C, and D are associated with decreased natural
killer cells, a key form of white blood cell associated with immune response
(Consumer Reports on Health, 2008).
In conclusion, it is important to realize that stress is a phenomenon that is
inevitably linked to us both physically and culturally and will continue to play
a significant role in the achievement of optimal health. In fact, the Stress in
America report findings revealed that 79% of respondents believe that stress
is a natural part of life, and 73% believe that excessive amounts of stress can
make you sick. Because stressors exist in so many forms and are different
depending on the individual, stress surrounds, and often tends to consume,
people’s lives (American Psychological Association, 2007b). By understanding
the physiology of stress and how it is interconnected with the body systems,
individuals can gain more control of their lives and learn to manage their
stress effectively. While a few techniques for stress management were
previously assessed, it is noteworthy that numerous strategies exist and should
be sought out. Stress is often seen as an overbearing and uncontrollable subject,
but it can be easily reduced if dealt with properly and through healthy outlets.
It is also noteworthy that some levels of stress can be motivating and beneficial
to the body and can play a critical role in enhancing one’s life.
Overall, future research is needed to assess the behavioral and
epidemiological influence of stress and its determining role upon quality of
life. Additional stress-related interventions are needed to empower individuals
with the necessary tools to prevent and manage the negative outcomes
associated with stress, as well as embrace the positive potential outcomes that
stress may have upon life.
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differences in daily distress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
75, 670-680.
American Academy of Family Physicians. (2008). Nutrition, physical activity,
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Literary
Literary
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132
Poisoned Image of the Borgias
The Poisoned Image of the Borgias:
A Look at the Public Image of Pope Alexander VI and
His Children
Rachel A. Brochstein
Dr. Deborah Vess
Faculty Sponsor
The name Borgia immediately harkens images of death, intrigue, poison,
and Renaissance papacy fame. The Borgia family has long held the image of
a devious family which would stop at nothing, and would be stopped by no
one, in their quest for domination of Italy in the late fifteenth century. Despite
Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia’s rather racy past, he became Pope Alexander VI and
became infamous due to his political agenda and the use and acceptance of
his illegitimate children during his time as the pope. Alexander’s infamy grew
after his death as multitudes have written about the man, his mythical contract
with the devil, his notorious children, his greed, his ruthlessness, and, above
all, his effect on the papacy. Famous plays, operas, movies, and television shows
have all been written and based on the lives of this family during Alexander’s
reign as the pope. While the majority of historical literature and entertainment
portrays Pope Alexander VI and his children as evil, satanic monsters of
the Renaissance, this image of the family is more for the purpose of shock
value, pushing an agenda, or public interest than necessarily factual. The
representation of the Borgias in modern and past film, literature, and theater is
that of entertainment for the masses and an easy example of evil in the Church
for Protestant and anti-Borgia writers.
Upon Rodrigo Borgia’s ascension to the papacy in 1492 and assumption
of the name Alexander VI, the masses of Rome who watched his parade and
celebration with hopeful eyes welcomed him eagerly, despite his wild ways
and indiscretions as a cardinal. One such transgression was a night in Siena
after which Pope Pius II rebuked him: “we have heard that the dance was
indulged in all wantonness . . . Shame forbids mention of all that took place,
for not only the things themselves but their very names are unworthy of your
rank.”1 Despite instances such as this, the people of Rome liked Alexander
immensely. But in contrast to the crazy antics that most attribute to Alexander
and his children, he actually contributed many positive works to the Vatican,
in international affairs, and in the artistic world. Before he became Pope
Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia gained fame in Italy as a “generally popular
prelate and an exceedingly able administrator and politician.”2 Borgia was wellknown for his political savvy in the Church and administrational abilities under
his uncle, Pope Calixtus III. When Borgia became Pope Alexander VI, he
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immediately faced the issues of the Vatican’s overwhelming debts, pressure
from French forces hoping to gain Italian lands through invasion, international
issues in reference to the New World, and a growing sense of corruption in the
Church.
The Church, before, during, and after the time of Alexander’s papacy,
descended into more and more corruption, an issue from which the later
Protestant Reformation stemmed. While many in Europe lived the miserable
lives of serfs and peasants, barely able to gather a meal, Church officials
had sumptuous and extravagant lifestyles. Indulgences, bribery, gluttony,
and excessiveness in general were rampant in the Catholic Church. While
Alexander lived in the age of overindulgence and duplicity, “he himself
observed the most amazingly strict sobriety” in his personal household.3
Alexander was also responsible for the multiple attempts of reforms in the
Church, though many did not pass due to lack of support. While attempting
to curb corruption, Alexander was not wholly untouched by it. But what his
indulgences tended to center around were his excessive love of art, literature,
music, and women. Alexander was the patron to multitudes of intellectuals,
artists, and men of the Renaissance, in efforts to further his passion for
learning and beauty. He was renowned, along later with his children, for
his involvement throughout his papal reign in some of the spectacular
artistic additions throughout the Vatican, such as the well-known painting
Resurrection by Pinturiccho. Many of the internal improvements Alexander
made in Rome resulted from his election to the papacy in 1500. Alexander
endeavored to prepare for the massive Jubilee that Rome was to host by
attempting to beautify and clean up the city. Alexander also faced the issue of
a massive influx of travelers as they made the pilgrimage to Rome for the New
Year. In his efforts to protect the people he declared, “if a pilgrim is robbed, the
lord of the territory on which the crime is committed must restore the stolen
goods.”4 Alexander went to great pains in order to protect and better the lives
of the people in Rome and any pilgrim of the Church.
Alexander’s achievements were not limited solely to the protection of
pilgrims on the roads and restoring various areas of Rome. Alexander came
into his papacy when major world events were just beginning to surface,
and tensions and old relationships between major European nations were
changing. With the early phases of exploration and discovery of the New
World by various countries like Spain and Portugal, Alexander found himself
in the situation of becoming the peacemaker between nations. Descended from
the Borgia line, a Spanish family, Alexander held strong ties to Spain and its
rulers King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Thus, many papal bulls issued by
Alexander, such as Inter Caetera, heavily favored the Spanish monarchy, a
relationship that actually provided the basis for much of the initial animosity
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toward the Borgias during their rise in power.
While surprising due to the other forerunners in the papal election, the
election of the non-Italian cardinal Rodrigo Borgia as the new pope was hardly
the shock and sinister affair that so many historians have claimed it to be. It
was rather “a realisation both of the increasingly secular nature of the Papacy
itself, and also of the seriousness of the political situation of the time, led the
cardinals to abandon the more saintly candidates and choose a man who was
noted for his administrative abilities and his political acumen rather than for
his saintliness.”5 Many of the major Italian families were hoping to gain the
papacy, and the election of a man who did not even have strong ties to the
Italian rulers rather those of Spain, did not sit well with the powerful Italian
factions. In fact, the later rumors that abounded about Alexander buying off his
papacy were in large part due to this bitterness and the fact that Alexander had
a strong personality with his own agenda, a person who came into the papacy
with ideas to actually enforce; he did not plan to be pushed over by the various
Italian families. A major part of these charges of simony and bribery that
emerged later in Borgia’s papacy were the result of an ongoing feud between
the Borgia family and another powerful family in the Italian world at the time,
the Orsinis.
The Orsinis and the Borgias found themselves at odds many times
throughout Alexander’s papacy, literally fighting wars against one another.
Due to the intense hostilities that arose between the two families, the Orsinis
helped spread many of the vicious, unconfirmed rumors that were rampant
throughout Italy, such as the fratricide of Juan by Cesare, the incestuous
relations of Lucrezia and her many lovers, and the constant orgies at the
Vatican orgies. And if the Orsinis did not originate some of the rumors, they
most assuredly took it upon themselves to help perpetuate the spread of these
rumors throughout Italy. Alexander knew the rumors that flew about Italy and
were rampant in his own city Rome, and his response was only that “Rome is
free territory, and Romans have a habit of saying and writing whatever takes
their fancy. Even if they speak ill of His Holiness, they are not silenced.”6 Due
to these complicated Italian politics, some of the first negative images of the
Borgias arose. Just as in politics today where candidates constantly hit “below
the belt,” so too did politicians in Renaissance Italy.
One of the largest contributors to the image of the Borgias is Niccolo
Machiavelli and his notorious work, The Prince, published in 1532. One of the
major ideas discussed by Machiavelli is how Alexander and Cesare, despite
their flaws, were truly incredible in their ability to gain and retain power.
Machiavelli reasons that Alexander’s rise to the papacy and what he achieved
were extraordinary, considering most popes, with some notable exceptions,
barely utilized their short reigns to accomplish anything. But Alexander
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“showed, more than any other pope that ever was, how much can be done in
that office with money and arms.”7 Alexander’s goals and ambitions, while often
misdirected to further his own family name, actually aided in the glory of the
Church in the later years.
Machiavelli discusses in passing how Alexander’s successor to the papacy,
Pope Julius II, also followed in some of Alexander’s footsteps in his effort to
continue gaining the wealth as Alexander had. The idea that another pope did
the same as Alexander makes one question why only one pope is singled out
as the ultimate villain, when, in reality, multiple popes tried to regain papal
lands and acquire new ones. Do any of the other popes who followed the same
warlike path of Alexander deserve to be judged any less harshly by the eyes of
history? Pope Sixtus IV was actually revered as an even more ferocious leader
than Pope Alexander, and during his papacy, Sixtus also planned for a prince
of Romagna, which is the path Alexander’s son Cesare eventually took.8 In
fact, despite the rampant deaths in Italy that were attributed to the Borgias,
which were not uncommon in the Renaissance world of politics, the aggressive
efforts of Alexander actually strengthened the papacy for future popes by
bringing in massive revenue for the treasury and gaining new and regaining
old papal lands. The warlike state of Alexander’s papal reign began during
the early years of his papacy when the King of France was gaining a foothold
in Italy. A major influence on Alexander’s reign as pope was the threat of the
French monarchy and the dueling ambitions of Alexander and the French
king to conquer Italy for their own purposes. Machiavelli views Alexander as
extraordinary in one area. Being a masterful manipulator of kings, his own
children, and the people:
Alexander VI never did anything else, never had another thought, except
to deceive men, and he always found fresh material to work on. Never
was there a man more convincing in his assertions, who sealed his
promises with more solemn oaths, and who observed them less. Yet his
deceptions were always successful, because he knew exactly how to manage
this sort of business.9
Machiavelli even seems to argue that Alexander was the pushing force behind
Cesare, while many other authors argue that Cesare was the true influence
behind Alexander’s cruel ambition. Despite who in truth influenced the other,
Machiavelli believes Cesare emulated what a true prince should be when
gaining power and doing what was necessary to retain that power.
Machiavelli attributes that Cesare’s power to parentage, that he “acquired
authority through his father’s fortune and lost it the same way.”10 The question
raised by this statement is how much of Cesare’s cruelty and how many of his
atrocious actions can be considered a direct result of the power of his father to
support him? And if one recognizes the time constraint that Cesare himself
136
must have realized, does that humanize a figure who is so often villianized?
One cannot deny that Cesare was a vicious man; he is suspected to have killed
his own brother in an effort to gain control. In reality, he had the skills and
drive to achieve his ultimate goal, the complete control of a unified Italy, and
a little more time. In reference to Cesare’s brutality, Machiavelli responds
with two very illuminating statements that “the duke was a man of such
savagery and courage [virtu], and he understood so perfectly how to win
men over or ruin them,”11 and that “people thought Cesare Borgia was cruel,
but that cruelty of his reorganized the Romagna, united it, and established
in it peace and loyalty.”12 Machiavelli believes that had Cesare not faced the
inordinate amount of challenges he did near the end of his life and his father’s
life, such as sickness and fighting multiple armies, then Cesare would have
managed to complete his goal and, despite his harshness, he would have been
a decent ruler as he was in Romagna. But Machiavelli also attributes Cesare’s
eventual downfall to bad luck and unlucky circumstances of fate rather than
a true revulsion of many powerful people in Italy to be controlled by Cesare.
Machiavelli argues that with the sudden death of Alexander in 1503 and
Cesare’s own sickness in that same year, Cesare did not have sufficient time
to solidify his control as he had hoped. In addition, the election of Julius II in
the same year was basically the proverbial nail in Cesare’s coffin. Machiavelli
blatantly values Cesare more so than his father as the epitome of a ruler,
which angered many when The Prince was published. While neither Cesare
nor Machiavelli was particularly well liked, a question that springs from their
union is who was more affected by the hatred toward the other. Was The Prince
disliked for its favorable defense of Cesare, or was Cesare hated more due to
Machiavelli’s sponsorship? In recent times, The Prince has become a debated
piece of work, where the sincerity of Machiavelli in his praise of Cesare and
Alexander is questioned. But even if Machiavelli intended for his work to be
read as a satire, history did not interpret it as so. Thus the words and praises
of the Borgias, whether intended or not, served as exactly that, praises and
support. But while the Borgia family received this somewhat favorable image
from Machiavelli’s The Prince, the family did not receive the same grace from
many others. Until recently, most of the writings on the Borgia family have
taken a rather negative view.
Another man who was involved with the Borgia family, though not from
the same close quarters as Machiavelli, was Girolamo Savonarola. Savonarola,
a priest originally of Ferrara, was most known for his preaching in Florence.
He became well-known after his prophecy that King Charles III would invade
Florence and welcome Savonarola with open arms. Savonarola gained immense
popularity and incredible power in Florence for a local preacher. He was
responsible for and “determined upon the reformation and purification of the
137
city.”13 Savonarola targeted many of his sermons against the excessive lifestyle
of Florence’s inhabitants, the Medici, and the Pope. He also targeted many of
the aspects that define the age he lived in, such as art, literature, and music.
Savonarola initiated the massive bonfires across Florence in which people
burned objects considered unholy, vain, and excessive. Masterpieces of artwork
were burned in the fires along with literary history. But mostly what drew the
people of Florence to Savonarola and his extremely strict view of faith were
his prophecies.
In one of Savonarola’s prophecies, he attacks the Church and predicts
a coming renewal “when you see a good head, you say that the body is well;
when the head is bad, woe to the body. So when God allows ambition, lechery,
and other vices to be [found] in the head of government, believe that God’s
scourge is near.”14 While Savonarola did not always use Pope Alexander VI’s
name in his sermons, many of them were quite obviously directed at him
as the head of the Church, which, according to Savonarola, needed change.
Savonarola is notorious for banning any extraneous and unholy actions in
Florence, such as gambling and drinking, and Alexander was the epitome of
this lifestyle, hosting some of the most outrageous parties in the Vatican itself.
In the eyes of Savonarola, the Vatican under Alexander’s reign was like a
prostitute bought out at the highest price, and Alexander was the unholy buyer.
Savonarola attacked Alexander in many other ways in his Renovation Sermon,
which was delivered on January 13, 1494. “When you see that a lord or leader
of government does not want the good and the just near him, but banishes
them because he does not want the truth to be told, say that God’s scourge is
near.”15 Savonarola is blatantly attacking the head of Church but in the guise of
attacking the Florence government.
However, Girolamo Savonarola’s sermons and prophecies did not go
unnoticed by Alexander. In fact, Pope Alexander summoned Savonarola to
Rome in order that Alexander might understand “those things which you
announce are to come you say not from you yourself or from human wisdom,
but by divine revelations,” and “speak with you [Savonarola] about these things
and to hear from your own mouth.”16 Alexander’s summons went unanswered
in the way he would have wished for. Savonarola responded with only a letter
begging for his excusal due to health, traveling dangers, and his flock.17 While
Savonarola claimed he could not manage to make it to Rome, his sermons
continued and so did Alexander’s growing anger. While most of the attacks on
Alexander’s character are attributed to Savonarola, a large part actually should
be attributed to his disciples, also known as the Weepers, who were fervent
and unrelenting in their abuses. Through their combined efforts, the image of
the Borgias took a large blow with insults such as Marrano.18 A Marrano was a
converted Jew, usually wishing to escape the Catholic purges of the Jews in
138
Spain. While Savonarola himself might not have actually called the Pope of the
Catholic Church a Jew, his disciples constantly spoke of Alexander in this
manner, and in Alexander’s eyes, this annoying priest in Florence held all of
the responsibility.
In 1495, Alexander threatened Savonarola with excommunication
through a letter to his brotherhood at Santa Croce, saying that Savonarola
was “delighted with the novelty of a perverse dogma and in this same insanity
of mind is misled by the shift in affairs in Italy, so that without any canonical
authority he attests among the people that he has been sent by God and speaks
with God, against the canonical decrees.”19 Alexander continues in his letter
to demand the halt of all Savonarola’s preaching, and that a failure to cease
preaching and providing unsanctioned writings to the people will result in an
“automatic excommunication.”20 Savonarola persisted in attempting to placate
Alexander with multiple letters defending his side, but his sermons suggested
otherwise. Following Savonarola’s refusal to halt his sermons, Alexander
officially excommunicated Savonarola in 1497. In the following year Savonarola
underwent a trial, and eventually Alexander sentenced the priest to an
execution. In a last attempt to prove himself to the world, Savonarola subjected
himself to a trial by fire, believing that God would not allow his death. In the
end, Savonarola ended up burning to death, and he lost many supporters as
a result. But because some supporters remained true to Savonarola, his ideas
and beliefs regarding the Catholic Church and its pope continued. Alexander’s
efforts to stifle Savonarola’s sermons seemed slightly out of character at
first for the man who let people say what they wanted, but taking a closer
look at the situation, one realizes that it was more of a political issue than a
personal one, for “the overthrow of the influence of Savonarola as a necessary
preliminary to destroying the Franco-Florentine connection.”21
While the clash between Alexander and a seemingly insignificant priest
might seem somewhat unusual and slightly unimportant, the conflict really was
a representation of a larger issue. Alexander represented a growing sense of
secularism in the Catholic Church during the Renaissance, focusing more on
politics, internal issues, and the protection of the Vatican and its holdings. In
contrast, Savonarola represented the dissatisfaction with religion that many
were gaining. In Savonarola’s eyes, the growing lack of faith and heightened
secularism was due to the lack of purity and efforts to follow a strict Christian
lifestyle. But with Alexander and many other major political players in
Renaissance Italy, their strong faith was a part of their lives, not just a part of
their politics. But such aggressive challenges against the Church by men like
Savonarola tied into the growing discontentment among the people, leading
eventually to the Protestant Reformation.
In the sixteenth century, the Christian world was undergoing massive
139
changes due to the onset of the Protestant Reformation. People were
challenging the standard order and dogma of the Catholic Church, creating a
new group of Christians who wanted to separate themselves and their ideas
from that of a corrupt Church. Martin Luther, one of the major influences
in the Reformation, debated whether or not the Pope truly had the right and
the power to command those in the Christian faith.22 Influenced by constant
questioning and growing lack of faith and respect for the Catholic Church,
many writers began to create plays and books that depicted the Church in
a negative manner. The Borgia family was a constant choice of subject for
many due to the fact that there was so much gossip to utilize in the Protestant
campaign against the Catholic Church. Pope Alexander VI constantly appeared
in sermons and attacks against the Church, depicted as the devil or in a pact
with the devil, and it was a common rumor that Alexander sold his soul for
twelve years as the pope. Writers portrayed Cesare as a bloodthirsty, incestuous
monster who raped women constantly, and killed everyone and anyone he felt
like. Lucrezia had clashing roles in the literature and the theater as either a
vain, empty-headed pawn of her father and brother, or as a ruthless woman
equal to her family in her ability to kill at will and obtain her goals. Regardless
of the specifics, the Borgia family image took a massive plunge during
this time, and soon the public assumed that the stories were true, ignoring
the relative popularity of Alexander VI during his life and some of his
accomplishments as pope.
Georg Rudolf Widman, a Lutheran writer in the late sixteenth century,
helped the spread of one of the major stories that ran rampant during this
time. Widman utilized the famous Faust legend and embellished it to support
his anti-Catholic and anti-Pope beliefs. In his version of the story, Faust “had
met many evil popes, [and] was especially impressed by Alexander, ‘a very
paragon among them.’”23 The story also includes references to the various
rumors of Alexander’s pact with the devil while in school prior to his papacy,
his incestuous relations with his daughter Lucrezia, and other assaults on the
image of the Catholic Church and its most evil pope. The rumor of incestuous
relations between Lucrezia and her father was incredibly prominent due to
the horrific insinuations, despite lack of any evidence. The rumor originated
mainly as a result of Lucrezia’s first failed marriage with Giovanni Sforza
and Sforza’s effort to retaliate following the humiliating divorce he was put
through. “Giovanni’s counterclaims of incestuous relations within the Borgia
family, although almost certainly untrue, were probably genuinely believed
by himself.”24 By continuing this already favored rumor of the Borgias in his
Faust story, Widman actually encouraged many other Protestant writers and
playwrights to make the rumor even worse in later years. Eliza Butler mentions
in her Fortunes of Faust, that “Widman’s Faustbook is essentially a work of
140
education, religion, learning, and research,” meaning that Widman uses this
story to push his religious agenda and to get the readers of his story to pay
more attention to his sermons and morals than the legend of Faust itself.25
Widman did not expand on this legend and use of Alexander’s person with
any historical accuracy; his goal was purely the demolition of character for the
purpose of furthering the Lutheran cause. Thus, the rumors used in the play
are portrayed as fact when in reality there is no basis of truth in them.
Another contributor to the negative image of the Borgias was an
Elizabethan poet, Barnabe Barnes, who wrote the play The Devil’s Charter in
1607. Loosely based upon the life of Alexander VI and his children during
his papacy, Barnes’s play was written with the intent of shock value and pure
entertainment for the queen rather than historical integrity. Barnes grew up
with a father who was a bishop in the Anglican Church of England, promoting
an anti-Catholic sentiment. Barnes lived his whole life viewing the Catholic
Church as a corrupt and distorted institution, a view shared with many others
in his day. At the time this particular play was written in the early seventeenth
century, the Catholic Church was out of favor with Queen Elizabeth, who was
considered a bastard and the unlawful queen by the Church. Thus, any play that
debased a Catholic pope or showed the Church in a negative light would have
been a welcome play in Queen Elizabeth’s court. Barnes describes Alexander
and Cesare as living “their faithlesse, fearlesse, and ambitious lives.”26 The play
portrays the Borgia family as manipulative and evil, though Lucrezia is cast in
the best light by far.
Alexander VI is shown in the first scene of The Devil’s Charter meeting
with the devil and gaining his papal diadem and status through an agreement
to reign for only a certain number of years in return for selling his body and
soul to evil. Barnes even claims in his play that it was “No Pope but Lucifer in
Peters Chaire.”27 While the majority of the play deals with Alexander’s devious
and immoral life that is owed to his partnership with Satan, Barnes also delves
into the lives and images of Cesare and Lucrezia. Cesare is portrayed as a
bloodthirsty power monger, who among other crimes, kills his brother while
in a state of wrath, and murders the sons of Countess Katherine when she
does not yield her duchy to his armies. Cesare makes no qualms or excuses
for the malevolent man he is, but he embraces his nature fully in his quest for
the domination of Italy. Lucrezia, in this play, is depicted as a vain woman,
completely and utterly obsessed with her beauty. While not depicted as purely
evil by Barnes, he excuses her behavior and attitude toward her family as being
little more than expected from a woman. Even when Barnes blatantly accuses
Lucrezia of incest with father and brother and describes her killing a man
speaking of her loose ways, Lucrezia is still seen as more harmless than the
satanic pope and his malicious son. The play ends with the death of Alexander,
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but even in his death Barnes manages to castigate Alexander more, saying,
“Behold his bodie puffed [up] with poyson / His corps[e] shall be conuaied to
saint Peeters / Open for all beholders that they may / See the reward of sinne
amend and pray.”28 Barnes describes Alexander’s death graphically punctuating
it with the not so subtle comment: “Rome is redeemed from a wicked pope.”29
Feelings towards the Borgia family continued to be harsh even during
the mid-nineteenth century when German writer Ferdinand Gregorovius
created Lucretia Borgia, a biographical account of Lucrezia’s life according to
documents and letters of her family and herself. Gregorovius was yet another
Protestant who fully hated the papacy and seemed to be the opponent of all
popes. But despite his hatred of the papacy, which was similar to so many
other Protestant writers, Gregorovius brings out a new facet to the image
of the Borgia family in this biography. While the biography is mainly about
Lucrezia, Gregorovius does slightly delve into the image of her family as well.
When it came to Alexander VI, in the author’s eyes, “insatiable sensuality ruled
this Borgia, a man of unusual beauty and strength, until his last years. Never
was he able to cast out this demon.”30 Alexander is described as participating
in countless orgies, consuming his time with multiple mistresses, even while
in the papal office, and enjoying the sexual side of life all too much for a
holy man, or any man. Yet Gregorovius does admit to Borgia’s popularity, as
reflected in the crowds of Romans who packed into the streets to witness his
papal parade. Gregorovius describes Alexander as almost like a demi-god upon
his papal ascension.31 He states that initially Alexander wanted to show that he
“[held] himself above nepotism,” by not allowing his son Cesare to join him in
Rome with favors upon his papal ascension.32 But later Alexander is described
giving away numerous offices to family cousins, his sons and daughter, and
husbands of his mistresses. Gregorovius does not view the children, barring
Lucrezia, any better than their father:
They were all pleasure-loving upstarts who were consumed with a desire
for honors and power; all were young and beautiful; except Lucrezia, all
were vicious, graceful, seductive scoundrels, and, as such, among the most
charming and privileged malefactors, like many other princes and
potentates of that age. They mercilessly availed themselves of poison
and poignard, removing every obstacle to their ambition, and smiled when
the object was obtained.33
Like Barnes, Gregorovius sees Lucrezia as a more sympathetic person than
her family members. A question is raised by the biography when Lucrezia’s
childhood is described, growing up around her own mother and Guila Farnese,
her father’s mistresses. Reared in this sort of atmosphere, can one expect an
impressionable young lady to grow up without any of the sinfulness to rub off
on her? Gregorovius seems to lend this environment of lechery as an excuse
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for anytime Lucrezia could be held responsible for a less than legitimate action.
In fact, he even insinuates that without being a part of the Borgia family,
Lucrezia would have been nothing to history, as she was unremarkable besides
her disreputable family. But due to her status as the daughter of the pope
she was a vital political figure, and “in the hands of her father and brother,
however, she became a tool and also the victim of their political machinations,
against which she had not the strength to make any resistance.”34 This image
painted of Lucrezia is so different from that in so many other plays, literature,
and historical documents. These depictions of a weak-willed woman seem
inaccurate when one also recognizes that Alexander trusted Lucrezia as a
duchess in her own right to handle his grievances court in Rome, and to deal
with multiple political issues of the Vatican on his behalf. While she was a
woman in the Renaissance time, which means limited ability and freedoms,
Lucrezia was doubtless more than an innocent tool of the Borgia ambition.
When it comes to Cesare, Gregorovius is less than forgiving, completely
damning him for his evil ways. Gregorovius describes Cesare’s murder of
Lucrezia’s second husband, Alfonso, clearly depicting “the terrible influence
which Cesare exercised over his wicked father as this deed.”35 While Alexander
is by no means a good man according to Gregorovius, Cesare is pinpointed
as the true villain in the family due to his atrocious crimes, such as the
rumored fratricide of Juan. But what is most illuminating in this biography
is Gregorovius’ analytical approach to the lives of the Borgias in context of
their time. “In that age the concepts of religion, of decency, and of morality
were entirely different from those of to-day.”36 For Italians, the force of a man’s
personality and the might behind a man’s deeds was what made him great.
Gregorovius argues that men like Machiavelli did not discuss morality, which
is why, in his eyes, the deeds of Cesare were remarkable.37 While Gregorovius
does not cast the Borgia family in a positive light, he does recognize that part
of who the family was and what they did can somewhat be attributed to the fact
that the Borgias were a product of the time in which they lived.
Another literary contributor to the Borgia image is the English playwright
Nathaniel Lee who wrote Caesar Borgia in 1680. Born into a Presbyterian
family and raised to follow that path in college, Lee instead entered into the
world of the theater. Lee’s writings in most of his plays reflected his antiCatholic viewpoint, and in this play about the infamous Borgia son, he spares
no detail about the lechery of the Borgia family. The play Caesar Borgia was
an addition to and reproduction of the earlier Barnes’ play The Devil’s Charter.
While Lee also incorporates murder, intrigue, the devil contract and so on,
he goes even further in some areas than Barnes did in his earlier play. Lee
immediately attacks Cesare by calling him another Roman tyrant, along with
implying that Cesare holds no love, only ambition. Lee then proceeds to lend to
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his play one of the most lyrical insults of the Borgia clan:
The famous Lucrece, who can charm her Father / In all the heat of
Excommunication, / When he throws Bulls, like Thunderbolts about him;
/ She like a Venus to his angry Jove / Moves with incestuous Fires, folds
her white arm / About his chafing Neck, strokes his black Beard / And
smooths his furrow’d Cheeks to dimpled smiles; / The Brothers too enjoy’d
her.39
This excerpt from Lee’s story of Cesare’s life and death is a continuation
of the ever-present rumor of incest between Lucrezia and her father, and
also with her brother. Entertainment such as this play that spread vicious
slander only further mutilated the image of the Borgia family. Whether or
not the accusation of incest was true, through plays such as this one and the
continuation of the same rumors as in earlier literature, many people began to
believe these tales as fact.
A play that set the stage for multiple operas and an even more lasting
representation of the Borgias is Victor Hugo’s Lucretia Borgia. The play is
about Lucrezia’s visit to see her son Gennaro, who does not know who his real
mother is. Gennaro has only heard about Lucrezia in the worst way, believing
she is a murderess and adulterer who, with her family, commits “a dark and
bloody deed, perpetrated by some malicious demon who revels in blood and
crime.”40 When they meet, both are happy until Gennaro’s companions reveal
to him who Lucrezia truly is. In this play, Hugo describes the Borgia family
as murderers, and the friends of Gennaro list out the names of all they have
lost to the Borgia plague. “Madam, I am Maffio Orsini, brother to the Duke
of Gravina, whom you caused to be stabbed in his dungeon . . . . Madam, I am
Jeppo Liveretto, brother of Liveretto Vittelli, whom your ruffians strangled
while he slept . . . .”41 Lucrezia is horrified to be revealed to her son in this
manner and vows revenge on the men.
The play continues at a party where Lucrezia executes her plans for the
men who revealed her evil nature to her son, but she unknowingly serves
poisoned wine to Gennaro as well. When the men figure out that they have
drunk to their doom, Lucrezia addresses them in anger. “Since last we met, my
heart was softened, my feelings changed, my nature humanized, and sorrow
and repentance for the past had bowed me to the earth. I had resolved never
more to terrify Italy with frightful deeds.”42 With this line, Hugo is giving
Lucrezia a more humane side and showing some sympathy for her person.
In this play, Lucrezia wants to be a good person. She wants to change and
not be the villain in her life. She even claims that a battle of good and evil is
waging inside her, and she only hopes the good will win.43 When Lucrezia tells
Gennaro of his true parentage just before his death, he stabs her and chooses
to die rather than live as a Borgia. This play helps promote already assumed
144
ideas about the Borgia family, and Lucrezia in particular. The usual charges of
murder and adultery arise in Hugo’s work, and are expanded upon.
A famous opera based off Victor Hugo’s play is Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucretia
Borgia. In Donizetti’s work, the main character Gennaro is the incestuous
offspring of Alexander and Lucrezia: “thy father was mine own.”44 On
Gennaro’s death Lucrezia sings to the crowd, “he was my son, my hope, my
comfort. He might have made me pure again. He might have appeased the
wrath of God for me. He is dead, and with him have died all my hopes . . . . Oh,
strike me, God! I well deserve thy bolts.”45 The play and operas that followed
reveal a more understanding view of Lucrezia. While she and her family are
still the villains of the performance, she wants to be good, and she does care
for something. The play does not dote upon Alexander or Cesare, but mainly
focuses on the conflicted character of Lucrezia.
Today, the image of the Borgia family continues to be a massive draw
in literature, movies, and television. The 1922 French film Lucrece Borgia
is a depiction of the family as debased and immoral, with Alexander as a
warmonger, Lucrezia a vapid whore, and Cesare the ultimate scoundrel.
While the film is by no means historically accurate, it does shed light on the
entertainment draw that the Borgia family continues to offer to the public
with its promise of murder, scandalous love, and intrigue. Even in 2006, this
family inspired the Spanish film Los Borgia, which portrays the family almost
sympathetically as the children suffer in order for Alexander to have his
goals recognized. But instead of casting the whole family as evil, the director
humanizes the Borgias and explains some of their questionable actions. This
sympathetic aspect of the Borgia image also comes forth in much of the
modern literature on the family, whether in biographies or fiction novels.
In modern writing, Lucrezia is often typecast as a victim of her family, and
overshadowed by her own reputation. Modern writers typically portray
Lucrezia as caught between intense loyalty to those who look after her and a
desire to do what is right and moral. In the scholarly world, Alexander is now
commonly depicted as a typical Renaissance pope, involved in similar endeavors
and issues as his predecessors and successors. Cesare, however, is still viewed
by many as the “bad seed.” His unflagging ambition and cruelty dehumanizes
him to many writers in their accounts of the family.
The reality of the image of the Borgia clan is that gossip and truth are so
incredibly intermingled and woven together that it becomes hard to separate
fact from fiction. The members of the Borgia family rose to such unbelievable
fame through some questionable actions, but would their actions have been
thought of any differently than other Renaissance families if Alexander had
not become the pope? Alexander’s accomplishments, dividing the city and
assigning magistrates, creating a court for the people to air their grievances,
145
fortifying the city, his patronage of the arts, are constantly bypassed in lieu of
his dynastic ambitions and his infamous children. His next major successor,
Pope Julius II, also waged intensive military campaigns and had a daughter, but
he is remembered much more favorably by historians. In Alexander VI’s favor,
he truly was an intelligent, remarkable man who had real love and concern for
his family. He portrayed the morality of the Renaissance era, for better or for
worse, and he was, in reality, no worse than many other popes.
In fact, Alexander actually proved himself to be a highly capable pope,
protecting to the best of his ability the Italian people from a foreign invasion,
fixing immense internal Vatican problems, and more. Prior to his conflict with
Naples after the death of Lucrezia’s second husband Alfonso, he was seen as a
dedicated pope, tirelessly working towards regaining the papal states, working
on extensive building projects, and dealing with papal issues. The truth is
that despite some of the events that occurred during the Borgia reign, the
family was rather unremarkable in the sense of being extraordinarily brutal
or immoral. They lived in an era that was absurdly “‘corrupt and lascivious.’
Undoubtedly corruption in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was more
conspicuous, for it was rather gloried in than concealed.”46 The writers of
biographies, plays, and fiction, and the modern film industry have all played a
part in the legend of the Borgia family. The dark images and ideas that come to
mind when one thinks of the poisonous Borgia family can truly be attributed
more to misconception of an era and the efforts of some to undermine a
system, not just a man.
NOTES
Ferdinand Gregorovius, Lucretia Borgia, trans. John Leslie Garner (New York: D. Appleton and
Company, 1903), 4.
2
Michael Mallett, The Borgias; The Rise and Fall of a Renaissance Dynasty (New York: Barnes &
Noble, Inc, 1969), 115.
3
Clemente Fusero, The Borgias, trans. Peter Green (London: Pall Mall Press, 1972), 119.
4
Mallett, 221.
5
Mallett, 118.
6
Fusero, 117.
7
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. and ed. Robert Adams 2nd ed. (New York: Norton, 1992),
33.
8
Gregorovius, 9.
9
Machiavelli, 48.
10
Machiavelli, 19.
11
Machiavelli, 22.
12
Machiavelli, 45.
13
Arnold H. Matthew, The Life and Times of Rodrigo Borgia Pope Alexander VI (Southampton:
Southampton Times Limited, n.d), 253.
14
Girolamo Savonarola, Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola; Religion and Politics, 1490-1498,
trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro (New Haven: Yale UP, 2006), 62.
1
146
Savonarola, 63.
Savonarola, 261.
17
Savonarola, 262-263.
18
J.N. Hillgarth, “The Image of Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth
Centuries,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 59 (1996): 122.
19
Savonarola, 265.
20
Savonarola, 266.
21
Mallett, 143.
22
David B. Barrett, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Erwin Fahlbusch, The Encyclopedia of
Christianity Volume 3 J-O (Michigan: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999), 116.
23
Hillgarth, 121.
24
Mallett, 160.
25
Elizabeth Butler, The Fortunes of Faust (University Park, Pennsylvania: Penn State Press, 1999),
23.
26
Barnabe Barnes, The Devil’s Charter, ed. R.B. McKerrow (London: 1607), 3.
27
Barnes, 30.
28
Barnes 93.
29
Barnes, 92.
30
Gregorovius, 7.
31
Gregorovius, 45.
32
Gregorovius, 49.
33
Gregorovius, 93.
34
Gregorovius, 101.
35
Gregorovius, 95.
36
Gregorovius, 96.
37
Gregorovius, 98.
38
John Dryden, and Nathaniel Lee, Caesar Borgia, (London: R. Bentley, 1680), 3.
39
Dryden and Lee, 9.
40
Victor Hugo, Lucretia Borgia, trans. J.M. Weston (New York: Samuel French Publisher, 1855), 10.
41
Hugo, 24.
42
Hugo, 55.
43
Hugo, 16-18.
44
Gaetano Donizetti, and Felice Romani, Lucrezia Borgia; A Grand Opera, in Four Acts, trans. G.
Calcaterra (New Orleans: Office of the Picayune, 1843), 23.
45
Donizetti, 24.
46
Matthew, 8.
15
16
REFERENCES
Primary Sources:
Barnes, Barnabe. The Devil’s Charter. Edited by R.B. McKerrow. London: 1607.
Donizetti, Gaetano and Felice Romani. Lucrezia Borgia; A Grand Opera, in
Four Acts. Translated by G. Calcaterra. New Orleans: Office of the
Picayune, 1843. Print.
Dryden, John, and Nathaniel Lee. Caesar Borgia. London: R. Bentley, 1680.
147
Print.
European Treaties bearing on the History of the United States and its Dependencies to
1648. Edited by Frances Gardiner Davenport. Washington D.C.: Carnegie
Institution of Washington, 1917. Print.
Gregorovius, Ferdinand. Lucretia Borgia; According to Original Documents and
Correspondences of Her Day. Translated by John Leslie Garner. New York:
D. Appleton and Company, 1903. Print.
Hugo, Victor. Lucretia Borgia. Translated by J.M. Weston. New York: Samuel
French Publisher, 1855. Print.
Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Translated and edited by Robert Adams. 2nd
ed. New York: Norton, 1992. Print.
Savonarola, Girolamo. Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola; Religion and
Politics, 1490-1498. Translated and edited by Anne Borelli and Maria
Pastore Passaro. New Haven: Yale UP, 2006. Print.
Secondary Sources:
Barrett, David B., Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Erwin Fahlbusch. The
Encyclopedia of Christianity Volume 3 J-O. Michigan: Wm B. Eerdmans
Publishing, 1999. Print.
Butler, Elizabeth. The Fortunes of Faust. University Park, Pennsylvania: Penn
State Press, 1999. Print.
Fusero, Clemente. The Borgias. Translated by Peter Green. London: Pall Mall
Press, 1972. Print.
Ghirardo, Diane Yvonne. “Lucrezia as Entrepreneur.” Renaissance Quarterly 61
(2008): 53 90. Print.
Goldthwaite, Richard A. Review of The Borgias; The Rise and Fall of a
Renaissance Dynasty by Michael Mallett, American Historical Review 75
(June 1970): 1481-1482. Print.
Hillgarth, J.N. “The Image of Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia in the Sixteenth
and Seventeenth Centuries.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes.
148
59 (1996): 119-129. Print.
Kalogridis, Jeanne. The Borgia Bride: A Novel. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin,
2005. Print.
Latour, Anny. The Borgias. Translated by Neil Mann. London: Elek Books
Limited, 1963. Print.
Lucus-Dubreton, J. The Borgias. Translated by Philip John Stead. New York:
E.P. Dutton & Co., INC, 1954. Print.
Mallett, Michael. The Borgias: The Rise and Fall of a Renaissance Dynasty. New
York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1969. Print.
Matthew, Arnold H. The Life and Times of Rodrigo Borgia Pope Alexander VI. Southampton: Southampton Times Limited, n.d. Print.
Pastor, Dr. Ludwig. The History of the Popes. Vol.5. 2nd ed. Edited by Frederick
Ignatius Antrobus. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder, 1902. Print.
149
150
Peace, Love, and Music
Peace, Love, and Music:
The Atlanta International Pop Festival of 1970 and
the Introduction of the 1960s Counterculture
Movement in the Deep South
Travis D. Byrd
Dr. Robert Wilson III
Faculty Sponsor
The sun baked down across Georgia on an unusually hot and humid July
4th weekend. The heat rising from the Middle Georgia Raceway in Byron,
Georgia, shimmered like a mirage in the desert. Despite the 100 degrees
Fahrenheit or higher temperatures, the invaders descended upon Byron
in seemingly endless numbers as the locals could only look on helplessly.
Hundreds of thousands in strange dress, some in no dress at all, took over
the town in preparation for what would become one of the most memorable
experiences of their lives: the Atlanta International Pop Festival of 1970.
What began as a money-making music festival organized by industry-great
Alex Cooley resulted in one of the largest free music festivals the nation
would ever see. Following the successful Atlanta International Pop Festival
of 1969 and less than a year after the famed Woodstock Music and Arts Fair,
over half a million people gathered in the middle of the Deep South, an area
nearly untouched by the counterculture revolution of the 1960s. The festival
of 1970 became one of the most important music festivals in America, even
as the counterculture movement began to wind down. Those visitors in Byron
shocked the Deep South by introducing the hippie lifestyle in an inescapable
way, leaving a lasting impression on those who shared the experience.
To understand the 1960s requires an understanding of the counterculture
movement and where it had the most impact. The “Baby Boomer” generation
was reaching young adulthood when war broke out between American troops
and the forces of Communist North Vietnam. As the war progressed, so
did student-led protests against American involvement in Vietnam. Rock
and roll experienced a rebirth with the arrival of the Beatles in America in
1964, who brought with them a sense of “utopian sensibilities” which would
become essential for the counterculture movement.1 An increase in drug use
also drastically changed the minds of American youth. Harvard psychologist
Timothy Leary promoted LSD, lysergic acid diethylamide, hailing it as “a
breakthrough comparable to the discovery of fire.” He encouraged American
youth to “‘tune in, turn on, drop out,’” a phrase that the counterculture would
continually use throughout the movement. Marijuana became nearly as
151
common as alcohol in America, and it was the most readily available drug. The
increased drug use continued to widen the generation gap between older adults
and young rebels.2 Centering in California, this counterculture revolution
would create a “nation” of hippies and drop-outs within a nation that prided
itself on hard work and clean-cut patriotism.
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was the first major rock
concert held in America, taking place from June 16 to 18, 1967, in Monterey,
California. Music festivals were not new, and Monterey had been home to
the Monterey Jazz Festival, but this event was the first to be billed as an
“international pop” festival.3 Featuring some of the first major appearances
of the Who, Ravi Shankar, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, and Janis Joplin, the
festival was attended by an estimated 200,000 people. The music played well
into the night and early morning, with nearly every artist performing for
free. It is no surprise that the “Summer of Love” began in California near San
Francisco, as this area of the nation has been considered the center of the
counterculture movement. This festival also created a template for nearly all
other music festivals that followed in the next few years.4
Two years later, on the weekend of July 4, 1969, the Deep South
experienced the counterculture in a way it had never before. Alan Pariser,
producer of the Monterey Pop Festival, produced another pop festival for
Atlanta, Georgia, to “put the South on the map.”5 The festival was organized
and promoted by then-novice Alex Cooley.6 After an experience at the Miami
Pop Festival, Cooley wanted to “bring this new phenomenon to Atlanta.”7 The
city is located in the center of the so-called “Deep South,” and, during the
1960s, this area of the nation was mostly isolated from the political and social
changes taking place. At a cost of $150,000, Pariser expected approximately
40,000 attendees at each of the two days of music on July 4 and 5. The festival
featured 21 rock and pop musicians and groups, many of whom were not well
known. The average cost for booking an act like those at Monterey was around
$35,000, compared to the $12,000 the year before. This dramatic increase kept
many of the more established musicians off the festival circuit for 1969.8 This
did, however, open the stage to more local, less well-known acts, such as Grand
Funk Railroad, Canned Heat, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.9
The first Atlanta International Pop Festival was a phenomenal success
in Cooley’s eyes. Though the temperatures for the weekend soared above 100
degrees Fahrenheit, fans traveled from as far away as Canada and piled into
the Middle Georgia Raceway to experience something never before held in the
South. Early estimates set the number of participants at around 100,000 for the
weekend, with estimates as high as 125,000.10 The local authorities seemed to
be astonished at the civility of the event. According to the Atlanta Journal and
Constitution, the crowd was a “polite, orderly, responsive audience” even with
152
the mix of heat, beer, wine, and drugs.11 Tony Gasses, manager of the Raceway
Package Store at the time, saw around 30,000 customers over the weekend and
reported that “some of them look funny,” but they were better behaved than the
normal race crowd. The Henry County sheriff ’s office affirmed this statement,
even with rumors of violence and an LSD-spiked water supply.12
The South had a reputation of hostility towards outsiders, who were
often considered troublemakers. Ten days after the festival, Peter Fonda and
Dennis Hopper starred as Wyatt and Billy in one of the most iconic films of
the Sixties, Easy Rider. While travelling through Louisiana, a group of locals
harass Wyatt and Billy at a diner because of their long hair, with one saying,
“I don’t believe they’ll make the parish line.”13 That night, Wyatt and Billy are
assaulted in their sleep outside of town, and their friend George (played by
Jack Nicholson) is killed with a machete. The movie ends with two men in a
pickup firing a shotgun at the bikers, simply to “scare the hell out of them,” and
killing or seriously injuring them.14 This stereotypical image of Southerners
carried across the nation, as did the stereotypical view of hippies in the South.
Though the first Atlanta International Pop Festival only brought in
around $12,000 profit, it did introduce the Deep South to the counterculture in
a real way.15 A mixture of hippies who, as one observer noted, “looked dressed
for a Halloween party or fresh from San Francisco or [Greenwich] Village”
and those with “reasonably trimmed hair” and “button-down shirts” filled the
track for the concert. Many Georgians at the festival heard Led Zepplin’s music
for the first time.16 Dave Brubeck, a jazz pianist who thought he was signed for
a jazz festival, also got an overwhelming response, allowing the counterculture
to be introduced to new genres of music.17 Even with the low profit margin,
this festival nearly guaranteed the second Atlanta International Pop Festival.
Just over a month later, music fans once again gathered for a weekend
of musical acts from August 15 to 18 in Bethel, New York. The Woodstock
Music and Art Fair, better known simply as “Woodstock,” changed the idea of
an outdoor music festival forever. Investors and entrepreneurs Michael Lang,
John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfield designed an outdoor music
festival as a money-making scheme.18 Initially, the group had trouble signing
any big-named acts until they signed Creedence Clearwater Revival, superstars
thanks partially to their appearance at the 1969 Atlanta International Pop
Festival. The big names then began to sign on quickly.19
Around 186,000 tickets were sold beforehand, and promoters only
expected 200,000 attendees to hear the thirty-two musical acts. However,
the fence was cut the night before by a local group of anarchists, the UAW /
MF Family, and the concert became free to a majority of the attendees.20 An
estimated 500,000 people suffered through rain, food and clean water shortages,
and lack of restroom facilities for the three-day concert that became one of the
153
most remembered in music history.21 This concert served as a pivotal moment
for large outdoor music festivals, sparking the idea of “music for the people,” a
phrase that would ring out across the nation over the next year.
In an attempt to match the power and “peace and love” of Woodstock on
the East coast, the Rolling Stones funded a music festival in California. The
Stones chose the Altamont Motor Speedway to host the one-day concert on
December 6, 1969, and they decided not to charge admission. The concert was
unfortunately marred with violence, culminating with the stabbing death of
Meredith Hunter.22 Hunter, a young male African American, apparently high
on methamphetamine, pulled a revolver near the front of the stage and was
then stabbed by a Hells Angel. The Hells Angels had been hired to keep people
off the stage throughout the concert, paid in $500 worth of beer.23 Wielding
weighted pool cues the length of billy-clubs, the thugs made their way through
the crowd beating anyone they wanted.24 The Grateful Dead refused to make
an appearance due to the rising violence. By the end of the night, four people
were killed: two were hit by a car that ran into the crowd and another drowned
in an irrigation ditch while high.25 For many, the Altamont disaster signaled a
significant setback to the counterculture movement.
Despite Altamont, Alex Cooley pursued hosting the second Atlanta
International Pop Festival. To accommodate the larger number of fans
expected to attend, the concert was relocated to the Middle Georgia Raceway
in Byron, Georgia. Surrounded by pecan groves and soybean fields, this halfmile race track provided a perfect location for the concert and the surrounding
areas for camping. Byron, about 90 miles south of Atlanta, also provided the
same rural setting as the Woodstock festival in Bethel, New York, the year
before. At the time, the population of Byron was only around two hundred
people, making the crowd to come unforgettable.26
The festival promoters signed several well-known artists, including the
Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Mountain, Jethro Tull, Grand Funk Railroad,
and others.27 Advertisements made their way across the country, with prints
of posters in counterculture underground newspapers such as The Great
Speckled Bird in Atlanta.28 Ticket sellers also traveled the country selling the
weekend passes. At a “hippie clothing store” in Ft. Myers, Florida, several
workers purchased tickets and hitched a ride to Byron.29 Just as he did at the
first festival, Cooley sold tickets at $14 for a weekend pass. After ticket sales,
between 50,000 and 100,000 people were expected to descend on Byron over
the July 4th weekend. Georgia State Patrolmen were brought in to help the
local police force deal with the traffic, drugs, and possibly the kind of dreaded
violence experienced at Altamont.30
Several weeks prior to the festival, promoters hired approximately two
hundred workers to prepare the grounds for the event. For most of the month
154
of June, crews erected a stage and an eight-foot plywood fence around the
100-acre concert area.31 Those hired usually represented the counterculture
hippies, with at least one commune, the Bleeding Turnip Tribe, hired on crew.32
Surprisingly, the local population was rather generous to the “freaks” invading
their small hamlet of Byron. Farmers stopped by at night with “peaches
[and] watermelon, and timing those visits when the women were to take the
outdoor showers in the early evening” with at least one staying to “sit around
the campfire and sample the weed.”33 The workers all slept together in a giant
revival-type tent despite the immense heat. With continued surprise, one local
noted that the hippies were “actually working,” with a local deputy telling
others “they don’t bite.”34
In the final days before the festival, Cooley began to hire security. The
set-up crew for the festival was in charge of security on the stage, while
others were hired to keep the bands comfortable before their performances.35
To avoid a situation similar to Altamont, Cooley decided not to pay security
with alcohol, but he did hire biker groups to prevent non-ticket holders from
“crashing the gates.”36 These guards, from various groups, supplemented the
security offered by Houston and Peach County deputies.37
In the week leading up to the festival, Byron became a “hippie haven”
as people arrived to camp before the festival in the pecan and peach groves
around the stage area.38 On the first day of the festival, Interstate 75 South
and Georgia Highways 41 and 49 were completely congested due to a mix of
festival goers and holiday traffic. The traffic on I-75 was backed up nearly 100
miles to the Varsity in Atlanta.39 In addition to people attending the festival,
locals drove by nearly all day and night to, as Paul Beeman of the AJC put it,
“catch a glimpse of the freakish dress and undress of the music fans.”40 Cooley
had prepared for the traffic and organized to have helicopters bring in the
bands inside the racetrack. He went up in a helicopter before the concert on
Friday and was “scared to death.”41 Before the gates were opened, 200,000 rock
fans were already assembled with even more coming.42 Many of those arriving
were hitchhiking, sitting on the hoods and tops of cars and hiking nearly three
miles to the raceway.43
Because of the immense flood of hippies descending on Byron, the
local and state police could do almost nothing other than watch for trouble.
Throughout the camping areas, “card board signs [were] everywhere”
announcing the various drugs for sale, including “Purple Haze,” a type of
marijuana, Purple Micro Dot, Orange Sunshine, and Electric Kool-Aid.44 State
troopers and police walked among those selling drugs with “no bust[s] and no
hassles” simply because there was nothing they could do.45 With temperatures
soaring about 100 degrees, many festival-goers were bathing in nearby
Echeconnee Creek, several of them nude. The sheriff of Bibb County, Jimmy
155
Bloodworth, vainly pleaded with the bathers over a loudspeaker to put their
clothes back on. Traffic began to back up on U.S. 41 and Georgia 11 as locals
continued to drive by and gawk at the strange culture that had descended on
their tiny town.46
The Allman Brothers Band, whose Big House was only fourteen miles
away in Macon,47 was chosen to open and close the festival, making them the
only band scheduled to play twice.48 Duane Allman arrived with just minutes
to spare before they were scheduled to take the stage.49 The local boys opened
the show with a bang, playing for nearly an hour for the approximately 35,000
ticket-holders inside. However, outside the gates, bikers held shotguns and
chains with padlocks on the end to guard the entrances from the thousands of
people shouting “Free Pop Festival!” and “Free music for the people!”50 Leaflets
circulated through the crowds saying “big festivals like this one might end if
promoters continue to lose dollars at the expense of free-loading fans;” this
year, the promoters needed to make $500,000 to break even.51
As the Allman Brothers rocked with “Mountain Jam,” the crowd outside
was nearly crushing people against the closed gates. Over 1,000 people
gathered outside the gates demanding free admission around nine p.m. that
night.52 Cooley “made the decision, ‘Either we open the gate or someone is
going to die.’”53 Rain began to fall, bringing the music to a halt for a short
while. The gates were opened for free to avoid any trouble. The bikers stepped
back and allowed the fans inside and “roared off,” seemingly afraid, as a Peach
County deputy put it, of getting “their motorcycles dirty.”54 The band stopped
playing since there was no cover over the stage, and a stage official walked to
the microphone and announced,
Alright, I have an announcement. This gate over here has been opened,
and this gate over here should be opened now, and that means something
else. That means that we’re all [going to] have to take care of each other.
And, it probably means that the promoters [are going to] be losing money,
so it probably means we’re [going to] be taking some collections to get
water in and to keep everything going for the three days. Think about that,
and take care of each other, because the gates have just waivered and no
one wants to exclude anybody.55
He continued to advise everyone to take their time entering the festival to
avoid any injuries. From this point on, Byron, Georgia, was as close to a
representation of Woodstock that the Deep South had ever seen. The music
continued, and Cooley doubted “anyone would attempt to hold another music
festival of this scope” because people seemed “more interested in the outdoor
hippie lifestyle than in the music itself.”56 One attendee asserted that the “music
was great, but secondary to the energy amongst the people.”57
Around midnight, Steve Kapelow, the financial backer of the festival,
156
announced the remainder of the festival would be open to all, “with or without
tickets.” He also requested cooperation from the music fans because “every
freak within 24 hours driving distance of Atlanta” would be on the way.58 To
keep water and medical supplies flowing into Byron, Kapelow requested a $1
donation from everyone, though there are no estimates made of how much
was actually collected.59 Dealers and concession sellers were asked to pay
ten percent and twenty-five percent of their sales respectively, though only
around four dealers actually paid.60 The music quieted in the early hours of the
morning as the thousands of concert-goers settled down to attempt to sleep in
the sweltering heat and humidity of the night.
On Saturday, America’s Independence Day, the sun rose on hundreds of
thousands of campers. People selling wares and drugs began to place their
cardboard advertisements across the campground as band after band prepared
to go on stage. Acid was reportedly sold for “’a buck a hit,’” with low-quality
LSD sometimes offered for a quarter or less.61 Overdose tents, manned by
doctors and medical students from the Atlanta area, served approximately
200 to 300 users experiencing bad trips. For medical purposes, four separate
medical centers served the hundreds of thousands of people manned by
twenty-five doctors, thirty nurses, and twelve medical students.63 Although an
estimated 6000 to 7000 people were treated for various conditions, most due
to the intense heat, only around thirty people required hospitalization. One of
these unfortunately was a two year old toddler who suffered third-degree burns
when the tent he and others were sleeping in caught fire. The child was taken
to the Macon Hospital and left by his mother, who went back to the festival,
an unfortunate tragedy during the weekend. A public service announcer said
that four births took place at the festival, and one miscarriage was confirmed to
have taken place during the festival.64
Outside of drugs, entrepreneurs sold various wares. Festival goers could
purchase “Mickey Mouse shirts, leather goods of all kinds, plastic marijuana
plants, and yo-yos that glow in the dark.”65 Others sold food, including one
“enterprising hawker” selling peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for “twentyfive cents a hit,” saying “‘eat the all-American food for the Fourth of July.”66
Even though the water supply was low on one occasion, food was plentiful.
As for beverages, very little beer was sold at the festival, but festival goers
consumed a large amount of soft drinks. A representative for the Pepsi-Cola
company reported that over 40,000 24-can packs were purchased between
the Tuesday and Friday before the festival.67 After attending the Atlanta
International Pop Festival in 1969, Greg Stephens, according to a 2006
memoir, “got the brilliant idea of making money by selling cold wine at the 70
festival.” He filled coolers with ice and Ripple wine, arrived, and “got high and
in the spirit” and “gave it all away.”68 After playing, many bands gave a
157
smaller performance to the campers at the free stage, with the Allman Brothers
playing at least one acoustical set.69 The Free Stage, still holding the name after
promoters opened the gates, allowed anyone who wished to play to display their
talents, including groups and solo artists not on the main set list.
The Fourth of July celebrations continued well into the night. After
sunset, a helicopter circled overhead and landed inside the raceway. Jimi
Hendrix, the headliner for the music festival, took the stage. Though tuning
and equipment problems haunted his performance, Hendrix thrilled the
audience around midnight with his rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.”70
Thousands awoke around the area to the sudden uproar of applause as Hendrix
took the stage, followed by fireworks exploding behind him. Hendrix himself
apparently forgot about the fireworks while becoming wrapped in his guitar
solo and “when the first one went off, he jumped about ten feet.”71 Hendrix
ended his show, and the music died down in the early hours of the morning.
As with most festivals, the Atlanta International Pop Festival of 1970 did
not stick with its set list times perfectly. Bands continued to play well past their
allotted time on Sunday, July 5. A large number of fans had already left, many
of whom were simply exhausted from the heat of the weekend.72 Early rumors
circulated that Sunday’s performances would be canceled to recoup some of the
lost profits after the festival was declared free, but performances continued into
Monday morning. The Allman Brothers Band, set to close the festival Sunday
afternoon, did not play until approximately 3:50 in the morning of Monday,
July 6.73 By the time the sun rose, most of those in the crowd were asleep or
“otherwise immobile.”74 Richie Havens opened his act at sunrise, appropriately
with his rendition of “Here Comes the Sun.” According to attendee Bill
Mankin, by the end of his performance, “the whole audience was on its feet
swaying and singing along,” an indication that the “Woodstock generation was
alive and well and would survive to live another day, smiling all the way.”75 The
music ended, and the Second Atlanta International Pop Festival was over. One
festival-attendee said it best, “‘It’s been great man. Really good vibes. I’m gonna
go home and take about a seven-hour bath.’”76
Most of those who had experienced the concert slowly headed to their
respective homes. Hippies, dirty and tired, held cardboard signs with various
destinations: “New Jersey, California, New Mexico, Florida and ‘Heaven.’”77
An estimated 50,000 stayed behind to help clean up the tons of garbage left
on site.78 State troopers were faced with a huge problem, abandoned and stolen
vehicles. Many of the young festival-goers “probably took cars to the festival
then simply left them.”79 One person left his car in a traffic jam two miles from
the festival. When confronted by state troopers, he told them, “‘That’s all right,
you can have it; it got me here. I don’t need it anymore,’” before moving into
the crowd. Officials estimated it would take weeks to work out the issue of the
158
vehicles.80 Police stayed in the area for final traffic control, reserving arrests,
as they had throughout the weekend, for only serious cases. One teenager
was arrested for threatening to jump off an interstate overpass while high on
amphetamines.81 All in all, the festival ended peacefully and quietly, with a total
of thirty arrests throughout the weekend.82
The government’s response to the festival was not nearly as peaceful as
the event itself. Governor Lester Maddox was appalled at the nudity and drug
use at the festival. Even by Saturday, July 4, Maddox had called the festival a
“tragedy in” Georgia, saying that one would “expect something like this going
on in the jungle but not in America.”83 Maddox expressed hope that Georgia
legislators would vote against allowing another festival to take place before
he headed to Boston to address the New England Rally for God, Family, and
Country on July 5.84 The area was nearly labeled a disaster area on Saturday,
but officials hoped it would stay peaceful if they just let “the rock fans do
their thing and go home.”85 By Monday, Maddox began investigating possible
strategies for preventing music festivals.
Maddox ordered the Georgia House Committee on Drug Usage to have
hearings about the festival. The two prevailing themes of outrage about the
festival were drug use and nudity. People were “hitchhiking on the interstate,”
trespassing, and swimming “buck naked on other people’s property.”86 Maddox
did not believe “the federal government could have handled it,” with his
special counsel, Frank Blankenship, commenting that people were “just selling
[drugs] openly. I saw it on television.”87 Georgia Bureau of Investigation
agents argued that many dealers and drug users escaped because the “crowd
would close in around them,” even after admitting drug use was too rampant to
enforce an effective crack-down.88 Legislators also complained about the vulgar
language and a “stench in the area,” which is not hard to imagine with half a
million unwashed bodies in 100 degree heat and inadequate restroom facilities.
Representative Bobby Johnson of Warrenton said that “we cannot expect to be
threatened like this and expect this country to last much longer.”89
The underground counterculture newspaper, The Great Speckled Bird, also
reported on the investigations, saying that Byron, Georgia, was “probably the
safest place in Amerika [sic] on July 4th. Despite the crowd that made Byron
the second largest city in the state, there was no major violence, no deaths, and
only about thirty” people were hospitalized.90 According to the counterculture,
the weekend did not work because of the festival promoters or the government;
instead “it worked because 400,000 functioned together communally, working
together, helping each other. Not exactly an All-Amerikan [sic] Fourth of
July.”91 One person, in her recollections from the festival, noted that some
people at the time “just didn’t get it.”92
Nevertheless, the committee concluded the “young peoples’ cry of ‘free
159
music’” was a “remedy” for what they called the “evils of the three-day
event.”93 The committee simply assumed that the drugs and nudity would not
have been an issue had the promoters of the festival not sought a profit. Rep.
Johnson called it “a sad day when Georgia people and American people have to
lose their virtue because [sic] of the dollar. I wish we could have pop music
without making money.”94 It is interesting to note that a conservative politician
would make a comment suggesting that money was the root of the drug and
nudity problems. The proposal to fix drug and nudity problems would be “more
stringent health regulations, possibly including required mobile hospitals and
more toilet facilities.”95 However, to simply call free music the remedy for drug
and nudity problems would be incorrect. Less than eight months prior, the free
Altamont festival ended with bad drug trips, violence, and death.The festival
did not have nudity, but that can be attributed to the temperatures in December
in California compared to those of July in middle Georgia.
Maddox hoped to pass laws to ban festivals like the Atlanta International
Pop Festival in the state of Georgia. The counterculture was already dying,
however, and no third festival would take place. Consequently, no ban was ever
passed into law in Georgia. Alex Cooley went on to found one of the largest,
long-running three day music festivals in Georgia, Music Midtown, which
ran from 1994 until 2005 with an estimated 300,000 people at its peak.96 The
festival in Byron gave Cooley the experience necessary to plan and carry out
future festivals in Georgia.
The festival gave Georgia a taste of the counterculture revolution at
the end of its years. A reporter for The Great Speckled Bird described the
counterculture in 1970:
It is the year 2, the second year in the life of our new nation – Woodstock
Nation – born on the streets of Chicago in August of ’68, baptized in
White Lake, New York, the following summer, evicted from People’s Park,
educated at Columbia, graduated at Kent State, stronger every day with
much more than a chronological growth: a new nation, conceived in the
bowels of the Monster . . . .97
The culture truly grew in number on Independence Day weekend, 1970, even
as the movement itself began to wind down. Everyone who attended the
festival went home completely changed. They had experienced something as
never before; a communal gathering for one purpose, against all odds, gathering
peacefully with inadequate food, water, and sanitation. One attendee called
the festival “a life experience,” noting how it felt “so safe and peaceful to be
surrounded by huge crowds of your own kind.”98 Byron, Georgia, introduced
the Deep South to the counterculture in a way it never had nor ever would
again, in the same way, experience.
160
NOTES
Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties, (Lexington, Massachusetts: D.C.
Heath and Company, 1996), 199.
2
Ibid, 200-201.
3
Jonathan Gould, Can’t Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America, 409, (New York: Harmony
Books, 2007), <http://books.google.com/books?id=gTAjZ235qfsC> (accessed 02 November
2009).
4
Ibid, 410.
5
Alan Pariser, quoted by Michael Adams, “Joplin, 80,000 Rock Buffs to Make Festival Scene,”
Atlanta Journal and Constitution, July 04 1969.
6
Alex Cooley later went on to start Music Midtown in Underground Atlanta.
7
“Alex Cooley – Biography,” Alex Cooley Presents the Live Music Experience, <http://www.
alexcooley.com/biography.html> (accessed 09 September 2009).
8
Michael Adams, “Joplin, 80,000 Rock Buffs to Make Festival Scene”.
9
“Atlanta International Pop Festival of 1969,” Alex Cooley Presents the Live Music Experience,
<http://www.alexcooley.com/fest-atlpop1.html> (accessed 14 September 2009).
10
Paul Beeman, “Music Fans Stay Orderly Despite Heat, Wine, Drugs,” Atlanta Journal and
Constitution, 06 July 1969.
11
Ibid.
12
Tony Gasses, quoted in “Music Fans Stay Orderly Despite Wine, Heat, Drugs.”
13
Customer in Diner, Easy Rider, DVD, Directed by Dennis Hopper (Culver City, CA: Sony
Pictures, 1969).
14
Pickup Truck Rider, Easy Rider.
15
“Atlanta Atlanta International Pop Festival of 1969,” Alex Cooley Presents the Live Music
Experience, <http://www.alexcooley.com/fest-atlpop1.html> (accessed 14 September 2009).
16
David Buchanan, comment on “Recent Posted Memories about the Second Atlanta Pop Festival,”
2nd Atlanta Pop Festival – MessyOptics, comment posted 07 March 2007, <http://messyoptics.
com/festtxt/popfest-12.html> (accessed 03 September 2009).
17
“Music Fans Stay Orderly Despite Heat, Wine Drugs.”
18
Robert Stephen Spitz, Barefoot in Babylon, (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1989), 126.
19
Hank Bordowitz, Bad Moon Rising: The Unauthorized History of Creedence Clearwater Revival,
(Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press, 2009), 390.
20
John McMillian, “Ben Morea, Garbage Guerrilla,” New York Press, <http://info.interactivist.net/
node/4354> (accessed 04 October 2009).
21
Associated Press, “State Investigating Handling of Tickets at Woodstock Fair,” New York Times,
27 August 1969.
22
John Burks, “Rock & Roll’s Worst Day: the Aftermath of Altamont,” Rolling Stone Magazine,
07 February 1970, <http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5934386/rock__rolls_worst_
day> (accessed 04 October 2009).
23
Ibid.
24
Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties, 285.
25
Ibid, 285.
26
Homeboy [pseudo.], comment on “Recent Posted Memories about the Second Atlanta Pop
Festival,” 2nd Atlanta Pop Festival – MessyOptics, comment posted 21 September 2006,
<http://messyoptics.com/festtxt/popfest-12.html> (accessed 03 September 2009). “Homeboy”
was 14 at the time of the festival, and his family lived on a farm in Byron. The population of
Byron today is only around 3000.
27
Concert poster, ca. 1970, <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ca/Atlanta70.jpg>
(accessed 15 November 2009).
1
161
Donald Wood notes in his recollection on MessyOptics.com that he learned of the festival
thanks to the Great Speckled Bird. He was stationed at Fort Benning at the time. Posted
30 November 2007.
29
Jennie B. (pseudo.), comment on “Recent Posted Memories about the Second Atlanta Pop
Festival,” 2nd Atlanta Pop Festival – MessyOptics, comment posted 09 July 2007.
30
Kirk West, The Allman Brothers Band Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival: July 3-5, 1970.
CD insert. West is the Allman Brothers Band’s “tour magician,” and has been since 1989.
31
Paul Beeman, “Byron Festival Free to Most of 200,000,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 05 July
1970, A16.
32
PamP (Old Broad Rock Goddess) [pseudo.], comment on “Recent Posted Memories about the
Second Atlanta Pop Festival,” 2nd Atlanta Pop Festival – MessyOptics, comment posted August
17, 2009, <http://messyoptics.com/festtxt/popfest-12.html> (accessed 03 September 2009).The
commune is referred to as “The Family” in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, “200,000 Swelter
at Pop Festival,” 04 July 1970, A12.
33
Ibid.
34
Paul Beeman, “Hippies Working? And They Don’t Bite!” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 28 June
1970, C1.
35
Sandy Lavine, comment on “Recent Posted Memories about the Second Atlanta Pop Festival,”
2nd Atlanta Pop Festival – MessyOptics, comment posted 13 August 2009, <http://messyoptics.
36
Biker at the front gate, qt. by Carolyn Marvin, “Bikers Twirl Chains, Halt Festival Gate Rush,”
Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 05 July 1970, A2.
37
Carolyn Marvin, ibid.
38
Paul Beeman, “Fest-Bound Traffic Finds 4-Hour Delay,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 03 July
1970, A12.
39
“Alex Cooley Presents: The 2nd Atlanta International Pop Festival,” <http://www.alexcooley.
com/fest-atlpop2.html>, accessed 02 October 2009. The Varsity is a popular hotdog and
hamburger restaurant in Atlanta which opened in 1928. For more information, see <http://www.
thevarsity.com/>.
40
Paul Beeman, “Fest-Bound Traffic Finds 4-Hour Delay,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 03 July
1970, A12.
41
Richard L. Eldredge, “What a Splash: Recalling Georgia’s ‘Woodstock,’ Atlanta Journal and
Constitution, 04 July 1995, E07
42
Carolyn Marvin, “200,000 Swelter at Pop Festival,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 04 July 1970.
A1.
43
Ibid, A12.
44
Karla [pseudo.], comment on “Recent Posted Memories about the Second Atlanta Pop Festival,”
2nd Atlanta Pop Festival – MessyOptics, comment posted 20 September 2009, <http://
messyoptics.com/festtxt/popfest-12.html> (accessed 03 September 2009).
45
Ibid.
46
Beeman, “Fest-Bound Traffic Finds 4-Hour Delay.”
47
The Allman Brothers Band lived in together in a large house in Macon along with roadies,
friends, and family from 1970 to 1973. It has since been converted into the Allman Brothers
Band Museum. More information can be found at <http://www.thebighousemuseum.org>
(accessed 05 December 2009).
48
Kirk West, CD insert.
49
Ibid.
50
Marvin, “Bikers Twirl Chains, Halt Festival Gate Rush.”
51
Ibid.
52
1970, 16A.
53
Qt. by Rob Barnes, comment on “Recent Posted Memories about the Second Atlanta Pop
28
162
Festival,” 2nd Atlanta Pop Festival – MessyOptics, comment posted 12 September 2005, <http://
messyoptics.com/festtxt/popfest-12.html> (accessed 03 September 2009).Barnes worked
alongside Cooley on the production staff.
54
Marvin, “Bikers Twirl Chains, Halt Festival Gate Rush.”
55
“Rain Delay,” Track 11 of Disc One, Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival, the Allman
Brothers Band.
56
1970, 1A.
57
Margarita M. Courney, comment on “Recent Posted Memories about the Second Atlanta Pop
Festival,” 2nd Atlanta Pop Festival – MessyOptics, comment posted 10 March 2006, <http://
58
Ibid.
59
Ibid.
60
Greg Gregory, The Great Speckled Bird, 07 July 1970, 2, <http://www.thestripproject.com/1970_
Atlanta_Pop_Festival.html> (accessed 22 October 2009).
61
1970, 16A.
62
Gene Guerrero, Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 07 July 1970, 4, <http://www.thestripproject.com/
1970_Atlanta_Pop_Festival.html> (accessed 22 October 2009).
63
Ibid.
64
Paul Beeman, “Pop Festival Music Stilled: Byron Returning to Normal As Estimated 200,000
Leave,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 06 July 1970, 1A.
65
Beeman, “Byron Festival Free to Most of 200,000,” 16A.
66
Ibid.
67
Ibid.
68
Greg Stephens, comment on “Recent Posted Memories about the Second Atlanta Pop Festival,”
2nd Atlanta Pop Festival – MessyOptics, comment posted 09 July 2005, <http://messyoptics.
69
David Buchanan, comment on “Recent Posted Memories about the Second Atlanta Pop Festival,”
2nd. Atlanta Pop Festival – MessyOptics, comment posted 19 October 2006, <http://
70
“July 4, 1970,” Jimi Hendrix Encyclopedia, <http://www.jimi-hendrix.com/encyclopedia/
document,19700704,1.html> (accessed 17 November 2009).
71
Alex Cooley, qt. by Richard L. Eldredge, “What a Splash: Recalling Georgia’s ‘Woodstock,’
Atlanta Journal Constitution 04 July 1995, E07.
72
Mike Vaquer, comment on “Recent Posted Memories about the Second Atlanta Pop Festival,”
2nd. Atlanta Pop Festival – MessyOptics, comment posted 23 August 2009, <http://messyoptics.
73
Kirk West, The Allman Brothers Band Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival: July 3-5, 1970.
CD insert.
74
Bill Mankin, “Still Savoring the Magic,” Classic Rock Page, <http://www.thestripproject.com/
Still_Savoring_the_Magic.htm> (accessed 22 October 2009).
75
Ibid.
76
Paul Beeman, “Pop Festival Music Stilled,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, 06 July 1970, A5.
77
Ibid, A1.
78
Ibid, A5.
79
Ibid.
80
Ibid, A5.
81
Ibid, A1.
82
Hugh Merrill, “Legislators Eye Byron Festival,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, 07 July 1970, A2.
83
Lester Maddox, qt by Carolyn Marvin, “200,000 Swelter At Pop Festival,” Atlanta Journal
Constitution, 04 July 1970, A1.
163
Ibid.
Paul Beeman, “Pop Festival Music Stilled,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 06 July 1970, A5.
86
Frank Blankenship, qt. by Hugh Merrill, “Maddox Asks Ban on Music Festivals,” Atlanta Journal
and Constitution, 06 July 1970, A1.
87
Ibid.
88
89
Ibid.
90
Gene Guerrero, Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 07 July 1970, 4, <http://www.thestripproject.
com/1970_Atlanta_Pop_Festival.html> (accessed 22 October 2009).
91
Ibid.
92
PamP (Old Broad Rock Goddess) [pseudo.], comment on “Recent Posted Memories about the
Second Atlanta Pop Festival,” 2nd Atlanta Pop Festival – MessyOptics, comment posted 17
August 2009, <http://messyoptics.com/festtxt/popfest-12.html> (accessed 03 September 2009).
93
94
Ibid.
95
Ibid.
96
“Alex Cooley Presents: Festivals,” Alex Cooley Presents the Live Music Experience, <http://www.
alexcooley.com/festivals.html> (accessed 09 September 2009).
97
Greg Gregory, The Great Speckled Bird, 07 July 1970, 2, <http://www.thestripproject.com/1970_
Atlanta_Pop_Festival.html> (accessed 22 October 2009). In August 1968, protestors rioted
with the Chicago Police Department when a rally outside the Democratic National Convention
turned violent. White Lake, New York, was the official location of the Woodstock Music and
Arts Fair. At People’s Park at the University of California, Berkeley, campus, student protestors
once again clashed with local law enforcement, resulting in mass rioting in the area. Students at
Columbia University in New York occupied many of the university’s buildings in 1968 before
their violent removal by New York City police. In May 1970, Ohio Army National Guardsmen
fired on students at Kent State University in Ohio, killing four students. The “Monster,” of
course, refers to Establishment America.
98
Julie Riddleberger, comment on “Recent Posted Memories about the Second Atlanta Pop
Festival,” 2nd Atlanta Pop Festival – MessyOptics, comment posted 30 May 2009, <http://
84
85
Figure 1: 1966 and 1972 aerial photographs of the Middle Georgia Raceway in
Byron, Georgia. Photographs provided by “HistoricMustang” (pseudo.) at Racing
Through History, <http://historicmustang.proboards.com> (accessed 18 October
2009).
164
Figure 2: Workers setting up the stage, looking south inside the plywood fence.
Photograph by Carter Tomassi.
Figure 3: Main gate on the first day before the festival began. Photograph by E. J.
McGehee.
165
Figure 4: Camping area outside the fence. Photograph by E. J. McGehee.
Figure 5: Crowd on Saturday. The Middle Georgia Raceway is in the background.
Photograph by E. J. McGehee.
166
Figure 6: Overdose tent with an Orange Sunshine dealer just outside. Photograph by
Carter Tomassi.
Figure 7: Panoramic view of the concert on Saturday evening. The stage is behind the
fence on the left-top. The racetrack can be seen in the top half of the photo on the left
side. This collection of photographs truly illustrates the immense number of people at
the festival. Photograph by E. J. McGehee.
167
REFERENCES
Adams, Michael. “Joplin, 80,000 Rock Buffs to Make Festival Scene.” Atlanta
Journal and Constitution, 04 July 1969. Print.
Associated Press, “State Investigating Handling of Tickets at Woodstock Fair.”
New York Times, 27 August 1969. Print.
Beeman, Paul. “Byron Festival Free to Most of 200,000.” Atlanta Journal and
Constitution, 05 July 1970. Print.
---. “Fest-Bound Traffic Finds 4-Hour Delay.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution,
03 July 1970. Print.
---. “Hippies Working? And They Don’t Bite!” Atlanta Journal and Constitution,
28 June 1970. Print.
---. “Music Fans Stay Orderly Despite Heat, Wine, Drugs.” Atlanta Journal and
---. “Pop Festival Music Stilled: Byron Returning to Normal As Estimated
200,000 Leave.” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 06 July 1970. Print.
Bordowitz, Hank. Bad Moon Rising: The Unauthorized History of Creedence
Clearwater Revival. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press, 2009. Print.
Burks, John. “Rock & Roll’s Worst Day: the Aftermath of Altamont.” Rolling Stone Magazine, 07 February 1970. Retrieved 04 October 2009, from
<http://www. rollingstone.com/news/story/5934386/rock __rolls_
worst_day>.
Cooley, Alex. “Alex Cooley – Biography.” Alex Cooley Presents the Live Music
Experience. Retrieved 09 September 2009, from <http://www.alexcooley.
com/biography.html>.
---. “Alex Cooley Presents: Festivals.” Alex Cooley Presents the Live Music
Experience. Retrieved 09 September 2009, from<http://www.alexcooley.
com/festivals.html>.
---. “Alex Cooley Presents: Atlanta International Pop Festival of 1969.” Alex
Cooley Presents the Live Music Experience. Retrieved 14 September 2009,
168
from <http://www.alexcooley.com/fest-atlpop1.html>.
---. “Alex Cooley Presents: The 2nd Atlanta International Pop Festival.” Alex
Cooley Presents the Live Music Experience. Retrieved 02 October 2009,
from <http://www.alexcooley.com/fest-atlpop2.html>.
Eldredge, Richard L. “What a Splash: Recalling Georgia’s ‘Woodstock.’”
Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 04 July 1995. Print.
Gould, Jonathan. Can’t Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America. NewYork:
Harmony Books, 2007. Retrieved 02 November 2009, from <http://
books.google.com/books?id=gTAjZ235qfsC>.
Gregory, Greg. The Great Speckled Bird, 07 July 1970. Retrieved 22 October
2009, from <http://www.thestripproject.com/1970_Atlanta_Pop_Festival.
html>.
Guerrero, Gene. The Great Speckled Bird, 07 July 1970. Retrieved 22 October
2009, from <http://www.thestripproject.com/1970_Atlanta_Pop_Festival.
html>.
“July 4, 1970,” Jimi Hendrix Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17 November 2009, from
<http://www.jimi-hendrix.com/encyclopedia/document,19700704,1.
html>.
Mankin, Bill. “Still Savoring the Magic.” Classic Rock Page. Retrieved 22
October 2009, from <http://www.thestripproject.com/Still_Savoring_
the_Magic.htm>.
Marvin, Carolyn. “200,000 Swelter at Pop Festival.” Atlanta Journal and
---. “Bikers Twirl Chains, Halt Festival Gate Rush.” Atlanta Journal and
McMillian, John. “Ben Morea, Garbage Guerrilla,” New York Press, Retrieved
04 October 2009, from <http://info.interactivist.net/node/4354>.
Merrill, Hugh. “Legislators Eye Byron Festival.” Atlanta Journal and
169
Miller, Douglas T. On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties. Lexington,
Massachusetts: D.C. Heath, 1996. Print.
Spitz, Robert Stephen. Barefoot in Babylon. New York: Norton, 1989. Print.
West, Kirk. The Allman Brothers Band Live at the Atlanta International Pop
Festival: July 3-5, 1970. CD insert.
170
Black Comedians and W.E.B. Du Bois
Black Comedians and the Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois’s
The Philadelphia Negro
Christopher R. Cowan
Dr. Beauty Bragg
Faculty Sponsor
In his ground breaking study The Philadelphia Negro, W.E.B. Du Bois
set out to describe the condition of African Americans living in Philadelphia
in the late nineteenth century and the failures of the post-Reconstruction
government to improve the conditions of African-Americans. Du Bois sought
the truth “despite its possible unpleasantness” (3). Du Bois calls into question
the “surrounding world of custom, wish, whim, and thought which envelops
this group and powerfully influences its social development” (5). The main
focus of The Philadelphia Negro is to expose the conditions of the black
population of Philadelphia to the world at large in order to foster positive
change in the condition and treatment of the black community. In the twentyfirst century, African American leadership continues to address the same
issues Du Bois observed about the outside causes for the current condition of
African Americans, but that same leadership is seemingly afraid to direct any
criticism toward unfavorable elements in the black community. In an effort
to be all encompassing, small sections of The Philadelphia Negro point out
behaviors and characteristics of the poor black community that can be seen
as the inspiration for stereotypes. In the place of leaders who are hesitant to
speak of the possible roots of such stereotypes, a new breed of artist has taken
up Du Bois’s dual approach method: the standup comedian. Comedians such
as Dick Gregory, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, and
Aaron McGruder have used their art to point out the troubles brought upon
the African American community from both internal and external components.
This paper will examine how Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle have taken up the
mantle of the social commentator from Pryor, Gregory, and Cosby in an effort
to continue the dual approach of internal and external examination in an effort
to better the plight of the African American community in America today.
The question of the role of standup comedy as a means to convey serious
social commentary must be addressed in order to establish the validity of the
message conveyed by the comedians mentioned in this paper. Lawrence Mintz
addresses this issue in his article, “Standup Comedy as Social and Cultural
Mediation” published in American Quarterly. Mintz sees the comic as more than
an entertainer. Mintz says, “humor is a vitally important social and cultural
phenomenon, [a] student of a culture and society cannot find a more revealing
index to its values, attitudes, dispositions, and concerns, [than] the relatively
171
undervalued genre of standup comedy” (71). Typically the study of values,
attitudes, dispositions, and concerns of a culture falls within the realm of
sociology, the realm of The Philadelphia Negro. Furthermore, Mintz sees how
the comic can shape society with his or her humor saying:
[Victor] Turner’s work is also helpful when thinking about standup
comedy. His concept of “plural reflexivity,” or “the ways in which a
group or community seeks to portray, understand, and then act on itself ”
has important implications for our understanding of art, popular culture,
and humor. In addition, his discussion of liminal or liminoid activity in the
rituals of performance and of artistic expression is potentially adaptable
to a theory of public comedy. Turner sees the rituals as an opportunity for
society to explore, affirm, deny, and ultimately to change its structure and
its values. (73)
Just as Du Bois hoped to change social values with his work, so do Gregory,
Pryor, Cosby, Rock, Chappelle, and McGruder try to change the values of
society with their words. If a comedian, who has the potential to reach
more people than a sociologist, is able point out societal structures that are
potentially flawed, than the potential for change can be increased. Du Bois
sought a large scale change in both the Caucasian and African-American
communities in an effort to better the situation of African-Americans in the
post Reconstruction world. Contemporary black comedians can be seen as
trying to accomplish the same task in the post-Civil Rights world. As a scholar,
Du Bois would face a different brand of scrutiny than he would if he were
just an entertainer. Gregory, Pryor, Rock, Chappelle, and McGruder present
a different face to society than Du Bois does, and perhaps their audience will
listen to someone who appears to be on the same level with them as opposed
to someone who is perceived as occupying a space above that of the common
person. To stifle critics who would seek only to apply his findings to recent
comedians Mintz says,
It is possible to see that our modern American standup comedians provide
us with some of our most valuable social commentary. While some critics
of popular entertainment try to distinguish between a traditional standup
comedy characterized by an irrelevant quest for laughs, and a so-called
“new wave” comedy which is more socially and politically satiric or
insightful, such categorization belies the consistent role of standup
comedy as social and cultural analysis [emphasis added]. (77)
If Mintz is correct, then the older standup comedians, such as Gregory
and Cosby, have just as much relevance as the “new wave” comedians Pryor,
Murphy, Rock, and Chappelle. Each comedian had something special to say
about the African American community (whether they wanted to hear it or
not), the Caucasian community, and race relations. Technological advances in
172
radio, television, and electronic media have allowed the message to reach more
people now than during the time of its original production, ensuring that the
voices of these comics are harder to silence if they are perceived as giving a
damning portrayal of the black community to a white audience.
Lawrence Mintz is not the only scholar to espouse the virtues of the
stand-up comic as a social commentator. Jerome J. Zolten also addresses the
role of the comedian in his article “Black Comedians: Forging an Ethnic
Image.” Zolten agrees with Mintz on the issue of whether or not the standup
comedian serves as a valid commentator on the current social condition, and
carries the idea further by implying that comedians foster the synergism of
entertainment and social commentary with their work saying:
In the 1950s, however, a new type of comedian with a social conscience
and the desire and opportunity to change prevailing attitudes emerged.
African American comedians like Nipsey Russell and Moms Mabley, when
performing for black audiences, used material that made light of the most
serious social problems affecting Afro-Americans. Comedy that played on
the absurdities of white prejudice, segregation, denial of voting rights and
violence tended to relieve tension and create unity within the African
American community. The stage was set for the role of comedian as social
commentator and hero. (71-72)
Whereas, prior to the 1950’s, only academics such as Du Bois were perceived
as qualified to speak on the conditions of the African American community;
the door has now opened for entertainers to share their observations with an
audience and to be taken seriously by that audience when they paint a picture
of their community and the social factors at play inside and outside of that
community.
One of the earliest comics to emerge in the new era of the conscious
standup was Dick Gregory. Gregory, like his contemporaries and predecessors,
felt a need to attack racism and stereotypes with his humor. Commenting on
Gregory’s comedy in an article on contemporary African American humor,
Nancy Arnez and Clara Anthony say, “The role of a social satirist is to change
society or change the pattern of behavior. As Gregory becomes more and
more disenchanted and begins to see that his humor has made little change in
society, he may resort to sharper and sharper satirical comments” (341). The
comments Gregory begins to make are jokes that reach both inside and outside
the African American community. Just as Du Bois used small portions of The
Philadelphia Negro to identify steps the African American community could
take to alleviate the problems of high rates of crime and low rates of literacy,
Gregory begins to use his comedy to inform the African American community
of ways in which racism could be attacked by pointing out internal flaws, such
as the perceived “laziness” of blacks, that could be changed in order to remove
173
them from the arsenal of white racists. The next comic to take up the mantle
of social commentator is Richard Pryor. Like Gregory, Pryor assaulted racism
by attacking stereotypes in both the black and white communities. Pryor’s
routines feature more “black-on-black” humor than Gregory’s, but do not
have as much as Rock’s or Chappelle’s. Pryor is followed by Bill Cosby who,
after some inflammatory statements, is considered to be one of the harsher
stand-up comic critics of the black community and is also accused of blatantly
pandering to typical white stereotypes about blacks.
Cosby has always used his career to attack stereotypes and try to provide
positive and uplifting images to the African American community. June M. and
Timothy C. Frazer weigh in on the role of Cosby’s television career in their
article “‘Father Knows Best’ and ‘The Cosby Show’: Nostalgia and the Sitcom
Tradition.” Of “The Cosby Show” and its ability to comment on society the
Frazers remark,
the question arises of whether such a show can best educate and uplift by
dealing directly with harsh social realities or by showing a family
functioning so ideally well that these problems do not occur . . . . We have
seen many “Cosby” episodes which we feel have presented valuable
messages; to take but one example, the episode about the Hillman College
graduation may have shown many young people how desirable and
satisfying it would be to graduate from college. But we do feel that such a
show goes beyond mere entertainment to shaping the ideas and
expectation of many, and we are consequently concerned with how viewers
see themselves and reflect upon their own lives as a result. (165-166)
Clearly, the Frazers feel that Cosby is portraying ideas about education in an
effort to encourage participation in higher education by the African American
community. This connects to The Philadelphia Negro which carried Du Bois’s
own message about a greater need to participate in education. Du Bois faced
an era filled with both a lack of motivation to participate in education, and a
lack of proper facilities, whereas Cosby was mainly faced with just a lack of
motivation, but there are similarities in their respective messages. At the end of
the chapter dealing with literacy in the post-emancipation generation Du Bois
writes,
The only difficulties in the matter of education are carelessness in school
attendance, and poverty which keeps children out of school. The former is
a matter for the colored people to settle themselves, and is one to whic
their attention needs to be called. While much has been done, yet it cannot
be said that Negroes have fully grasped their great school advantages in
the city by keeping their younger children regularly in school, and from
this remissness much harm has sprung. (96)
Poverty was much more rampant in Du Bois’s days, and the systematic
174
economic persecution of blacks by whites was a problem that had yet to be
approached by society as a whole (and is still problematic today, though not
nearly to the degree it was in Du Bois’s time). Just like Du Bois, Cosby knows
the value of education, and he is portraying the positives of education on his
show and directing them at both a black and a white audience. While Du Bois
addresses the issue of poverty as being the symptom of large scale economic
exclusion by the white community, he does address the issue of “carelessness”
in attendance to the black community. Later in his career, Cosby would deliver
what would come to be known as his “Pound Cake” speech, which directed
a great deal of criticism toward the black community on the issue of the
seeming disregard for education by some portions of the black community.
Cosby’s most infamous quote from the speech:
These people [parents, grandparents] want to buy the friendship of a
child, and the child couldn’t care less. Those of us sitting out here who
have gone on to some college or whatever we’ve done, we still fear our
parents. And these people are not parenting. They’re buying things for the
kid—$500 sneakers—for what? They won’t buy or spend $250 on Hooked
on Phonics.
Many people reacted negatively to Cosby’s comments. Essayist and historian
William Jelani Cobb comments on the speech saying, “Cosby was guilty of
podium-pounding about the grossest stereotypes of poor black people”(50),
and “Since at least as far back as the days when W.E.B. Du Bois announced
his Talented Tenth program, the Afrostocracy has felt it necessary to clean
up, dust off, and lead their less fortunate cousins into the promised land of
social acceptance” (50). Cosby, with his degrees in education, status, and money
appears to be perfect candidate for admission to this “Afrostocracy” (and all the
implications of pandering to whites that membership brings), but Cobb offers
a rebuttal of his own criticism of Cosby saying, “Ultimately, Cosby was right:
we can’t solely blame white people for this contempt for the black poor. There
are plenty of black people who are responsible, too” (53). Cobb’s statement
can be taken two ways: he is either attacking the “Afrostocracy” for their
contemptuous treatment of poor blacks, or he is talking about poor blacks who
play to the stereotypes that whites hold. Just as Du Bois states that the issue of
motivation to obtain education must be dealt with from within the community,
so does Cosby state the same idea, and although Cobb harbors disdain for
the Afrostocratic idea that the poor blacks are somehow against education,
he ultimately agrees that Cosby does have a point to make with his assertion
that the black community must deal both internally and externally with the
problem of education just as Du Bois said an internal and external approach
would be necessary.
Cosby is not the only comic to tackle the issue of education in the poor
175
black community. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education decided to analyze
one of Chris Rock’s famous routines concerning blacks and education:
The black comedian Chris Rock has a favorite routine where he jokes,
“When a nigger come to rob yo’ house, put yo’ money in a book. He
won’t touch da book cuz to him a book is Kryptonite.” JBHE asked a
group of scholars to comment. “Is the Chris Rock routine funny? Does it
hurt African Americans or does it send a positive message to blacks that
they need to put a greater emphasis on book learning?” (84)
A variety of scholars weighs in on the issue with varied comments, some in
support of Rock, others against Rock. University of Maryland, Baltimore
County president Freeman Hrabowski comments on the joke saying,
The fact is that African Americans need to spend much more time teaching
reading to their children and reading themselves. Of course, many African
Americans are avid readers, but Chris Rock obviously wants to jolt us into
doing more to emphasize the importance of reading. I have seen enough
of his act to know that he truly values education and wants to see
young people succeed and become their best. While his approach may be
controversial, it certainly serves the purpose of getting us to think more
about the importance of education. (qtd. in JBHE 86)
Chuck Stone, the Walt Spearman Professor at the University of North
Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communication writes, “First of all,
Chris Rock is a quadruple threat—a nimble-witted comedian, a no-holds-barred
satirist, a sociologically sophisticated parodist, and a black jester who knows
that sometimes his people are jiveass hypocrites” (qtd. in JBHE 87). Richard
A. Goldsby, the John Woodruff Simpson lecturer and professor of Biology at
Amherst College replies:
Chris Rock generates unease. The unease begins with his persona, a man
with the harsh comedic intelligence of Richard Pryor who sometimes
packages himself in an Armani-dressed grinning caricature of Step’n
Fetchit. He is hilarious, pitiless, and clear-eyed in his treatment of black
manifestations of irresponsible parenting, illiteracy, and anti-social
behavior . . . . Chris Rock performs a service to the black community.
He is a clear-eyed satirist who makes us really look at maladaptive
behaviors and attitudes that thwart and disable the potential of individuals
and hamper our development as a people. If he is successful in making us
feel aware and ashamed of poor parenting and illiteracy, this is good. After
all, the recognition of problems is the first step toward their solution and
shame can be a deterrent to socially maladaptive behavior. (qtd. in JBHE
88)
Political Science and Law professor at Vanderbilt University, Carol Swain,
writes, “His routines do call attention to the unacceptable behaviors of some
176
blacks and the all too high black crime rate. Moreover, he justifiably criticizes
the shortcomings of some major political leaders and he accurately points out
the inadequacies of black leadership” (qtd. in JBHE 88).
Of the entire group of scholars cited in the JBHE article, five agree
that Rock’s joke has a valid point; one felt the joke did not “[send] a positive
message to blacks that they need to put a greater emphasis on book learning”
(JBHE 86); one felt the joke was damaging to the image of black intellectual
power; one felt the joke was only funny when told to all-black audiences and
kept off the national air waves, and one did not comment on the joke at all. A
majority of the scholars found merit in the joke, and even some of the ones
who did not find merit in the joke only did so because they felt it was broadcast
to too wide of an audience. Rock has managed to ruffle feathers in the same
manner Cosby did (albeit far fewer feathers than Cosby).
Rock’s strongest advocate is Bambi Haggins who examines Rock’s comic
persona in depth in her book Laughing Mad. Haggins examines Rock’s career
up to the point of the publication of her book in 2008, and finds that Rock
has quite a lot of things to say about the African American community, its
portrayal by white America, and what the community is doing to itself, which
Haggins sums up by saying, “Some of Rock’s most biting comic critique is
focused on the black community” (84). Haggins begins her section devoted
to Rock saying: “Rock immediately launches into material that is meant to
shock the audience by its candor and create an atmosphere for his personal
brand of sociocultural critique” (78), and “Rock’s forte was comedic discourse
on race” (79). Haggins follows these assertions with specific examples from
Rock’s specials and variety show filmed for HBO. Haggins begins her analysis
of Rock’s specific material with an excerpt dealing with the current black
leadership:
In his first HBO special, Bring the Pain, Rock’s initial verbal assault called
into question the politics (and the logic) of the black leadership:
“Washington, DC . . . Chocolate City. The home of the Million Man
March. Had all the positive black leaders there—Farrakhan, Jesse, Marion
Barry. How did he even get a ticket? It was a day of positivity. Marion
Barry at the Million Man March. You know what that means? That in our
finest hour, we had a crack-head on stage. [A mixture of laughter and
boos] Boo if you want—you know I’m right.” Rock’s target is not simply
Marion Barry, the Mayor of Washington, D.C., who secured another
term in office after a drug addiction scandal because he had remained (at
least politically) in the bosom of the black community. Rock uses this
scenario to critique the kind of unconditional solidarity that seemingly
defies the logic of self-preservation. (81)
Haggins clearly agrees with Rock’s feelings about the black leadership and
177
seems to support his sentiments about the state of the leadership of black
America. Rock does not stop with the leadership of black America, he goes
on to tackle the issues of crime and the cultural divide between what he has
labeled black people and “niggas.” Haggins comments on the issue by stating,
Arguably, the most controversial material is rooted in intraracial
introspection: Rock’s “Niggas vs. Black People” routine speaks directly
to rifts within the black community. “There’s some shit going on with
black people right now,” Rock asserts. “It’s like a civil war going on with
black people. There’s two sides - there’s black people and there’s niggas.
And niggas have got to go . . . . I love black people but I hate niggas.” On
the one hand, the virulent condemnation of “niggas” requires of the
audience a self-critical deconstruction of the historically charged term
while pressuring them (black and white) to recognize issues of difference
(in terms of class and social practices) within the black community.” (83)
The sentiments Rock displays here echo the sentiments Du Bois writes in his
chapter on crime in The Philadelphia Negro:
However, the rapid increase of intelligence in the Negro convicts does
point to some grave social changes: first, a large number of young
Negroes are in such environment that they find it easier to be rogues than
honest men; secondly, there is evidence of the rise of more intelligent and
therefore more dangerous crime from a trained criminal class, quite
different from the thoughtless, ignorant crime of the mass of Negroes.
(254-255)
If Rock can be understood to be equating the “nigga” with the uneducated
criminal element he warned against in the robbery scenario routine, then Du
Bois is warning of the same type of criminal when he gives the figures for
literacy rates among criminals: “The total illiteracy of this group reaches 26
percent or adding in those who can read and write imperfectly, 34 percent
compared with 18 percent for the Negroes of the city in 1890. In other words
the illiterate fifth of the Negro population furnished a third of the worst
criminals” (253-254). If nearly one-third of the criminal population is illiterate
it is easy to see why Rock claims that a book is kryptonite to the criminal
element. Though current literacy rates among African American criminals will
most likely not match with Du Bois’s statistics, the idea that the uneducated are
responsible for more crime than the literate has survived from Du Bois’s times
to Rock’s time, though Du Bois offers a much more comprehensive explanation
for the lack of education in the African American community than Rock does.
If education is the weapon against crime and ignorance is the source of
crime as Du Bois claims when he says, “Naturally as the general intelligence
of a community increases the general intelligence of its criminals increases,
though seldom in the same proportion, showing that some crime may justly be
178
attributed to pure ignorance” (254), then Cosby is correct in claiming that lack
of respect and promotion for education condemns a large portion of children
in the black community to an “orange suit.” Du Bois attributes the crime rate
to “countless wrong social conditions” (242), which include illiteracy, poverty,
and lack of stable households. Cosby addresses this issue saying, “No longer is
a person embarrassed because they’re pregnant without a husband. No longer
is a boy considered an embarrassment if he tries to run away from being the
father of the unmarried child” (Cosby) while Rock chooses to address this issue
in a more subtle way, saying of his father:
He was one of four fathers on the block. “I’ll see you in the morning”
meant he was coming home. Coming home was his way of saying
“I love you.” On one hand, in this scene, as in his stand-up, a traditional
familial (arguably, paternal) paradigm is privileged. One might argue that
it simultaneously speaks to the inordinate numbers of fatherless black
children in the post-soul era and fails to address the sociopolitical reasons
for the black male absence. (qtd. in Haggins 97)
Though Rock’s remark about his father was not a part of his stand-up show
but rather a remark to an inquiry about a sit-com he created, it is still as
striking as Cosby’s non-stand-up remark as well. The comic need not be on
stage in a comedy club to deliver their brand of wisdom.
These fatherless criminals make up another element of what Rock has
dubbed as “niggas” in his culture war. And while Cosby has clearly supported
the “black people” Rock straddles the fence because, as Haggins puts it,
By casting himself as both a scathing sociopolitical critic and a devil’s
advocate, Rock offers perspectives on African American life that speak
to the conflicted and conflictual aspects of a blackness that is constructed
internally as well as externally. Rock provides a comedic riff on a
concretized version of what W.E.B. Du Bois asserted a century ago,
that the black experience is informed by an internal division—a “double
consciousness”: “One ever feels his twoness—an American, a Negro; two
souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings, two warring ideals in one
dark body whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder”
(83).
Rock’s two pronged role in this respect stems from the fact that he takes
on problems for the black community brought from the inside (niggas and
inadequate leadership) as well as the problems brought on from the outside
(white America), while Cosby chooses only to address problems coming from
within the community. Du Bois himself recognized the necessity for a multitiered approach to the problem of crime in the African American community
saying, “that deep social causes underlie this prevalence of crime and they have
so worked as to form among Negroes since 1864, a distinct class of habitual
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criminals; that to this criminal class and not to the great mass of Negroes
the bulk of the serious crime perpetrated by this race should be charged (Du
Bois 259). Again, the social problems include poverty, lack of education, single
parent households, and overtly racist treatment of the black community in
Philadelphia. Rock addresses some of these issues on his debut comedy album,
Born Suspect, in which he “raged against the depiction of African Americans in
popular culture and the real-life consequences of such mediated assumptions.
As the title of the album exclaims, young black men in America today are
“born suspect.” (Haggins 78). Cosby chooses to address this issue in his
speech, but he places the majority of the blame on the black community while
Rock chooses to spread his focus to the white community as well. Haggins’s
summation of the power of Rock as a socio-cultural commentator can be seen
with this trio of statements: “Like Pryor he mines the characters and stories of
multiple black communities to comment on larger political issues” (82); “Rock
has also become progressively more cognizant of the power of his comedy as
cultural critique” (Haggins 84); and “All of Rock’s stand-up is sociocultural
comedic discourse embedded in an elaborate structure of jokes and jokes and
jokes” (90). Clearly Haggins recognizes the power that Rock has as a voice for
discourse on the black community and as an advocate for positive change.
The comic to take up the challenge of carrying on a discourse of
the seeming inadequacies of the black community to recognize its own
problems and take positive steps toward changing them is Dave Chappelle.
His hit show Chappelle’s Show drew millions of viewers during its two
season run on the Comedy Central network. Haggins ends her book with an
analysis of Chappelle’s style of humor. Haggins claims that, “The content
of [Chappelle’s] humor often has the sly righteousness and progressive
radicalism of Gregory and the outlandish insider truism and gut-busting
honesty of Pryor. Yet Chappelle’s comic voice—and the dualities in his comic
persona—reflects the dynamic, complex and conflicted nature of sociopolitical
discourse in the post-civil rights moment” (178). Rock may have been the
forefather of the comedy of “sociopolitical discourse in the post-civil rights
movement,” but Chappelle is now carrying the torch. Dane Dash remarks that
Chappelle is “the truth” (qtd. in Haggins 181). Chappelle used his show and his
stand-up routines to address issues facing the black community in a voice that
could at times be just as harsh as Cosby’s comments in his pound cake speech.
Chappelle even went so far as to defend Cosby’s remarks which Haggins
captures in her book:
“Bill Cosby has some real shit to say and the whole world freaked out . . .
. Just because he’s been selling pudding pops for the last twenty years,
people forget that he’s a nigger from Philly and the projects and he
might say some real shit from time to time.” Chappelle’s comment speaks
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to the notion that the same old problems facing black American youth
(poverty, unemployment, substandard education) have been complicated
by the current sociopolitical climate. Even so, the comment does not reject
the possibility that there might be another way, but neither does it give any
indication of what that way might be. (202-203)
While Rock may have pulled some punches in light of the controversy
generated by Cosby’s remarks, Chappelle clearly has no qualms about holding
anything back in his commentary. Du Bois himself devoted entire chapters
of The Philadelphia Negro to the very issues of poverty, unemployment, and
education. A moment of similarity between The Philadelphia Negro and The
Chappelle Show appears in the sketch “The World Series of Dice.” Du Bois
comments on the prevalence of gambling saying, “Gambling goes on almost
openly in the slum sections and occasions, perhaps, more quarreling and crime
that any other single cause” (265); Chappelle’s sketch shows a dice competition
in which one participant has stolen money from his girlfriend to play in a dice
game, located in the basement of a housing project, which is interrupted by
a violent robbery. Haggins concludes her section of Chappelle saying, “The
comic personae of Chappelle’s Show—as well as his stand-up—embody an
ambiguous and fragmented notion of blackness, which may well be the most
accurate representation of this construct at this historical moment” (233). If
one reads the “fragmented notion of blackness” in the light of Chris Rock it
can be taken as the two sides of his “niggas vs. black people” civil war. With
that concept in mind it is easy to see how Chappelle can be seen to portray this
in his television show. Essayist William Jelani Cobb chimes in on Chappelle
in his essay collection The Devil and Dave Chappelle. Cobb offers a picture of
Chappelle that takes into account the totality of Chappelle’s career and focuses
particularly on why Chappelle walked away from a 50-million-dollar contract
for Chappelle’s Show. Cobb says, “It is clear at this point that Chappelle is the
inheritor of the mantle held by the late Richard Pryor (and if ever there were
occasion to lament his passing, it is now, when there is so much for him to say
about this situation). Chappelle mentions later that he left because he felt he’d
been irresponsible with his art” (248). By linking Chappelle to Pryor, Cobb is
reaching back to the roots of the comic as commentator movement. Cobb feels
Chappelle is best qualified for the job of being the commentator because “The
work he created during those seasons was brilliant because it is so unfiltered
and true” (250). Furthermore Chappelle directly addressed problems with black
culture by featuring “The series ‘When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong’ [which]
ridiculed the street ethics that have metastasized throughout black culture”
(Cobb 251). Chappelle is taking on the crime, violence, and thuggish behavior
that Du Bois, Cosby, Pryor, and Rock have tackled in their work. Cobb even
decides to place Chappelle alongside comic strip writer Aaron McGruder,
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creator of the Boondocks comic-strip and television series. Of the two Cobb
says:
Rock’s and McGruder’s humor are driven in large part by intraracial
anger. Rock’s famous “Black People vs. Niggers” bit centers on an alleged
civil war pitting the hard-working, respectable members of the race
against the kinds of black people that old folks refer to as “trifling.” For
Pryor and Chappelle, though, those kinds of decisions were not possible,
or even desirable. McGruder’s Boondocks cartoon—which also airs on the
Cartoon Network—both ridicules and reinforces stereotypes of black folk,
but, unlike Chappelle, McGruder doesn’t feel the least bit conflicted about
it. (252-253)
Though he may be faulting Chappelle for leaving television due to a sense
of artistic irresponsibility about the portrayal and possible reinforcement of
stereotypes, Cobb still sees the power in Chappelle’s art.
One point of criticism faced by black comics who tell “inside the family”
jokes to large national audiences is the accusation of selling out their own race
to make money, or to put it plainly, “being a hater.” Cobb formulates a brilliant
reply to this accusation saying:
So, no, what black America needs is not more unity, but more haters. If it
means challenging irresponsibility and taking control of our own lives,
then yeah, I’m a hater. If it means stating the uncomfortable truths so
that we can see our condition precisely as it is, I plead guilty. But on some
level, you know these are acts of love. And self-preservation. The
alternative is an endorsement of a skewed fun-house mirror version of
the world where hustlers are allowed to sell crack undisturbed and commit
homicide without fear of reprisal. Where “unity” allows rapists to continue
victimizing their own communities. And in keeping this horror flick of life,
we can cling to the false virtue of keeping our mouths shut. (95)
Cobb did not put together his essay collection in order to put down the black
community; Du Bois did not write The Philadelphia Negro with the intent of
attacking the black community; Bill Cosby was not just launching a tirade
against uneducated blacks to get his name in the papers; Chris Rock did not
make claims about a black civil war just to sell theater tickets; and Chappelle
did not start his hit television show just to get paid 50 million dollars to
make fun of his own people. Just as Du Bois wanted to bring attention to
the problems facing the African American community so that they could be
properly addressed and handled by those inside and outside of the community,
so, too, did the stand-up comedians mentioned in this paper use their art to
make people stop for a second and look at what was really going on around
them. If it brings positive change to the community, let the haters hate.
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REFERENCES
Arnez, Nancy Levi and Clara B. Anthony. “Contemporary Negro Humor as
Social Satire.” Phylon (1960-). 29.4 (1968): 339-346. Print.
Cobb, William Jelani, Ed. The Devil & Dave Chappelle & Other Essays. New
York: Avalon, 2007. Print.
Cosby, Bill. “Address at the NAACP’ on the 50th Anniversary of Brown
v. Board of Education” <http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/
billcosbypoundcake speech.htm>.
Du Bois, W.E.B. The Philadelphia Negro. Philadelphia, 1899. Print.
Frazer, June M., and Timothy C. Frazer. “‘Father Knows Best” and ‘The Cosby
Show’: Nostalgia and the Sitcom Tradition.” Journal of Popular Culture
27.3 (1993): 163-72. Print.
The JBHE Foundation. “The Role of Black Comedy in Supporting Stereotypes
of Black Intellectual Inferiority.” The Journal of Blacks in Higher
Education 40 (2003): 84-89. Print.
Haggins, Bambi. Laughing Mad: The Black Comic Persona in Post-Soul America.
New Jersey: Rutgers UP, 2007. Print.
Mintz, Lawrence. “Standup Comedy as Social and Cultural Mediation.”
American Quarterly 37.1 (1985): 71-80. Print.
Zolten, J. Jerome. “Black Comedians: Forging an Ethnic Image.” Journal of
American Culture 16.2 (1993): 65-75. Print.
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184
How Did We Get In This Mess?
How Did We Get In This Mess?:
Investigation into the Ontological Assumptions That
Brought Us to Current Ecological Crisis
John M. Raymond
Dr. Doug R. Oetter
Faculty Sponsor
How a person views himself / herself directly correlates to how he / she
views and acts towards the other (i.e. all things). Therefore, an individual’s selfreflection is of the highest importance; it is the most important thing about
him / her. Consequently, the fate of the world and the surrounding universe is
in many ways wrapped up in and contingent upon what conclusions humanity
produces when looking in the mirror. In order to peer into how humanity has
wrestled with the question of itself and its place in the universe, all one has
to do is look at its history. Simply catalog how humanity has treated its world,
and one will witness how it views itself. Sir Julian Huxley comments on Pierre
Teilhard’s published works: “Pierre Teilhard starts from the position that
mankind in its totality is a phenomenon to be described and analyzed like any
other phenomenon: it and all its manifestations, including human history and
human values, are proper objects for scientific study” (12). Human history is the
biggest insight into humanity, and the future hangs on how it has viewed, and
continues to view itself; it is the most important thing about humans, and the
most important thing concerning this world’s future.
It is clear that the ethical is always contingent upon the ontological
and metaphysical. Some may refuse that they hold such assumptions, and
this could be true in simply a theoretical sense, but not in a lived sense. The
simplest everyday decisions to the most complex are influenced consciously or
unconsciously by one’s ontological assumptions. To be human is to constantly
be reorienting oneself to one’s surroundings in order to act. No person can
alleviate himself / herself from this task. Therefore, human history is a
playing out of humanity’s ontological assumptions. So what can one learn from
history that would be informative of one’s ontology?
One of the biggest clues into this question of humanity is to see how
it treats the environment that encompasses it. Humanity’s ecological past is
largely in part a dark story, and holds insight into its self-reflection. To say that
humans have recently stumbled upon an ecological crisis today is incorrect due
to the horrible fact that for at least over half of human history, humans have
been at war with the environment. It was only until recently that people have
become conscious of the repercussions of this ongoing battle. So who is to be
held responsible for these atrocities, these crimes? Whose hands are covered
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with blood? Whose answers to the question of the phenomenon of humanity
have caused such cataclysmic destruction? What kind of self-reflection could
lead to this debt of disruption? This paper will attempt to answer these
illuminating and troubling questions, along with attempting the daunting
and reverent task of offering new conclusions, new ontology, and, most
importantly, new ethics.
This crisis has been playing out since humans have adopted the ontological
and ethical worldview that places them as the highest chain on the chain
of being, as the dictators of the cosmos who can do as they please to the
natural world. Concerning this prominent philosophy, Lynn White says, “No
new set of basic values has been accepted in our society to displace those of
Christianity. Hence, we shall continue to have a worsening ecologic crisis until
we reject the Christian axiom that nature has no reason for existence except
to serve man” (6). So did Judeo-Christian concepts put humans at war with the
environment? Has it been their ontological assumptions that have swept over
the Western world for centuries and informed its ethics? Are they the sole
bearer of these crimes, this guilt, and this debt? Are their hands covered with
blood? The answer to that question is both yes and no.
The “yes” will be dealt with now, and the “no” will be addressed later.
Where do these destructive ontological assumptions hide in the JudeoChristian tradition? Where is the evidence for such crimes? Any sentence that
starts with “In the beginning . . . .” is a sure sign of someone propagandizing
ontological views. Therefore, the evidence can be found in the first two
chapters of Genesis in the Torah. The question is, though, who should
stand trial? Should it be the holy text itself ? Could we blame these words
for the current crisis? Perhaps not. Then whom are we to point the finger?
Who should stand trial? Not the scriptures, but rather, its interpreters, its
theologians. So what have they gathered from these verses that has been so
persuasive, powerful, and prevalent throughout the history of the Western
world to present day? Prominent history professor Lynn White comments on
the orthodox interpretation, saying:
By gradual stages a loving and all-powerful God had created light and
darkness, the heavenly bodies, the earth and all its plants, animals, birds,
and fishes. Finally God had created Adam, and, as an afterthought, Eve
to keep man from being lonely. Man named all the animals, thus
establishing his dominance over them. God planned all of this explicitly
for man’s benefit and rule: no item in the physical creation had any purpose
save to serve man’s purposes. And, although man’s body is made of clay, he
is not simply part of nature: he is made in God’s image. (4)
This type of interpretation then gives humans justification from the creator
and license to position themselves as the dictators of the earth, whose only
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purpose is to serve their appetites. There is clearly no equality between
humans and the rest of creation as they are put on a pedestal of dominance
and superiority. The mainline interpretation of this Torah text is that humans
are the apex of the creation story, that the narrative is moving in this rising
action to its climax of humanity being created in the image of God. During the
six days of creation, the creator always uses the words “and it was good” after
creating the different parts of the natural world, but after creating humans
on the sixth day God follows to say “and it was very good.” Concluding the
creation of human beings, God instructs them to “Be fruitful and multiply, and
fill the earth, and subdue it,” which for centuries has been understood as the
Creator’s license to rule the earth not from a place of equality and servitude,
but rather distinction and dominance. Now in regards to simply biblical studies,
there are many things problematical with this type of popular interpretation.
It is sufficient to say that the common interpretation of Genesis chapters one
and two is to be held responsible for the ecological atrocities that have been
committed and the current crisis in which the world now finds itself.
This ontological interpretation of the scriptures has led to Christianity
being the most anthropocentric religion in the world and the biggest weapon
against nature. These views launched ethics that would justify in God’s
name some very harmful actions. Earlier, it was said that human history is a
playing out of humanity’s ontological assumptions, so first it is necessary to
investigate the history of the Western world under this type of self-reflection.
To understand this history, one must travel back to the Israelite people and
comprehend how they understood their God, themselves, and their global role.
The Jews understood Yahweh to be the one true God that had saved them from
their bondage enforced by the Egyptian people. The book of Exodus, in the
Torah, gives an account of God revealing Himself to this destitute nation and
offers them a crucial role to play in His act of redemption for all peoples and
nations. Yahweh is quoted in the scriptures as saying to Moses:
You yourselves have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, and how I
bore you on eagle’s wings, and brought you to myself. Now then, if you
indeed will obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own
possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall
be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that
you shall speak to the sons of Israel. (NASB Thinline Bible, Exodus 19.4-6)
So the one true God of Israel offers them this covenant to be His
representation upon the earth so all may see and know Yahweh the creator. The
problem here once again lies in interpretation. The Israelite people interpreted
this into an elitist mentality, that they were the most sacred people that were
supposed to rule and reign over all nations, and that in order to be right with
Yahweh, a person had to be a part of them, had to be Jewish.
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Almost any biblical scholar will say that this is clearly a misinterpretation
of the covenant that Yahweh offers the newly freed people when the entirety
of the scriptures is taken into account. Therefore, the Jews misinterpreted
who they were and what their global role consisted of. It is key to note that
throughout the Old Testament there is a continual theme of God telling
His people to “not forget,” there is a continual call for remembrance, and the
teaching of the next generations of what God had done for them. The book of
Deuteronomy, within the Torah, instructs the recently freed slaves of Egypt by
saying, “then watch yourselves, that you do not forget the Lord who brought
you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (NASB Thinline Bible,
Deut. 6.12). Also, a later chapter of the same book says, “then your heart will
become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out
from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (NASB Thinline Bible,
Deut. 8.14). Why is Yahweh so concerned with Jews forgetting their roots
of slavery? Why is this horrific memory of slavery to be at the forefront of
their minds? The answer is simple: so that they will not repeat their history on
another people. Yahweh understood that what He was calling the Jewish people
to do had the potential to be misunderstood, which would then lead to their not
living out of their global purpose.
Another interpretation of what Yahweh is calling the Israelites to do as
a holy nation and kingdom of priest is to remind the world of the God of the
Garden that had been forgotten and left behind as society progressed. The
beginnings of civilization according to the Genesis account clearly understood
there to be one God, Yahweh the creator, but this central reality was lost.
When the story is picked up in Exodus, there are many gods at play, and every
civilization seems to be polytheistic, even the early Jews (the god of Abraham).
So, as the biblical story goes, God decides to choose one of the lowliest nations
to be His people and His representation among all nations for the sole purpose
of the world remembering, or meeting for the first time, the one true God and
creator of the world. Therefore, the Israelites are to reflect God and His nature
as a mirror would to all people. And of course Yahweh would take the lowliest
nation and elevate it to such a place of prominence to display His power and
authority over all the false gods. For example, there is the Exodus account of
the plagues against Pharaoh and the Egyptian people. Once again, the book of
Deuteronomy describes the plagues:
Or has a God tried to go to take for himself a nation within another nation
by trials, by signs and wonders and by way and by a mighty hand and by
an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you
in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown that you might know that
the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him. (NASB Thinline Bible,
Deut. 4.34-5)
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Here, Yahweh is reminding the people that the purpose of the plagues was
not for destruction, but so that He might make known to the Israelites and
the world at large that He is God, and there is no other besides Him. The
Exodus account even makes reference to some of the Egyptians leaving with
the freed Jews in order to serve their God after seeing such a display of power,
sovereignty, and authority. The Old Testament shows us that slowly the Jewish
nation becomes the most powerful military power in the region, the most
advanced in civil law, the holiest people, and the new dominant conquering
nation on the scene. As Israel begins to make such a big splash in the region
and all the other nations begin to fear and talk about this new powerhouse, the
number one trait and / or characteristic that is associated with these people
is that this is the “nation of Yahweh, the one true God.” God is allowing the
Jews to obtain such power so that they may reflect the nature and reality of
Him. But it is clear that the Israelite people did not understand this call, this
vocation.
Yahweh was calling the Jews to be a kingdom of priests in order to show
the world God and to invite the world into communion with their creator. They
were meant to be the most inclusive nation on earth but ended up being the
most exclusive. Their call was evangelical, but they understood themselves to
be a country club and an individual could not get in the Yahweh club unless he
/ she was of Jewish descent. This call towards representation and welcoming
the world into communion with God was never intended to end with the Jewish
people; in fact, they were only to prepare the way for the fullest manifestation
of God, the incarnation of God. Jesus of Nazareth is believed to be by the
Christian faith the full incarnation of Yahweh, who is not only the God of the
Jews but of all people. Jesus begins his public ministry by saying to the Jews
of Galilee, “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand,” which means: Jews,
you need to change your mind on some things that you have misunderstood
and listen because I am going to begin to teach the true ways of Yahweh. Jesus’
ministry can be summed up as one of absolute inclusiveness and teachings
that completely dismantle and disrupt the misinterpretations of exclusiveness
and lack of evangelical action to other nations. There are countless stories in
the gospels of Jesus intentionally interacting with women that were deemed
unclean by the Jewish religious institution because they were either “sexually
immoral” or not of Jewish descent. Also, Jesus would typically minister and
perform acts of healing on the Sabbath to make various points about the
misconceptions of the authorities. This man from a town “in the sticks,”
who claimed not only to be the messiah but also the full incarnation of God,
launched a subversive movement that was not to be the intentional extinction
of the Jewish tradition, but rather a fulfillment of the tradition and call. The
Jews were supposed to be the rising action leading to the climax of Jesus, the
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full manifestation of the God that was forgotten from the Garden.
The resurrected Jesus of Nazareth gives a final commission to His closest
disciples, which has had profound impacts on the Western world, and an impact
with significance that is beyond words. He says before His departure:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go
and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always,
to the very end of the age. (NASB Thinline Bible, Matt. 28:18-20)
This is the new call and vocation of the Church and is one that is characterized
by inclusiveness and being evangelical. Because at the the root of this
organized religion is this push towards informing all people groups of their
God and interpretation of the Judeo-Christian scriptures, the Western world
was captivated by their thought, their ontological assumptions, and their ethics.
If this had not been central to the first apostles and to the early Church, then
it is possible, and most likely, that humanity would not be entangled with the
anthropocentric views it now holds. It is clear that the Jewish people did not
and were not going to heed the call to inform all nations of such things.
So, as Christianity swept over Europe and became the dominant influencer
of culture, these ontological views and environmental ethics were being
inherited and well established as commonly accepted thought. But more
importantly, these views became the accepted axioms of early science and
technology of the Middle Ages. Once again, Lynn White, a professor of
medieval history at Princeton, Stanford, and the University of California,
makes a strong argument concerning the West and science. He comments,
“One thing is so certain that it seems stupid to verbalize it: both modern
technology and modern science are distinctively Occidental. Our technology
has absorbed elements from all over the world, notably from China; but
everywhere today, whether in Japan or Nigeria, successful technology is
western” (White 2). This argument does not fail to notice that Western science
inherited the work of Islamic and Greek scientists, but these absorptions
simply laid the foundation for later Western developments. White argues that
even though most assume that the leadership of the West, both in technology
and science, happened during the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century
or the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, it, in fact, began far before
these dates. He defends this with many different historical accounts but argues
most clearly that by the end of the 15th century, the technological superiority
of Europe was strong and capable enough that its small hostile nations could
venture into the rest of the world conquering and colonizing. White concludes
by asserting the late 11th century as the beginnings of the distinctive Western
tradition of science, when there was a massive movement of translations of
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Arabic and Greek scientific works into Latin. Then, by the late 13th century,
Europe had gained control of global scientific leadership from the wavering
hands of Islam. White concludes by saying, “Since both our technological and
our scientific movements got their start, acquired their character, and achieved
world dominance in the Middle Ages, it would seem that we cannot understand
their nature or their present impact upon ecology without examining
fundamental medieval assumptions and developments” (3).
There was a point in the Middle Ages when humanity’s relation to nature
and, more specifically, humanity’s relation to the soil were profoundly changed.
In those days, the common farming technique was scratch–plow, and fields
were distributed generally in units capable of supporting a single family.
Professor White comments, “Subsistence farming was the presupposition.
But no peasant owned eight oxen: to use the new and more efficient plow,
peasants pooled their oxen to form large plow-teams, originally receiving (it
would appear) plowed strips in proportion to their contribution” (3). This was
a monumental shift because the distribution of land was no longer fixed upon
the needs of a family but on the capacity of a power machine to till the earth.
Now humans had the capabilities to dominate nature instead of simply trying
to survive nature’s ways. This radically shifted the common mentality of
survival to one of exploitation.
Humanity became the master. Dr. White concludes his historical
observations by saying, “These novelties seem to be in harmony with the larger
intellectual patterns. What people do about their ecology depends on what they
think about themselves in relation to things around them. Human ecology is
deeply conditioned by beliefs about our nature and destiny-that is, by religion”
(3). Therefore, Western science’s beginnings were directly wrapped up in the
ontological assumptions, misinterpreted from Genesis, that the natural world’s
only purpose was to serve its master, to serve humans, and now as they moved
out of the survival combat mentality with technological advances, they could
begin to walk in what they believed to be God’s will as master of nature.
In the sixteenth century, there was a steady rise of secular thought in
Europe, but this did little to shift the well-established Christian ontological
and ethical assumption inherited from classical and medieval thought. Humans
remained on their throne within the chain of being, and the natural world’s
sole purpose was still to serve their ruthless king. The anthropocentrism
produced by Christianity still reigned. As new thought progressed, the idea
that humans needed to interrupt, interfere, and add finishing touches to the
natural world so that civilization could be properly maintained became a widely
held assumption. Now they finally had the science and technology to do so,
and this must take place because it was believed that nature was not best in its
primitive, wild state, but rather when it is controlled and managed by humans.
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The insightful British author Clive Ponting comments, “From such views
it was a small and logical step to welcome the way that increasing human
knowledge brought the prospect of greater control over the natural world and
to believe that this would be pleasing to God because humans were taking full
advantage of the wonders of his creation” (122). Ponting continues to quote
the great thinkers of this age, and in so doing, illuminates what these men
believed to be the purposes of humanity, nature, and science. Ponting quotes
Francis Bacon saying, “Man, if we look to final causes, may be regarded as the
centre of the world, insomuch that if man were taken away from the world,
the rest would seem to be all astray, without aim or purpose.” Bacon believed
strongly that the entire lost happened in the Garden of Eden. Ponting again
quotes Bacon in regards to the purpose of studying the natural world, saying,
“Nature being known, it may be master’d, managed and used in the service of
human life.” Rene Descartes was also caught up in this type of anthropocentric
thought seeing the purpose of science and increasing human knowledge as
a weapon to be used against nature. Ponting quotes Descartes, saying, “We
can . . . employ them in all those uses to which they are adapted, and thus
render ourselves the masters and possessors of nature” (123). The words of
these highly influential men are steeped in Christian ontological assumptions
stemming from the misinterpretation of Genesis.
As time, thought, science, and technology moved forward in Europe
and America, the secular would begin to replace the religious. God was once
used to explain the cosmos, but as science moved forward, it believed itself
capable to take this role. Slowly, the idea of God was taken less seriously in
the academic setting. But even though a divorce occurred between Christianity
and science, the Christian ontological assumptions were still signed over to
the sciences’ full custody. The Genesis account would no longer be directly
used to explain humanity’s dominating place in the universe and its rights
over the natural world, but this type of thought was still intrinsic to Western
science and the Western world at-large. So it could be said: God was at one
time what justified the self-aggrandizing actions towards the environment, but
people could not just stop there because even God has some limits on how far
selfishness can go; therefore, He must be destroyed. “God is dead, and we have
killed him.” This type of thought gave way to humanism, which kicked out
God and gave humans even more freedom, or so it was believed, to use nature
at their disposal. Many people falsely believe that science brought about the
advent of humanism, which killed God, but this is incorrect. It is humanity’s
false evasive realization of what it believes to be a separate self that leads to an
accepted false need of self-aggrandizement which created humanism. This was
of course present in the human condition prior to a disbelief in God but was
really thrust forth after God was dead and humanity’s false separate self
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became God, and it would stop at nothing to worship and please this God (the
self) even if it meant destroying its own habitat and eventually itself. Science
has always been the tool of choice to aide in domination over nature whether
the justification is from God or Humanism.
As seen earlier, the Christian thinkers of the past did not shriek and run
from science as many have thought but rather used it to their advantages
and God’s supposed glory. They believed that increased human knowledge
came via science and enabled greater control over the natural world, and they
thought this to be pleasing to God because humans were taking full advantage
of the wonders of His creation (Ponting 122). But as time progressed, there
came a fuller and more publicly accepted rejection of the idea of God. This
swept over Europe and America from provocative writings like Friedrich
Nietzsche and others. These works are what established Humanism, and this
spawned an idea of progress that took people into more rape crimes against
their environment. In the midst of these colossal shifts of thought that were
occurring, a new powerful force was introduced - the idea of progress. Ponting
comments, “The ancient world had little concept of the idea of progress:
history was usually seen as having no particular direction at all or, if it did
have one, to be a story of decline from a golden age” (124). This “golden
age” for most in the West, if not all, prior to Humanism was thought to be
the Garden of Eden. As the seventeenth century was coming to a close with
continual increase in scientific knowledge and advancements in applied science
(i.e. technology), thinkers and the common public began to believe that history
might be a chronicle of progress rather than decay. Therefore, history had only
one direction - continual improvement (Ponting 125). This led to more of an
imperative to shift and mold nature to our ideas of what we believed progress
to be - materialism. At the close of the eighteenth century, Reverend Thomas
Malthus vehemently spoke out against this notion of progress, arguing that
there is a permanent cycle in history where human numbers increase until they
are too overwhelming for the available food supply to support, at which point
famine and disease set in to reduce the population until it is again balanced with
the amount of food that can be produced. Malthus was the last great prophet,
and once Western thinkers rejected his prophetic words, the great “Mirage
Shift” occurred. No longer were Christian thinkers trying to use science to
dominate the natural world in order to return us back to the Garden, but now
Humanistic thinkers were prostituting science in order to create a new Garden
that they faintly imagined to see in the near future. Not only has time shown
humanity with its entire current ecological crisis that this idea of progress in
this particular sense is a mirage, but it has also shown people what actually is in
the near future if they continue is this manner - complete destruction. Humans
are God, even if it means they have to destroy themselves in order to sit on
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this throne. So the Christian ontological assumptions were by no means
rejected by the current West and Western science; if anything, they were
elevated by not simply viewing humanity as entrusted by God to dominate over
nature, but rather as humanity being its own God who could do with nature as
it pleases.
Where does this currently place humans in today’s world? This paper
has discussed the evolution of these Christian ontological assumptions
from their original and perpetual misunderstanding of the Genesis account,
to their strong and direct ties with the beginnings of Western science in
the Middle Ages, to their elevation within humanism and current science.
The anthropocentric and dualistic thinking produced by these ontological
assumptions is what has informed the environmental ethics that has gotten
humanity into what seems to be a tangled mess free from any solution.
However, there is a solution. In order to find the answer to a problem, one
simply has to discover what first created the problem. This being the case, it
has clearly been shown and seen that what is at the heart of this crisis and
cause of it is this anthropocentric Christian ontology whether people nowadays
call it Christian or not. Therefore, in order to solve this riddle and stop the
ticking time bomb that gets ever closer to detonation as the rest of the world
adopts the typical Western lifestyle, humanity must rethink the ontology that
got it into this whole mess. Lynn White concludes his survey of history and
ecology by saying, “What we do about ecology depends on our ideas of the
man-nature relationship. More science and more technology are not going to
get us out of the present ecologic crisis until we find a new religion, or rethink
our old one” (5). Humans cannot simply do the typical Western move and
muscle their way out of this one. Money, power, science, and technology are
dull swords in this fight and cannot be taken seriously at the drawing board.
Ideas got them into this mess and only ideas can pull them out. In regards to
this new “Green Movement,” there is a ceiling on it if it does not rethink the
ontology that has brought the world waste deep in these ecological issues. As
effective as it has been, it will only go as far as people are willing to reexamine,
tweak, and rework the accepted ontology and following ethics. Simply put:
ethics will never change unless humans change how they view themselves, and
the ecologic crisis will never change unless people change their ethics.
Then where does humanity look for a new proposed ontology within the
religious, and preferably Christian, world that will produce new environmental
ethics? Who has done this kind of direct ontological work philosophically
and scientifically that can be taken seriously within the Christian tradition?
It seems only logical and best fitting to have a Christian thinker to rethink
Christian ontology. This explosive thinker is the world-renowned Jesuit priest
and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. After his many years of
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theological study leading to his ordainment as Jesuit priest, Teilhard did
extensive and groundbreaking research as a paleontologist at Musée
National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. This led him to fieldwork and highly
accomplished discoveries in China with the most recognized being the
“Peking Man” fossils in 1929. Teilhard was committed to a constant quest of
reconciling his Christian spiritual beliefs and his scientific ones. For him, they
were not opposed but rather complementary to one another. But not everyone
agreed on this, most importantly the Vatican. The Catholic Church forbade
him to publish any of his revolutionary works during his lifetime due to his
unorthodox theological positions. After his death, in 1955, his masterpiece, The
Phenomenon of Man was published and has offered such unique and progressive
thought that it has been argued that the academic community has not caught
up to his work, much less the Church.
In order to understand Teilhard’s radically new way of looking at the
universe, one must look directly at his text, The Phenomenon of Man. This
paper will primarily be concerned with and focused on the new ontological
assumptions he offers within the text itself. Therefore, this will not be a full
survey of the book or his thought in general but will be an analysis of its
central component within the text. Teilhard opens in his foreword with a
declaration of what his work should be seen as. He says, “This work may
be summed up as an attempt to see and make others see what happens to
man, and what conclusions are forced upon us, when he is placed fairly and
squarely within the framework of phenomenon and appearance” (Teilhard
31). To understand Teilhard, one must understand the position from which
he starts. He holds humanity in its totality to be a phenomenon that can and
should be described and analyzed like any other phenomenon. The second
fundamental point one must grasp before venturing into the mind of Teilhard
is the prerequisite of adopting an evolutionary point of view. Even though for
certain purposes it could be useful to see phenomena as isolated statically in
time, the true reality is that phenomena are never found static. It is correctly
seen as a process or parts of a process. With that understood, one can begin to
investigate and discover Teilhard’s new ontology and look at it in view with the
popular orthodox ontology of Christianity and the West.
Christian ontology has said for centuries that humans were separate and
radically different from matter, and Western science has seemed to support this
view. Matter, within the context of contemporary scientific thought, is often
seen as dead, inert, and radically different from humans. But this mechanistic
and reductionist view has begun to be seriously and directly challenged by
many in the field of quantum physics and others due to new discoveries on the
subatomic level. Teilhard has also joined in on this rebellious and dangerous
questioning of this deeply embedded and greatly invested into system of
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thought. For him, reality is both composed of spirit and matter. He beautifully
dubbed this the within and without of things, the psychic and the physical
components of reality. This type of thinking calls us immediately into
rethinking how we view matter because no longer can it be seen as dead
and inert because now there is a within in all things. In his book, Teilhard
comments:
The “within” is used here, as in preceding chapter, to denote the “psychic”
face of that portion of the stuff of the cosmos enclosed from the
beginning of time within the narrow scope of the early earth. In that
fragment of sidereal matter which has just been isolated, as in every other
part of the universe, the exterior world must inevitably be lined up at
every point with an interior one. (72)
This idea of within, proposed by Teilhard, is the cornerstone of being able to
let go of this mechanistic and reductionistic view of the universe that makes
humanity believe that all of this is nothing more than inanimate matter.
Throughout the book, he continually makes the point that if matter were
devoid of an inner dimension, consciousness and spontaneity could not emerge
in the human. Therefore, it is imperative that there be a within to all matter.
Mary Eleven Tucker wrote an insightful scholarly journal article entitled The
Ecological Spirituality of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and within it she comments:
The human should not be seen, therefore, as something extrinsic or
added on to the evolutionary process, but as a culmination and outgrowth
of what went before. To understand that all reality from the tiniest atom
to the most intelligent human is composed of a within and a without gives
us a very different perspective on our universe. (9)
Therefore, the human being is to have been seen as not separate from or added
onto the evolutionary process, but rather its climax.
It is now time to begin investigating more deeply within Teilhard’s
thought and text about how this whole evolution that finds its fulfillment
in humanity takes place. Teilhard saw varying stages in the evolution of
consciousness, and comments, “The impetus of the world, glimpsed in the
great drive of consciousness, can only have its ultimate source in some inner
principle, which alone could explain its irreversible advance towards higher
psychisims” (149). He makes the claim that the true natural history of the
world must be able to be discussed and mapped out by following it from within.
Theilard comments:
“Reduced to its ultimate essence, the substance of these long pages
can be summed up on the simple affirmation: that if the universe, regarded
sidereally, in process of spatial expansion, in the same way and still more
clearly it presents itself to us, physicochemically, as in process of organic
involution upon itself and, moreover, this particular involution “of
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complexity” is experimentally bound up with a correlative increase in
interiorisation, that is to say in psyche or consciousness. (301)
Therefore, as matter evolves there is an increase in “interiorisation,” an
evolution in stages of consciousness finding its apex in humans. This particular
level of consciousness, which only human beings belong to, is originally
termed by Teilhard as the noosphere. The noosphere is characterized by a
layer of consciousness that has the ability to think back upon itself and is selfconscious.
Where, then, does all of this thought on the evolution of consciousness
place humanity in the universe? How is humanity to view itself ? What kind of
ontology is Teilhard really proposing here? There happens to be a paragraph
in the middle of his book that captures this question and must be fully quoted
regardless of its length. He brilliantly comments:
In other words, outside and above the biosphere there is the noosphere.
With that it bursts upon us how utterly warped is every classification
of the living world in which man only figures logically as a genus or a
new family. This is an error of perspective which deforms and uncrowns
the whole phenomenon of the universe. To give man his true place
in nature is not enough to find one more pigeon-hole in the edifice of our
systematization or even an additional order or branch. With hominisation,
in spite of the insignificance of the anatomical leap, we have the beginning
of a new age. The earth ‘gets a new skin.’ Better still, it finds its soul. (182)
So it could be said that the earth finds itself in humanity, and humanity finds
itself in the earth. Humans are not simply the consciousness of the earth,
but rather the conscious earth. They are not radically different, distinguished,
and separate from the rest of creation, the rest of matter, the rest of nature.
They are the very stuff of the universe. For example, a person is not radically
separate and different from the element carbon. And he / she is not the
consciousness of carbon. The person is conscious carbon. This calls for a
reinterpretation of the poetic Genesis account in its first two chapters, and it
is one that is not too far from the common orthodox one of the past. It is one
that was always there hidden within the sacred text. If anything, the popular
interpretation that brought humanity into such destruction was the radical
one, the unorthodox one, the unbiblical one. It was close, but slightly off. God
still creates the heavens and the earth but does this through the evolutionary
process. God still has humans as the climax of His creation, but just as it shows
in the passage, there is a chronological evolution from the primordial matter
to its apex of the conscious human made in the image of God (i.e. conscious).
God still has entrusted humanity with His creation, but it is now responsible
for its further evolution and final course. Some things though have now been
irreversibly changed with Teilhard’s new ontology. Inequality is now a thing
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of the past. The chain of being has become completely irrelevant. Dictatorship
can no longer reign. Humanity’s supposed God-given license to kill has been
revoked. It can no longer rape the earth because now it would simply be
masturbating. The illusioned reign of people over opposing nature is dead, and
they now realize they were always and only fighting themselves. An interior
battle (literally) that has waged for far too many millennia. This totally rips
away all Christian and Western dualistic thinking and anthropocentric ways
of life in such a way that one can never consciously, truthfully, and ethically
pick them up again. This changes everything because it changes the ontology.
It changes how one view oneself and, therefore, changes how one lives and
interacts with the surrounding environment.
REFERENCES
The NASB Thinline Bible: New American Standard Bible Version. Michigan:
Zondervan, 2002. Print.
Ponting, Clive. A New Green History of the World. New York: Penguin, 2007.
Print.
Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre. The Phenomenon of Man. New York: Harper, 2008.
Print.
Tucker, Mary Eleven. “The Ecological Spirituality of Pierre Teilhard de
Chardin.” Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 7.1 (2007): 1-19.
Print.
White, Lynn Jr. “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis.” Science 155
(1967): 1203-07. Print.
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The Architecture in Composing
The Architecture in Composing:
Architectural Aesthetics in the Literature of
Douglass, Hawthorne, Chopin, and Kingston
Brittany M. Stephens
Mr. John Sirmans
Faculty Sponsor
By looking at the architectural style of a building, it is possible to estimate
the date of construction and its stylistic influences from throughout history;
but is it possible to look at a piece of literature and decide if, within its pages,
the architecture during its time of publication is reflected symbolically?
History repeats itself more often than not, and this is evident in literature
composed from several different literary periods. Architecture is typically
categorized according to specific features, and the structures are placed in
a specific group whose name reflects the era. I will examine the aesthetics
of Neoclassicism, Gothic Revival, Queen Anne Revival, and Postmodern
architecture to discover if and how their design aesthetics might be reflected in
the following works of literature: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An
American Slave Written by Himself, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne,
The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and The Warrior Woman by Maxine Hong
Kingston.
Frederick Douglass became one of the greatest historical figures in
American history for his part in abolition and the production of his narrative
after his escape from slavery in the South. His published narrative, through
its symbols and form, manifests the style and techniques of the Neoclassical
architecture popular during its time of publication, in 1845. The surrounding
architecture of the era may have subconsciously affected Douglass, in his
writing, because he lived on slave plantations throughout his life and the
buildings around him most likely would have been Neoclassical in nature,
therefore affecting his writing further. In Architecture, Jonathan Glancey tells us
that “the general thrust of 18th century culture at the time of the Declaration
of Independence (1776), and the belief, nurtured by Thomas Jefferson (17431826), author of the famous Declaration, that the architecture of Greece and
Rome was both inherently civil and democratic,” and “neoclassical buildings
in the United States were plantation houses built in the South for wealthy
slave-owners” (365). By looking at the “why” behind Neoclassical architecture,
we can see how Douglass’s writing style relates to Neoclassical architecture.
The newfound independence of the United States and its growing power in
the world sparked the interest of people everywhere, including Douglass. He
realized that there could be independence for everyone, even the slaves. After
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his altercation with Edward Covey, Douglass states in his narrative that, “It
rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense
of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self-confidence, and inspired me
again with a determination to be free” (Douglass 50). The fire inside Douglass
was lit again, just as Jefferson believed that by bringing the Neoclassical styled
architecture back to life would spark the fire of power in the United States.
The United States turned toward the Classics for inspiration in their endeavor
to make a strong impact on its people; therefore, “many of the nation’s leaders,
chief among them, Thomas Jefferson, thought that the Roman republic
could serve as a model for the United States, not only in law and order, but in
architecture as well” (Poppeliers and Chambers 34), and Douglass was also
searching for law and order for the rights of slaves.
Knowing how Douglass was affected by the “why” of Neoclassical
architecture is important, but also seeing how the physical characteristics
of the architectural style are manifested in his writing is equally essential.
Most basic is the classical form in which his narrative is written. Douglass’s
autobiography is classical in that it is linear-chronological and is shared
from his point of view at all times. Neoclassical architecture is known for
its, “domes, pediments, colonnades, and mathematically precise proportions
of its buildings” (Glancey 345). Douglass’s experiences as a slave act as the
columns in support of the dome, which is the overlying purpose of shedding
light on the inhumane treatment of slaves. The larger and more important
of Douglass’s experiences serve as the columns supporting his reason for
wanting the abolition of slavery. An example is when his mistress begins to
teach him the alphabet, but is then corrupted by slavery: “Slavery soon proved
its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the
tender heart became stone, and the lamb-like disposition gave way to one of
tiger-like fierceness” (Douglass 31). This conveys to the outside world the
point that slavery can corrupt even the kindest of hearts. This experience with
his mistress and the alphabet also proves to differentiate Douglass from every
other slave because he realizes that the only way the white man keeps a slave a
slave is by withholding knowledge from him; therefore, Douglass understands
that by gaining knowledge, he can plan an escape.
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Figure 1: The Old Governor’s Mansion located in Milledgeville, Georgia. Photo by
Author
Figure 2: Rosehill Manor is an example early Neo-Classical architecture in Maryland,
where Frederick Douglass resided.
The Columbian Orator that Douglass cherished so much also serves as a
column to his life because the Orator was able to help Douglass improve his
speech, thereby allowing him to convey why slavery was wrong and leading
him to his famous orations that William Lloyd Garrison describes in his
preface. Columns are one aspect of a balanced Neoclassical structure, but
the “mathematically precise proportions” that were previously mentioned,
are carried out to a greater extent in the narrative through multiple literary
techniques. An example of his calculation and of Neoclassical style occurs in
the balanced sentences of his writing: “You have seen how a man was made a
slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man” (Douglass 69). The isocolon
divides the sentence into two equal parts, each containing ten words and
similar structure. His narrative is calculated to provide enough information to
give people a realistic view of slavery and enslavement and provides accounts
of the brutal beatings and murders of old men and young women to arouse
empathy in the reader. Douglass also precisely calculates the information he
includes in the writing of his escape so that he does not endanger the lives
of other slaves who plan to escape. His only statement concerning the escape
consists of a short and non-detailed explanation and is seen in this excerpt:
“How I did so, —what means I adopted, —what direction I travelled, and by
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what mode of conveyance, —I must leave unexplained” (Douglass 69). He
protects both himself and others and leaves no room for mistake or outside
interpretation.
Hints of religious material are noticed throughout Douglass’s novel,
but an author who takes religion to another level in his writing is Nathaniel
Hawthorne. Both the religious connotations and stylistic elements of Gothic
Revival architecture are symbolically manifested in The Scarlet Letter, making it
a product of the Gothic Revival movement in America.
Hawthorne provided the world with The Scarlet Letter, and within the
novel, he shows both the light and dark sides of living in a Puritan society
through decisions based upon passion, rather than reason. His novel embodies
the characteristics of Gothic Revival with its religious focus and stylistic form.
The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, and we can see why the time of its
publication is related to Gothic Revival:
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, styles in literature, art, and
architecture, rapidly changed in both Europe and the United States. One
of the more pervasive currents was the romantic movement, which
proclaimed the superiority of the Christian medieval past. With almost
religious fervor romantics extolled the symbolic virtues of Gothic
architecture and fostered its revival. (Poppeliers and Chambers 46)
Hawthorne’s novel is a part of the romantic movement in that Hester’s
decision to sleep with Dimmesdale outside of her marriage is a decision that
she bases on passion instead of a logical consideration. The consequences are
devastating to all the lives affected by the affair because of the strong, religious
zeal that resides in her community of Puritans. The Gothic Revival style of
architecture reflects this religious community because most Gothic Revival
architecture is “usually in the design of country mansions and churches,
occasionally in public buildings and prisons” (Poppeliers and Chambers 49).
It is not just irony that places Hester in the prison after condemnation from
the church, but the fact that these buildings were most prominent during
Hawthorne’s life and exhibited the Gothic Revival characteristics. Since
Gothic Revival stemmed from romanticism, romanticism influenced Gothic
Revival, and in turn, “Gothic was considered free-form, functional, and
natural, allowing architects considerable room for maneuver” (Glancey 397).
This natural element of the architecture is symbolically seen throughout the
novel beginning with the rose bush by the prison and ending with the most
natural element of all— death. In between, Hawthorne sometimes creates
extraordinary imagery in his elaborate descriptions of the forest and its
partner, Pearl. Hawthorne writes that the forest “offered her the partridgeberries, the growth of the preceding autumn, but ripening only in the spring,
and now red as drops of blood upon the withered leaves” (Hawthorne 193).
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The clear religious connotations that are associated with Gothic Revival are
imitated in this very religious novel by embodying sin and penance, but now we
can look at the stylistic techniques of both the architecture and the literature
and see the similarities.
Figure 3: First Presbyterian Church located near Georgia Military College in
Milledgeville, Georgia. Photo by Author
Figure 4: Detail view of the stained-glass window. Photo by Author
The first stylistic element of Gothic Revival that is manifested in The Scarlet
Letter involves the use of light and dark which brings to mind the richly
colored stained glass in the architecture. According to the book Architecture,
the stained glass typically used in Gothic Revival styled churches has specific
characteristics: “Often darker than medieval glass, 19th century stained glass
was beautifully made yet tended to block out light” (399). The blocking of light
is constantly depicted in the shadows that surround Hester contrasted with the
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light that Pearl points out “runs away and hides itself ” from Hester. The
novel ends with the “ever–glowing point of light gloomier than the shadow”
(Hawthorne 172, 248). Both Hawthorne and the Gothic Revival style keep the
light out and focus on the dark sins that foster Hester and the people within
the church. This shows how a person, whether an architect or a writer, helps
to preserve and point out the common aesthetic and the aesthetics of the time,
in this case darkness. Gothic Revival began as a literary movement and then
proceeded to influence architecture whose style can be described as “spindly
churches and over-dressed versions of four-square Georgian buildings”
(Glancey 397). The Scarlet Letter reflects this “over-dressed” style frequently
through Hawthorne’s language. As Pearl is wandering, by herself, along the
water, she “flirted fancifully with her own image in a pool of water, beckoning
the phantom forth, and—as it declined to venture—seeking a passage for
herself into its sphere of impalpable earth and unattainable sky” (Hawthorne
166). Hawthorne turns this small scene of a reflection in a puddle into an
elaborate and interactive experience for both Pearl and the reader, which by
modern standards is very over-dressed, but is typical of Gothic Revival. This
dark, fanciful, and deeply rooted religious architecture and literature depicts
more of a factual lifestyle in 19th century America than a biography of
everyday habits. The cycles of history have taught us that from darkness comes
light, and from the darkness of this movement, we transition into a time of
gaiety, represented in the style of Queen Anne Revival.
Victorian architecture is named for Queen Victoria, who ruled England
from 1837 to 1901, which ultimately was too long to produce a single style
of architecture, but instead produced several different types of architecture
known broadly as Victorian (Osband 8). By the 1880’s and 1890’s, the Queen
Anne Revival style grew out of England and found its way to America where
the same aspects appear in Kate Chopin’s 1899 novel, The Awakening. It was
said of the Queen Anne style that “The very name of this style suggested
eclecticism to its originators” (Poppeliers and Chambers 72) because of its
use of contrasting materials and its derivation from numerous historical
architectures, which all compile Victorian architecture. Chopin exhibits
this eclectic style in her writing by using not only many, but very different
symbols to support her theme of oppression. One example of the architecture
“shows such Queen Anne characteristics as a brick first story contrasted with
decorative boarding on the second story, shingles in the gables, a paneled
chimney and prominent gables” (Poppeliers and Chambers 73) and with these
in mind, we can appreciate why Chopin included the many symbols in The
Awakening: the birds, the sea, the ornate clothing, the lady in black, and music,
instead of concentrating on one. These symbols help to decorate her writing
just as the shingles and gables do on a house. Also common to Queen Anne
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style are the contrasting designs of the windows which were either “large bay
windows or long, narrow ones with small leaded panes, which emphasized the
importance of light” (Osband 11). Chopin’s form is similar to the contrasting
style of the windows because her chapters vary from several pages in length
to as short as a paragraph. These rather short chapters make the text appear
to be rather light, which achieves what Richard Norman Shaw, the man behind
the Queen Anne Revival style, wanted by creating a “feeling of ‘sweetness and
light’” (qtd. in Osband 11). Her writing is also eclectic in that it does not choose
to follow the typical form expectations of the 19th-century novel because she
is first, a woman publishing a book, and second, a woman writing about the
oppression of women in her own society.
Figure 5: Houses styled after the Queen Anne Revival in Milledgeville, Georgia.
Photos by Author
The oppression of women, the major supported theme throughout the
novel, is linked to the Queen Anne style of architecture because this style is
associated with the Aesthetic movement. The Aesthetic movement began with
Charles Eastlake who “deplored the fact that mass production had led to the
imposition of style on people, and believed, instead, that homes should reflect
the individuality of their owners. He also advocated the use of lighter, more
‘aesthetic’ styles, with simplicity being the desired effect” (Osband 13). Chopin
follows Eastlake’s thoughts by reflecting her own, and Edna’s, individuality.
Chopin was very alone in writing about women’s oppression, but reflected her
own individuality by not suppressing her thoughts. Chopin uses Edna to reflect
the idea of simplicity with Edna’s moving to the pigeon house: “I’m tired of
looking after that big house . . . It’s too much trouble. I have to keep too many
servants” (Chopin 79). Edna shows her desire for simplicity by discarding
all the extravagances her husband has created in their home where she is the
sole occupant at the time of her decision. She does not rely on her husband’s
approval and, therefore, becomes her own, separate individual. Chopin describes
the simplicity and individuality of her time in the novel and inadvertently
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describes the architecture as well.
Leaping forward a few decades, we see that Postmodernism began to
spring up in the 1960’s in response to the growing mass production of samestyled and same-featured buildings that in truth, showed no style whatsoever.
The phrase “less is more” from the Modern era, turned into “less is a bore,”
according to Robert Venturi, a leader in the postmodern world of architecture
(Glancey 198). Maxine Hong Kingston reflects Venturi’s new theme in her
novel, The Warrior Woman, by filling it with so many postmodern elements—
absurdity, irony, ambiguity— that the novel is nothing close to a bore. The
ambiguity of postmodern architecture leaves designs up to the viewer’s
interpretation, which can be seen in one of Venturi’s first projects, a house for
his mother, where the “interior plan of the house was rich and complex, or
ambiguous as the architect might prefer to say” (Glancey 199). The readers
of Kingston’s novel encounter ambiguity in her writing when Kingston uses
words like “maybe” or “perhaps” which occur in the scene of her outcast aunt
when she says, “Perhaps they had thrown her out to deflect the avengers,”
or “But perhaps my aunt, my forerunner, caught in a slow life, let dreams
grow and fade and after some months or years went toward what persisted”
(Kingston 8). The reader never knows exactly what happened to the aunt
because the speaker presents multiple scenarios that all have the possibility of
being true, but the final interpretation of what happened to the aunt is left to
the reader. Reader interpretation is also necessary when Kingston chases the
mentally handicapped boy from her parents’ laundry store and says, “Perhaps I
made him up” (Kingston 205). Although it seems rather unusual for an author
to spend time describing and capturing the persona of a character for it all to
be deemed imaginary, this ambiguity is part of the postmodern world of both
architecture and literature.
The form of postmodern architecture is also symbolically mimicked by
Kingston. Venturi wanted postmodern architecture to be “playful” (Glancey
469), but not to “slip into the realm of bad visual puns and gimcrack design.
And it did. In the Postmodern era anything went. But all that was involved
was a change of dress, as it were, instead of the development of an appropriate
and responsible architecture” (Glancey 199), which gives the impression that
anything could also go in literature, like Kingston’s creative non-fiction that
is subject to entire parts being made-up or inaccurate. Just as there is no one
accepted style of postmodern architecture, postmodern literature has no one
accepted form, which is exhibited in Kingston’s postmodern autobiography.
She does not present one particular form, but combines many forms into one.
Before Postmodern architecture adopted its title, it began as a “cut-and-paste
style” (Glancey 469), which combines many different aesthetics to form one
structure. Since Kingston does not write chronologically, she cuts the memories
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she wishes to retell and pastes them together, forming her own version of a
memoir. This style of memoir makes it difficult to understand at times because
there is no fluid continuity between the sudden time shifts and the unstable “I”
narrator, which leaves the reader filling in the gaps. The postmodern form that
Kingston adapts in her novel manifests symbolic elements of the postmodern
architecture that is present in the 20th century.
Figure 6: Georgia College & State University Library is a form of Postmodernism.
Stepping back from literature and architecture, one can see the
psychological, subliminal impact a society can imprint on its inhabitants.
Without realizing the architectural components found within their novels,
the authors of the examples provided unconsciously imitated the styles
surrounding them or possibly the architects of the eras imitated the literature,
but it is impossible to discover which way the effects go. What can be said is
that both are undoubtedly products of eras that share common characteristics
and are forever linked through their style and form. Through the works
of Douglass, Hawthorne, Chopin, and Kingston and their connections
to Neoclassical, Gothic Revival, Queen Ann Revival, and Postmodern
architectures, the evidence in support of a link between the world of literature
and the world of architecture is secure.
REFERENCES
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1993. Print.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An America
Slave Written by Himself. New York: Norton, 1997. Print.
Glancey, Jonathan. Architecture. New York: DK Publishing, 2006. Print.
---. The Story of Architecture. New York: DK Publishing, 2000. Print.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics,
2003. Print.
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Kingston, Maxine. The Warrior Woman. New York: Random House, Inc., 1989.
Print.
Osband, Linda. Victorian House Style. F&W Publications, 1991. Print.
Poppeliers, John, and S. Allen Chambers, Jr. What Style Is It. New Jersey: John
Wiley & Sons, 2003. Print.
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Brutus & Booth
He Only Did What He Thought Was Right:
Brutus & Booth The Influences of the Caesar Assassination on
John Wilkes Booth
Heather M. Wilson
Dr. Amy Pinney
Faculty Sponsor
I remember when I first got this assignment; I knew that I wanted to and
had to connect it to United States history somehow. Teaching United States
History is what I want to do for a living; so I wanted to write about a topic
that would be useful and lend itself to my future career. Also, I will be the
teaching assistant for Theatre History II next semester, and I wanted to choose
a topic that would translate nicely into a lesson that I could teach in the class.
My immediate thought went to the Booth family of actors, Junius, Edwin,
and John, because I almost chose a topic concerning them for the Historical
Research & Writing class I took last spring; however, it did not fit within the
parameters that my professor gave me, so I was unable to pursue it. However,
I was still very interested in it, and I thought it would be the perfect topic for
this particular paper.
Now that I had found my topic, the next thing that I had to figure out was
what question I wanted to answer. I pondered doing a case study of the three
main Booth actors: Junius Brutus Booth - the father, John Wilkes Booth, and
Edwin Booth - the brother. However, I could not figure out what my case study
would be. Then one day in Theatre History class, I was assigned to discuss
my topic aloud with Anna Gruber, and in the middle of our conversation,
Heath Ledger’s role as the Joker in The Dark Knight and his later unfortunate
demise were brought up, and then my original question came to me: “Does
insanity lead to theatre, or does theatre lead to insanity? A Case Study of the
Booth Family.” However, I soon realized that I was not equipped to answer this
question thoroughly as I have no background in psychology. What I needed
was a question that was more geared towards a historical and theatrical aspect.
I wanted a question that I could answer with fact and not assumption. Also, I
am currently taking a class on the American Civil War, and I wanted to be able
to use more of the United States 1860s historical knowledge that I would be
attaining, in that class, within my paper.
When I first started my research on John Wilkes Booth, I began reading
the words Sic Semper Tyrannis over and over again: “Thus always to tyrants”
(Reck 109). Where had I heard these familiar words before? Then I suddenly
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had a flashback to the spring semester of my tenth grade Language Arts
class when my teacher was reading Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar aloud; that was
it. After assassinating President Lincoln on April 14th, 1865, John Wilkes
Booth recited the exact same words that Marcus Junius Brutus said after he
assassinated Julius Caesar (Steers 118). Then I began to notice just how many
times Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus came up in the scholarly conversations.
At first I thought it was just a weird coincidence, but there were so many
connections linking John Wilkes Booth to the topic of the Julius Caesar
assassination. Surely, these two instances could not be merely coincidental. And
then I found it. There, in Rhodehamel’s “Right or Wrong, God Judge Me” The
Writings of John Wilkes Booth, I found the phrase that I had been waiting for:
When Caesar had conquered the enemies of Rome and the power that
was his menaced the liberties of the people, Brutus arose and slew him. The
stroke of his dagger was guided by his love of Rome. It was the spirit and the
ambition of Caesar that Brutus struck at.
“Oh that we could come by Caesar’s spirit,
And not dismember Caesar!
But, alas!
Caesar must bleed for it!”
I answer with Brutus:
He who loves his country better than gold or life.
John W. Booth. (149-150)
It was then that I realized that John Wilkes Booth had been influenced and
inspired by Marcus Junius Brutus’s assassination of Julius Caesar, when he
himself assassinated President Lincoln on April 14, 1865. It was remarkably
clear. The signs were all right there.
After that discovery, I started to find so many of the links that John Wilkes
Booth had to the Caesar assassination. Junius Brutus Booth, John Wilkes’s
father, was named after Marcus Junius Brutus, the lead assassin of Julius
Caesar. The father, Junius, and the two brothers, Edwin and John, were in the
same production of Julius Caesar together. Junius played Cassius, Edwin played
Brutus, and John played Marc Antony (Rhodehamel 7). Both assassinations
took place in theatres. The assassination of President Lincoln occurred in
Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C., and Caesar’s assassination took place at
the Theatre of Pompey. Also, both assassinations took place around the Ides
of the month. Caesar died on the Ides of March, and Lincoln died on the Ides
of April. I have to wonder whether or not all of these connections to the Julius
Caesar assassination influenced John Wilkes Booth in his own assassination of
President Lincoln, and how did his own role in the production of Shakespeare’s
Julius Caesar, in particular, influence him?
How did John Wilkes Booth’s involvement and connections to the
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assassination of Julius Caesar influence his own assassination of President
Lincoln? In addition to my main question, I also have many other questions I
would like to answer. How did the Booth family’s involvement in the production
of Julius Caesar influence John Wilkes Booth’s decision to assassinate President
Lincoln? How did John’s role as an actor affect the choices he made when
committing the crime? How much of an impact did John’s jealousy of his
brother Edwin play into his decision? How much did sheer want for fame
play into his assassination? John was quoted as saying, “When I leave this
stage tonight, I will be the most famous man in America” (“The Lincoln
Assassination”). Booth had been a rising star of the stage up until then. How
did his taste of fame influence the assassination? Was John influenced by other
plays, particularly Richard III, as well when he was plotting the assassination?
Both John Wilkes Booth and Brutus thought that they were doing what was
right for their people and for their countries. Both of them believed that their
leaders were turning into tyrants and, if allowed to continue, would each
destroy their countries.
John Wilkes Booth’s story begins on May 10th, 1838 in the outskirts of
Baltimore, Maryland, a future hot spot for Civil War insurgence (Rhodehamel
4). Maryland was a state filled with many slave owners and anti-abolitionists.
However, it was also the location of Washington D.C., the future Union
capital, and it only remained a Union state because President Lincoln would
not allow it to secede (Bailey). Looking back, Maryland’s rebel nature can be
seen almost as a foreshadowing of what was to come with John Wilkes Booth’s
assassination.
John Wilkes Booth belonged to a family of famous actors. His father,
Junius Brutus Booth, was a renowned Shakespearian actor of his day
(Rhodehamel 4). His brother Edwin Booth followed closely in his father’s
footsteps, and was the most famous actor out of the Booth sons (7). Overtime,
this rivalry would cause John to become quite jealous of his brother Edwin,
particularly when Edwin got to play the part of Marcus Junius Brutus in the
production of Julius Caesar that both brothers starred in together in 1858
(106). John was quoted saying that he resented Edwin for getting the part over
him, that it should have been his part, and that he often had to feed Edwin his
lines throughout the run of the show (Risvold 41). This particular example
leads to the fact that Edwin was a known supporter of President Lincoln and
the ideals that Lincoln believed in. Also, Edwin saved the life of President
Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln, when he almost got hit by a train (“Edwin
Booth Saved Robert Todd Lincoln’s Life”). In A True History of the Assassination
of Abraham Lincoln and of the Conspiracy of 1865, Risvold says that, “It has
been said that one of the chief reasons for his attachment to the cause of the
South was a jealousy of his brother Edwin, who was a good Union man and
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who cast the first and only vote of his life for Mr. Lincoln. Edwin was very
popular with the people of the North, winning praise everywhere” (41). This
quote is a prime example of one of the instances in which John Wilkes Booth’s
relationship to the play Julius Caesar, and also to his brother Edwin, added
towards the feelings he had that eventually led to his assassination of President
Lincoln.
John Wilkes Booth’s main reason for assassinating President Lincoln,
though, is that Lincoln was a known combatant of equal rights for whites and
blacks. That very same year - 1858 - in which John performed in Julius Caesar,
was also the year of the famous John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry, an
armory in West Virginia. John Brown was a fanatical abolitionist who wanted
to create a utopia in the hills of West Virginia for freed slaves. His raid was
put down by the army, and he was killed; however, John Brown’s Raid was
one of the factors contributing to the Civil War (Bailey). The fact that John
Brown’s Raid occurred during such a pivotal time in Booth’s life makes me
wonder whether or not this extreme abolitionist occurrence that so opposed
John’s personal views, struck a chord with John and began his future hatred of
President Lincoln. Rhodehamel states, “Booth already believed, as he was to
write six months before he killed Lincoln, ‘that the abolitionists, were the only
traitors in the land . . . .’ Booth wrote a passionate, twenty-page speech in which
he blamed all of the country’s troubles on the abolitionists” (7).
One of the major factors leading to the Civil War, besides the institution
of slavery, was that the North and the South were two extremely different
places. The North had a far more industrial economy, while the South had
a more agricultural economy. By outlawing slavery, the North did not
understand what it would be doing to the South’s economy or culture (Bailey).
In his book, Rhodehamel believes that, “Booth had been born into a world in
which slavery was a part of the accepted order of things. In 1864, he would
describe American slavery as ‘one of the greatest blessings . . . that God ever
bestowed on a favored nation’” (7). Booth felt quite strongly that emancipation
would ruin his beloved country and the way of life for the South. “‘This
country was formed for the white not for the black man,’ Booth insisted in one
of his passionate denunciations of the North” (Rhodehamel 9). Booth’s opinion
on blacks is why, after the re-election of President Lincoln, in November 1864,
one year after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, Booth decided that he
had to put an end to Lincoln’s presidency, and began dedicating himself to the
demise of Abraham Lincoln (118).
Quite like Booth, Brutus was also afraid that Julius Caesar would destroy
his homeland of Rome. In The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People’s History
of Ancient Rome, Parenti says that, “Their avowed purpose was tyrannicide,
historically a most righteous act in Roman eyes as with the Greeks. Their
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effort would be greeted not as treason but as a highly principled feat performed
on behalf of the common interest, or so they presumed” (170). Most of the
conspirators that plotted the assassination of Julius Caesar were primarily the
aristocracy, who Caesar’s new reforms would affect the most (Parenti 168-69).
Parenti also goes on to state that, “The plotters were well aware that under
Caesar’s autocracy their opportunities for financial gain and political power
would vanish, and the prestige of the Senate would be obliterated by further
dilutions. In short, the way of life the senators had been following since the
Second Punic War would end” (170). So, they decided to put a stop to Caesar’s
reform.
Unlike the other conspirators, though, Brutus was truly involved in the
assassination plot because he thought it was the right thing to do. Marcus
Junius Brutus was born in 85 BCE, fifteen years after Julius Caesar. It is
said that Julius Caesar had had an affair with Brutus’s mother, and although
Caesar was not Brutus’s father, he still treated him particularly well due to
his relations with his mother (Parenti 170-171). Also, Brutus did feel guilt for
his actions as he says later on in the play: “Judge me, you gods; wrong I mine
enemies? / And if not so, how should I wrong a brother?” (4.2.38-39). Brutus
felt as though the power in the government should be spread among the Senate
and not be left in the hands of one single human. Brutus was particularly
pressured from all sides of his life to conspire against the reign of Julius
Caesar:
But Brutus was roused up and pushed on to the undertaking by many
persuasions of his familiar friends, and letters and invitations from
unknown citizens. For under the statue of his ancestor Brutus, that
overthrew the kingly government, they wrote the words, “O that we had
a Brutus now!” and, “O that Brutus were alive!” And Brutus’s own tribunal,
on which he sat as praetor, was filled each morning with writings such as
these: “You are asleep, Brutus,” and, “You are not a true Brutus” (Plutarch).
Brutus was only doing what he thought the people wanted him to do; his love
for his country is what led him to assassination.
However, Fortin, author of “Julius Caesar: An Experiment in Point of
View,” says, “An objective viewer of the play cannot fail to perceive, despite
the play’s reticence, that Brutus was motivated to a considerable extent by
pride, a pride which he himself fails to recognize” (343). I think that Brutus
had actually tricked himself into believing that he had to kill Caesar for his
country in order to justify it to himself. He had to make himself believe that
he was doing it for the right reasons, and I believe that Brutus truly believed
his reasons. Fortin quotes Dorsch, the editor of the Julius Caesar Arden edition,
as saying, “A man who committed Brutus’s crime could not be portrayed as a
wholly sympathetic character; but Shakespeare shows him as
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blind, not evil” (344). In his mind, Brutus was unable to see his true motivations
and believed he was committing this act for the betterment of his country, not
for personal reasons.
The planning aspects of both assassinations also shared many similarities.
Originally, both had more conspirators involved at the beginning than at
the end when the crime was to be completed. Also, there were multiple
assassination attempts by both parties, and many different assassination
locations were weighed and discussed. Some locations were at election sites;
some involved assassinating the president / ruler while they were on their
way to a specific event. Finally, both assassinations were planned to take place
at popular theatres of their days, Lincoln’s at Ford’s Theatre and Caesar’s at
The Theatre Pompey (Parenti 169). Brutus’s dagger was Booth’s .44-calibur
Philadelphia Deringer pistol (“John Wilkes Booth’s Deringer”).
From a young age, John Wilkes Booth and his entire theatrical family were
well versed and vastly interested in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, “a tragedy
all the Booths knew by heart” (Rhodehamel 7). Rhodehamel states that, “John
Booth had also appeared in the play Brutus; or, The Fall of Tarquin, and one of
his theatrical friends even claimed that the actor’s admiration for the classical
Brutus was the ‘mainspring’ of the assassination” (7-8). Booth knew Brutus
very well and learned a lesson from Brutus, that if one does what one believes
is the right thing to do, people will remember one’s name forever.
In Act 3, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, it is written that
Cinna says Sic Semper Tyrannis, not Brutus. However, all of my sources have
said that John Wilkes Booth knew that it was Brutus who uttered those famous
words, and I feel that as long as that is what John believed, then that is really
what matters:
CAESAR. Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?
CASCA.
Speak hands for me!
CAESAR. Et tu, Brute? – Then fall Caesar!
CINNA.
Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead! / Run hence, proclaim,
cry it about the streets! (3.1.85-89)
However, I feel that the one major difference between John Wilkes Booth’s
motives and those of Marcus Junius Brutus is that Booth’s motives were not
entirely selfless. Brutus purely committed his crime because he believed that it
was the right thing to do for the general welfare: his country. Booth, however,
not only believed that his crime was the right thing to do for his country and
people, but also because he desired fame from the results. “Booth had always
dreamed big dreams – ‘I must have fame! fame!’ he cried” (Rhodehamel 4).
Booth wanted to be remembered, especially for doing something inside of a
theatre on the stage. Almost everyone alive today, 149 years later, still knows
the name John Wilkes Booth, and they know that he shot President Lincoln
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inside of Ford’s Theatre. They know that the famous words that he exclaimed
as he landed on the stage were Sic Semper Tyrannis. John Wilkes Booth got
exactly what he wanted. He assassinated his tyrant. He got his fame, and his
name will forever be remembered. However, he was not selfless like Brutus.
Brutus was actually friends with Julius Caesar and had an almost fatherly
relationship with him; however, Brutus’s duty belonged to his country, and
that took precedence over his personal relationships. That distinction is where
the difference lies between the two assassins. It makes me wonder whether or
not Booth’s quest for fame led him to actually assassinate President Lincoln,
instead of just kidnapping him as his original plan called for.
Originally, Booth and his conspirators had planned to only kidnap
President Lincoln and hold him ransom in exchange for the Confederate
prisoners of war. Up until Ulysses S. Grant took charge of the Union army,
both sides just let the captured soldiers return to their home sides (“The
Lincoln Assassination”). However, towards the end of the war, after the sevenmonth Battle of Vicksburg, Grant realized that as the Union had immigrants
flooding in and repopulating their army, immigrants did not first land in the
South for the most part; and the men who were with the Confederacy when it
started were all the Confederacy was going to have for the whole war. Since
the South had a limited supply of man power, if the North could just stop
releasing all of the captive soldiers, they could cut off the South’s supply of
combatants and wait until the South ran out of men and no longer fight the
war (Bailey). This plan of Grant’s infuriated Booth, and so he devised the plan
to kidnap President Lincoln in exchange for the Confederate prisoners of
war. Booth and his men believed that kidnapping Lincoln might prolong the
war just long enough to give the South the upper-hand to win the war (“The
Lincoln Assassination”). As Rhodehamel states, Booth’s reaction to this was:
As Booth explained while recruiting one of his team of presidential
kidnappers: “We cannot spare one man, whereas the United States
Government is willing to let their own soldiers remain in our prisons
because she has no need of them.” Another of the conspirators said that
Booth was sure the capture of Lincoln would “produce the exchange for
the President of all the prisoners in the Federal hands.” (12)
However, one of the main factors that flipped the switch from kidnapping
to assassination occurred on April 11th, 1865. Rhodehamel states that:
The fatal moment in which Booth decided on assassination. One passage
in the president’s subdued victory speech touched on the place of African
Americans in the reunited nation: “It is also unsatisfactory to some,”
Lincoln said, “that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I
would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent,
and on those who serve our cause as soldiers.” Booth was enraged. “That
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means nigger citizenship,” he said. “Now, by God! I’ll put him through.
That is the last speech he will ever make” (15).
These ideas were where Booth drew the line. Lincoln’s speech was the final
straw, and after this speech, Booth was determined to kill President Lincoln.
The war had ended on April 9, 1865 when Confederate General Robert E. Lee
surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. Booth believed
that if he and his conspirators could assassinate President Lincoln, Vice
President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State Samuel Seward, they could
create a state of frenzy within the northern capital just long enough to buy
the South enough time to invade the North, make a comeback, and win the war
in one final move (“The Lincoln Assassination”). However, things did not go
as planned. George Atzerodt, who was supposed to assassinate Vice President
Andrew Johnson gave up to get drunk instead, and Lewis Powell, who
attempted to assassinate Secretary of State Samuel Sewell, only injured Sewell,
and thus also failed at his mission (Rhodehamel 16).
There was no way for Booth to be told that the mission had failed because
he was already positioned at Ford’s Theatre. He knew the theatre well because
he had performed there many times before. Everyone knew his face, and he
was allowed in through the stage door and easily made his way up to the
Presidential Box. Nobody questioned where he was going; he was an actor
in a theatre, who would question that? Everyone just assumed that it was a
celebrity going to see the president. Nobody was going to stop him or assume
he was going to do the president harm. The stable boy even knew him and
held his horse for him because Booth told him he would be right back. Booth
knew the play, Our American Cousin, very well and knew the exact moment that
would be perfect to execute his assassination (“The Lincoln Assassination”).
He knew to wait until the funniest line in the play was said. This would
produce the loudest laughter and provide Booth with the moment he needed
to shoot President Lincoln. The line was: “Don’t know the manners of good
society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal — you
sockdologizing old man-trap . . .” (3.2).
How Booth used his background as an actor to help him execute his plan
is something that I find particularly fascinating. When an actor is in a show,
in constant rehearsals, he / she gets to know that particular show very well,
memorizing every line by heart. The actor knows what the audience finds
funny or dramatic, and after what line the audience laughs the loudest. This
is the moment that Booth waited for (“The Lincoln Assassination”). The actor
begins to pick up on the exact moments when and when not he / she would be
able to do something, like enter the house, or tell the stage manager something,
or in Booth’s case, shoot the President and have it be complete chaos.
As well it was, the audience did not even know what was going on until
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Booth jumped on to the stage and shouted, “Sic Semper Tyrannis!” All probably
would have gone more according to plan if during his jump onto the stage,
Booth had not caught his left boot spur in one of the flags, got tangled up in it,
and then broke his leg upon impact with the stage. This considerably slowed
Booth down and limited his mobility in escaping. He was forced to seek help
from a local doctor. Booth found Dr. Samuel Mudd, who, unfortunately, had no
idea what he was getting into at the time, to help set his leg for him. After this,
Booth tried to make his escape but had to seek refuge in the barn of Richard
Garrett. Eventually, the soldiers came after him. They set the barn on fire to
scare him out. Then one soldier saw Booth through a crack in the barn wall, so
the soldier shot and paralyzed Booth. John Wilkes Booth died on April 26th,
1865. His dying words were, “Useless, useless” (“The Lincoln Assassination”).
Some of the other reasons behind Booth’s execution of the assassination
may lie in his acting family’s relations with William Shakespeare.
Shakespearean plays were very popular at the time. His father, Junius Brutus
Booth, and his brother, Edwin Booth, were two very famous Shakespearean
actors of their day. Shakespeare had a profound impact on John’s life. He
made his debut as an actor in 1855 in Shakespeare’s Richard III, a play about
plotting, conspiracy, and assassination. Most of the plays of this time period,
particularly the Shakespearean ones, concerned these subjects. In his article,
“Crimes and Accountability in Shakespeare,” Meron says, “Richard’s defeat at
the hands of Henry of Richmond, soon to become Henry VII, is inevitable
in Shakespeare’s paradigm of the barons rising against bloody tyrants in a
just, and therefore winning, cause” (37). In the mind of Booth, according to
Shakespeare, Booth had every right to assassinate President Lincoln. This had
to influence the way that his mind worked in the plotting of the assassination.
Meron later says that, “Shakespeare advocated the right to rebel against
absolute tyrannical, evil, murderous kings in Richard III and Macbeth” (5).
The Lincoln Assassination can be viewed as a Shakespearean tragedy.
According to Meron, “The landscape of Shakespeare’s plays is not filled only
with strong and determined villains like Richard III. There are also wanton
kings, such as Richard II and Henry IV; kings who are ruthless, incompetent,
inconsistent but essentially humane, such as King John; and good but weak
kings, such as Henry VI” (35). President Abraham Lincoln takes the role of
the king in the play, the threat to the country. Through Booth’s eyes, Lincoln
played the role of Richard III or Caesar, both plays that Booth had acted in.
Meron later says, “Among the players [of a Shakespearean play] . . . there are
the executioners, some only too willing to carry out their orders” (36). John
Wilkes Booth has the role of the player who is willing to carry out what he
needs to do to slay the tyrannical king. According to Meron, these plays were:
Written during the period of Elizabethan absolutism, Shakespeare’s plays
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advocate a society in which the law should be respected and the leaders
held to the high standards of civilized behavior . . . . He [Shakespeare]
emphasizes a moral duties and the role of conscience as a guide to civilized
behavior by the leader and the citizen. (39)
I believe that because Booth was an actor who was constantly immersed in
the world of these Shakespearean plays, the lines got blurred for him, and he
might possibly have believed himself to be in a Shakespearean play. Based on
the similarities of the assassination to the plotlines of an actual Shakespearean
play, this is quite possible.
In the end, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln for
multiple reasons, many being theatre related. Booth assassinated him because
he disagreed with Lincoln’s actions as president, such as beginning the Civil
War and also the Emancipation Proclamation. It began just as a kidnapping,
so that the South could get its soldiers back and maybe win the war. However,
it spiraled out of control into a plot to assassinate the three main figures
that were in charge of the country. Another reason that Booth assassinated
Lincoln is because he was jealous of his more famous brother, Edwin. Edwin
Booth was devout to Abraham Lincoln, so it was an opportunity for Booth to
take something away from his brother that Edwin loved. Other reasons were
his immersion into the Shakespearean world that was provided to him by his
theatrical his family. Booth assassinated Lincoln because he desired fame. He
desired fame for doing something on stage that would always be remembered
by his audience.
Above all else, though, John Wilkes Booth was an actor. Marcus Junius
Brutus was a character. Brutus was a person and character with whom Booth
could identify with himself. Booth understood the character of Brutus. He had
connected with him. Both Booth and Brutus had identified tyrants in their lives
that they believed would harm the countries that they dearly loved. They were
willing to slay their tyrants in order to protect their beloved countries. I believe
that Julius Caesar provided Booth with the map to plan his assassination of
President Lincoln. Brutus provided Booth with the advice and the inspiration
that he needed to accomplish his objective. Booth finally got to play the
part that he believed to be rightfully his. All good actors must know their
characters’ objectives in a play to accurately portray the part. Booth’s objective,
as he acted out the role of Brutus, was to assassinate.
REFERENCES
Bailey, Anne. “The American Civil War.” Georgia College & State University,
Milledgeville, GA. Fall 2009. Lecture.
218
Brutus & Booth
“Edwin Booth Saved Robert Todd Lincoln’s Life.” Weider History Group, 2010.
Retrieved 05 October 2009, from Historynet.com.
Fortin, Rene E. “Julius Caesar: An Experiment in Point of View.” Shakespeare
Quarterly 19.4 (1968): 341-347. JSTOR. Web. 30 November 2009.
“100 Years Carnegie.” History Department. Bucknell U, May 2008. Web. 05
October 2009.
“The Lincoln Assassination.” The Lincoln Assassination. The History Channel.
Atlanta. 18 September 2009. Television.
Meron, Theodor. “Crimes and Accountability in Shakespeare.” The American
Journal of International Law 92.1 (1998): 1-40. JSTOR. Web. 30 November
2009.
Parenti, Michael. The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People’s History of Ancient
Rome. New York: The New Press, 2003. Print.
Reck, W. Emerson. A. Lincoln: His Last 24 Hours. Columbia: U of South
Carolina P, 1987. Print.
Rhodehamel, John, and Louise Taper. “Right or Wrong, God Judge Me” The
Writings of John Wilkes Booth. Chicago: U of Illinois P, 1997. Print.
Risvold, Floyd E. A True History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and of
the Conspiracy of 1865. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1975. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. New York: Pocket Books, 1959. Print.
Steers, Jr., Edward. Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 2001. Print.
Stevenson, Daniel C. “Marcus Brutus by Plutarch.” 2009. Retrieved 05 October
2009, from classics.mit.edu.
Taylor, Tom. Our American Cousin. New York: Samuel French, 1869. Print.
219
220
Science
Science
221
222
Cross Sections of Alpha Scattering
Cross Sections of Alpha Scattering on Boron 11
Andrew M. Smith
Dr. Ralph H. France III
Faculty Sponsor
Figure 1:
There has a been a recent renewal of interest in anuetronic fusion as a
power source. Reactions such as 11B(proton,alpha)2alpha, are being considered
as candidates. Accounting for the scattering of the produced alpha-particles is
a major design factor for the proposed reactors. In light of this, Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) has been requested to measure accurate
cross sections of the elastic scattering reaction 11B(alpha,alpha) 11B for alpha
particle energies up to 7 MeV. To measure this cross section, we collected data
using a target with a thin layer of 11B between two layers of gold. An alpha
particle beam was generated using the TUNL alpha source and accelerated
with the tandem accelerator producing beam energies between 1.5 and 7 MeV.
Elastically scattered alpha-particles, helium nuclei, were detected in an array of eight surface barrier detectors located 6” from the target. Silicon surface
barrier detectors were placed at angles of 45, 60, 75, 90, 110, 130, and 150
degrees. The incoming beam of alpha-particles was collimated by a 1/8” x 1/8”
collimator snout. There were 3/8” x 1/32” and 1/2” x 1/4” collimators placed
in front of each detector to collimate the detected alpha-particles. Figure 1
shows the set-up of the scattering chamber and the placement of the detectors.
Figure 2 shows the cross sections we measured in millibarns per steradian as a
function of energy and angle.
223
Figure 2: Differential cross sections as a function of center of mass angle from 6.56 to
6.74 MeV in 200 keV steps
The target was composed of a 2-3 microgram per centimeter squared layer
of
99%
isotopically pure 11B between a layer of 15 ug/cm2 and a layer of 80
ug / cm2 of gold. The 15 ug/cm2 layer was placed facing the incoming beamline rotated at 45 degrees with respect to the beam axis in order to increase the
effective target thickness and allow data to be collected at 90 degrees where the
reaction is symmetric, allowing collection of data for detector calibration.
Figure 3: The differential cross section as a function of energy and angle as given by
the Rutherford Equation
Even at energies beyond 7 MeV, the scattering reaction,
79Au(alpha,alpha)79Au, is purely Rutherford. When scattering is Rutherford,
the interaction is entirely electromagnetic and can be calculated using Rutherford’s scattering equation, shown in Figure 3, to high accuracy. Taking this into
account, it was possible to use the ratio of the measured cross sections to those
predicted as a correction for the solid angles of the detectors, reducing the
uncertainty of the measurements of the cross sections for scattering on 11B.
The energy of the incoming alpha-particles was calibrated by conducting
a run on a 12C foil in 10 keV steps from 4.2 to 4.3 MeV. There is a known
narrow resonance in the elastic scattering reaction 12C(alpha,alpha)12C at
4.259 MeV. Figure 4 shows the results of these calibration runs which confirm
that the beam energy is understood. The energy resolution of our detectors
is displayed in Figure 5C where the peaks from alpha scattering from the layer
of carbon deposited on the front of the target can be distinguished from the
alphas scattered off of the layer of carbon deposited on the back of the target.
224
Figure 4: To confirm the tandem energy calibration, elastic scattering data from a thin
carbon foil was taken form 4.2 MeV to 4.3 MeV in 10 keV steps. This data covers the
known, narrow 4.259 MeV resonance in 12C(alpha.alpha)12C.
One of the primary sources of error during our measurements was a thin
layer
of carbon that was deposited onto the target by the beam. In the col lected data, the alpha-particles scattered off of the carbon build up and the
boron are indistinguishable at 45 degrees, as seen in Figure 5A. The boron and
carbon peaks are however distinct at the backward angles. In order to correct
for this, the capture group collected data using 3.4 and 5.8 ug / cm2 12C foil
for each 11B data collection run. The yield from the carbon foil runs, as seen in
Figure 5B and 5D, was then scaled to the yield of alpha-particles scattered off
of carbon in the runs using the boron foil at the angles where the carbon and
boron peaks were most separated. The scaled carbon was then subtracted from
the combined boron-carbon peak at the forward angles to give a more accurate
representation of the yield from the boron.
225
Figure 5: Elastically scattered alpha particles detcted in Silicon surface barrier
detectors with E=6.6 MeV. A: Data taken at 45 degrees with our 11B target. Alpha
particles elastically scattered from the 11B in the target and carbon deposited on the
target are unresolvable. B: Data taken from the thin carbon foil at 45 degrees. C: Data
taken at 150 degrees with our 11B target. Note that the scattered alpha particles form
the 11B and 12C are well resolved. Two carbon peaks are resolved - one from carbon
deposited on the front of the target adn the other from the back. D: Data taken from
the thin carbon foil at 150 degrees.
Although the data has been collected, there are still some inconsistencies
with previous data collected on the same reaction. The cause of this inconsistency has yet to be determined. The capture group at TUNL will continue
research on these reactions. In the future, we hope to use a different target,
composed of a free standing thick layer of 11B, which should reduce the uncertainty caused by the carbon build up on the target.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Chelsey Driessen, Mohammad Ahmed, Seth Henshaw, Brent Perdue, Pil-Neyo Seo, Sean Stave, Henry Weller, Richard Prior,
Mark Spraker, Phil Martel, Aram Teymurazyan. This research was funded
in part by Department of Energy grants DE-FG02-97ER41046, DE-FG0297ER41033, DE-FG02-97ER41042, and Tri-Alpha Energy Resources.
REFERENCES CONSULTED
A.J. Richards, H. Weller, M. Ahmed, M. Blackston, S. Henshaw, P. Kingsbury, B.
Perdue, R. France, T. Lewis, R. Prior, M. Spraker, Bull. Amer. Phys. Soc. 51
(2006) 60.
226
F. Ajzenberg-Selove, Nuc. Phys. A523 (1991) 1.
G.D. Symons, P.B. Treacy, Nuc. Phys. 46 (1963) 93.
J.R. Liu, Z.S. Zheng, W.K. Chu, Nuc. Intr. Meth. B108 (1996) 1.
N. Rostoker, A. Qerushi, and M. Binderbauer, J. Fusion Energy, 22 (2004) 83.
T. Lewis, R. France III, A.J. Richards, M. Ahmed, M. Blackston, S. Henshaw, P.
Kingsbury, B. Perdue, H. Weller, R. Prior, M. Spraker, Bull. Amer. Phys.
Soc. 51 (2006) 56.
227

The Corinthian, Volume 11, Spring 2010

Transcription

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