Foundations Assignment
Project #1: Exploring the Role of Privilege
developed by Amy Woodworth woodworth@rowan.edu
Readings/Resources
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Main Texts:
o Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege and Male Privilege”
o Tal Fortgang, “Checking My Privilege: Character as the Basis of Privilege”
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Supplementary Texts:
o Peggy McIntosh TED Talk "How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-BY9UEewHw
o Mychal Denzel Smith, “No One Cares If You Never Apologize for Your White Privilege”
http://www.thenation.com/article/no-one-cares-if-you-never-apologize-your-white-maleprivilege/
o Jay Smooth, “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Discussing Race”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbdxeFcQtaU
Note to Instructors:
I have used this essay as my first essay in Foundations, though it could certainly be placed at another point in
the semester, especially as it asks students to work with more than one text. As an exploratory essay, this
usefully introduces students to a writing purpose other than persuasion via the five-paragraph essay (and
conversations about this are essential—see accompanying resources on the five-paragraph essay as a genre
and on exploratory writing). This also works well for introducing students to critical engagement as an activity
in preparation for ICCI. While Fortgang (writing in 2014) never directly references McIntosh (who first wrote
this essay in the 1980s), McIntosh’s work was a major early contribution to the “conversation” about privilege;
her essay is frequently assigned, and to some extent has shaped the discourse around privilege on college
campuses, including Princeton, where Fortgang goes to school. Both texts can be challenging for students to
read: McIntosh’s is longer and more academic, so hearing her speak first can be helpful for students to
understand her ideas; Fortgang’s is often sarcastic/ironic, which students may not pick up on right away.
Obviously, either texts could be swapped for these; mixing the “types” of privilege covered might be a good
idea. This topic works well for an exploratory essay because cause-and-effect relationships are inevitably
complicated, and most of our lives are shaped by a mix of circumstance and personal decisions. This also is a
topic that touches all of our lives in some way, including international students, who often are in our classes.
Clearly from the titles, you can see that the texts often tackle racial and gender privilege specifically, but class
discussions and student writing can obviously discuss different types. In fact, because race and gender can be
challenging to talk about, and students could potentially feel alienated by their possession or lack of certain
privileges, it is important to highlight and even model the ways that most people have access to some
privilege; we all just have different combinations of it. In anticipation of difficult conversations, the Jay
Smooth video might help to just put out in the open the idea that talking about race, gender, class, etc. can be
hard.
And as we don’t want to alienate students or make them feel marked by difference, I think it is important to
avoid requiring students to talk about their own privilege in their writing. While Foundations assignments
encourage students to use personal observations and experiences as a form of support, the support they use
for this essay does not necessarily need to be from their personal life; support for their ideas can come from
observations in their communities, from news stories, from hypothetical situations/reasoned ideas, etc.
Tangible skills taught/used in this essay:
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Summary writing
PIE (point, illustration, explanation) or ICED (idea, citation, explanation, defense of idea) method for
introducing, illustrating, and explaining ideas in a paragraph
Choosing appropriate support and source material for discussion
Signal phrases for quotations
Quotation sandwiches
Assignment Sequence to consider when planning
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Read and discuss McIntosh
Write summary for McIntosh
Read and discuss Fortgang
Write summary of Fortgang
Try to generate questions raised by the two texts; instructor can provide for worksheet if this is difficult
Complete critical engagement worksheet (see universal assignment/worksheet on Instructor Support
web site) synthesizing the two readings
7. Discuss five-paragraph essay vs. exploratory essay
8. Students select question from worksheet to guide exploratory essay and do pre-writing
9. Draft in pieces
**see Critical Engagement Assignment and Worksheet on the instructor support website for
this portion of the project
Foundations for College Writing
[Instructor’s Name]
[Semester]
[Project #__]
Due Date for First Draft:
Introduction: In the first essay, you will explore the answer to a question of your own choosing that
relates to privilege, drawing on the two texts from class (Fortgang and McIntosh) to develop your ideas
and to consider how your own point of view relates to those of others who have written about privilege.
Readings:
 Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege and Male Privilege” (on Blackboard)
 Tal Fortgang, “Checking My Privilege: Character as the Basis of Privilege” (on Blackboard)
Learning Goals:
 To use composing processes to arrive at clear and meaningful piece of writing. (CV1)
 To explore an issue or question raised by an assigned reading and respond to or challenge it in
the service of developing your own view. (CV2)
 To make choices in your writing in relation to audience, purpose, and context, and explain those
choices. (CV3)
 To use appropriate support for your own ideas that may take the form of examples, personal
experience, observations, analogies, etc., as well as information from sources. (CV4)
 To introduce material from other sources (direct quotations and/or paraphrased ideas) into your
own writing using effective signal phrases. (CV4)
 To make a genuine attempt to listen to the points of view of others, accurately represent those
other points of view in your writing, and use those other points of view to challenge your own
thinking. (CV5)
Full Description: You have read, summarized, analyzed, and responded to both Tal Fortgang’s essay
“Checking My Privilege: Character as the Basis of Privilege” and Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege
and Male Privilege.” The concept of privilege is something that relates to and affects all of our lives.
This essay presents you with an opportunity to explore an aspect of privilege that you find interesting
and important. Exploring means that you don’t have to choose a “side” or commit to a point of view; in
fact, it means that you consider different ways of looking at a subject or issue. To do this, you will use a
question about privilege that these readings have inspired in you or that we have asked together as a
class and then organize an essay that explores possible ways to answer that question.
You are welcome to use any of the questions from the critical engagement assignment that we did
leading up to this essay or others from class:
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How does privilege affect our lives?
Is privilege something we can or should change?
What would help us to have better conversations about privilege?
Are there dangers to talking about privilege too much?
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Is it possible to have a meritocracy (a society that rewards hard work and allows the best and
most talented to rise to the top) that also contains systems of privilege?
Your goal is to help your reader to think about privilege carefully by showing him/her where and how it
plays or doesn’t play a role in our lives. You will need to create a clear, organized, and unified essay
that works toward answering your chosen question.
Essay:
We will discuss this more in class and work on the draft in chunks, but essentially, this is what an
exploratory essay does:
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The introduction will raise the question that you intend to explore. This provides your reader
with some guidance as to what the central concern is in the essay, and s/he will understand that
the essay to come is trying to answer that question.
The various body paragraphs will each offer a possible “answer” to the question or way to look
at the issue the question raises.
You should try to work in at least one quotation/idea each from Fortgang and McIntosh to help
explore possible answers to your question. You will need to choose material from them that is
relevant to your specific question.
Your conclusion may “arrive” at an answer, but it might not. Exploratory essays often leave the
reader with a complex, but better understanding of the issue it explored, and thus more to think
about. Even if a firm answer isn’t given, your reader hopefully will have evolved their own
thinking in some way or achieved a better appreciation of the issue after reading your essay.
Guidelines:
 Header in upper, lefthand corner with your name, the course, instructor’s name, the assignment,
and the date.
 Original title, centered on page, before essay begins.
 Double-spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, 1” margins all around.
 2-3 pages in length.
 Signal phrases to attribute quotations and/or ideas to others.
Feedback for: _____________________
Essay #, Exploratory Essay on Privilege
High Passing:
Passing:
Low Passing:
Not yet passing:
1. Your introductory paragraph is focused and raises a clear question.
Weak----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Strong
2. You fully introduce McIntosh and Fortgang the first time each is used.
Weak----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Strong
3. You use material from McIntosh and Fortgang that is relevant for exploring answers to
your question.
Weak----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Strong
4. Your quotations are a “sandwich”: they have signal/attributive phrases (a phrase like
“McIntosh argues”) attached so that it is clear who is speaking, and they are followed up
with explanations.
Weak----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Strong
5. Each of your paragraphs has a clear focus.
Weak----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Strong
6. You create transitions between your paragraphs to help your reader follow shifts in ideas.
Weak----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Strong
7. You illustrate your points (this could be material from the readings, personal experience,
anecdotes/stories of others you know, news stories, etc.).
Weak----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Strong
8. Your writing is clear, without interference from grammar or mechanical issues.
Weak----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Strong
Additional comments: