Some Student PIE Paragraphs
These student paragraphs were written in response to David Brooks’ essay “People Like Us” where he argues
that, if given a free choice, we will tend to want to be around people more or less like ourselves no matter
how much we preach the value of diversity.
a
After I came to Seattle, all the friends around me were Chinese. That’s not the best way to learn
English, but I needed to have all my friends to come from a part of China and Hong Kong. The reason why I
only have friends from those places is they all speak the same language as me—Cantonese. I don’t even have
friends who speak Mandarin Chinese. “I want to be around others who are roughly like me“(71) because that
will make me more comfortable, speak freely, and it will be easy to share my ideas. I would like to make
friends from all around the world; however, these friends I might just talk to a few times. I wouldn’t hang out
with them for fun, and they wouldn’t ask me out, too. The ones who hang out with me are the only ones who
speak Cantonese. “Diversity is a unique American myth”(72.
b
Diversity is classification in its purest form. David Brooks states in his essay “People Like Us,” “when
we use the word diversity we usually mean race integration.” Brook’s idea of diversity is wrong. It is not just
racial integration but the differences of a people’s cultural background and financial stability, too.
c
Human beings can’t live by themselves; they want to connect with others who are like themselves.
From the article, “People Like Us” by David Brooks, “people want to be around others who are roughly like
themselves. That’s called community.”(71) They gather with people like themselves and that’s called
community.
d
The intention of creating a more racially integrated society has failed in America because people
create a brick wall boundary between themselves. There is separation among neighborhoods, “In fact
evidence suggests that some neighborhoods become more segregated over time”(53). In this case people
create or develop personalities where they live and segmentation occurs.
e
People try to be diverse but facts show the opposite. We have the idea of diversity, yet we tend to
find ourselves in groups with people more like ourselves. As David Brooks philosophizes, “the dream of
diversity is like the dream of equality. Both are based on the ideal we celebrate even as we undermine them
daily”(71). This quote is saying that although we have these pictures or ideas of what should happen, we
overlook it and maybe don’t realize who we are with but in our daily lives we end up being with more people
of similar backgrounds.
Here are several more student paragraphs that incorporate quotes. These students were writing about
Catherine Newman’s essay “I Do. Not.”: Why I Won’t Marry” in which she explains why she would
rather live with her boyfriend as a partner rather than get married.
a
In Newman’s essay “I Do. Not.”: Why I Won’t Marry,” says that marriage is not right for her. “Because
marriage is about handing a woman off, like a baton, from her father to her husband.” (page 61) She feels like
property. She does not want to be handed off like some package or possession.
b
“Because I will not be possessed”(64”. This quote shows us that Catherine Newman, in her essay “I Do.
Not.”: Why I Won’t Marry,” rejects marriage as a way for her husband to control her. “The best life partner
[…] doesn’t crave possession”(64).
c
In her essay “I Do. Not.”: Why I Won’t Marry,” Catherine Newman seems to be rejecting marriage but at
the same time kind of wants it too. On page 64 she speaks admiringly of her former skinny boyfriend who
yelled at somebody, “You staring at my woman?” There is a part of her that wants something more traditional
in her relationship.
d
On page 66 of her essay, Catherine Newman seems to be accepting the idea of marriage. “But I do wear
his ring. He is the father of my child. I take Michael to cherish, dismay and split burritos with. I take him. I
do”(on page 66). Maybe marriage isn’t so bad.
e Catherine Newman loves to go to weddings but hates what always seems to happen at them to spoil her
mood. She describes how “somebody’s father or uncle always has to lean over, all shiny and loose with
champagne, and [say] ‘so, how come you two aren’t doing this?’”(61). Her essay then goes on to list the
reasons why they won’t be “doing this.”