I really hope I don’t get cold feet on this proposal.
I am leaning my topic towards being something relating the influence of the Internet on the education students receive in different countries with different cultures. I feel like it would be a good topic for this assignment because I felt it as a reaction to reading The Shallows. I felt defensive at some points, and it was rooted in the way that Nicolas Carr would offend us, since I myself am a web user; I don’t feel truly convinced that my brain has mutated that greatly.
I imagine my thesis statement would revolve around how different cultures raise and educate their children differently, causing the influence of the Internet to be less in certain cultures. Countries that make their students memorize and recall a lot of information from a young age, I predict would be more resilient to the negative effects of the Web that Carr uses as evidence in his argument for a brain manipulation oriented medium. I felt that his words antagonized all groups, both western and eastern cultures, but basing research from only Europe and America.
I would begin with discussing the education of different cultures. Then move on to a general discussion of the Internet. Transitioning from there, I would bring up Carr’s argument and supporting sub-points relating to the degeneration of the brain’s capacity to hold information due to the medium. I would then talk about educational and social differences in child upbringing of different cultures. The counter argument to Carr’s would then be that the reason for the lesser/depleted retention of the mind is due to generally less conditioned stimulus to reading in general, regardless of the medium, which is something that is shown clearer in cross cultural examination. This last point would hopefully solidify my proof for my thesis.