.DREW UNIVERSITY CLASS OF 2013 COMMON READING
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The Drew University Common Reading Program selects a different book each year and sends a copy to each member of the entering class to read over the summer (they should arrive around June 26th). Incoming students are asked to write an essay in response and submit it on-line. Once at Drew, students join faculty, current students, and staff in conversations about the book during Orientation and The Drew Common Hour.
The essays are submitted as part of the Guided Self-Placement Confirmation Test, and will be expanded in College Writing I and submitted to each student's electronic portfolio.
Lost on a glacier after a failed attempt to scale the world’s second highest mountain, K2, part of the Karkoram Range in eastern Pakistan, Greg Mortenson was rescued and taken in by the people of a remote village. After seeing the village children ‘going to school’ in the open air, Mortenson returns to the United States determined to raise the money to build the village a school.
The book narrates the building of that first school and of the dozens that follow in the rugged mountain valleys of Pakistan and later of Afghanistan. But, perhaps more important, it follows Mortenson as he learns to move within Pakistan’s many cultures, to listen to and work with the villagers, to
respect and share their passionate commitment
to educate their children, particularly their daughters, at almost any
price, and to negotiate the complexities of Pakistani and Afghan
politics before and after 9/11.We chose Three Cups of Tea because it threads together key interests and commitments of students and faculty at Drew, particularly the desire to understand how best to use our knowledge, skills, and resources to make a difference in the world.
The Common Reading discussion of Three Cups of Tea during Orientation will be your first shared educational experience at Drew and will mark the transition to college-level work. It is one of the ways we try to make Orientation acclimate you to the culture of the College of Liberal Arts, both academically and socially. Come prepared to share your thoughts about the book, listen to those of others, sharpen your critical thinking skills, and contribute to what I know will be a stimulating discussion.
The Common Reading will also form the basis of the guided self-placement confirmation test that all incoming students must complete on-line this summer.
This writing exercise will help you determine whether or
not you have placed yourself at the appropriate level of College
Writing I in the fall semester (for more information, see the
link above). You will get your copy of Three Cups of Tea in the mail from Drew soon, along with a packet from the Orientation Committee--although you may certainly buy a
copy or read a library book if you are
impatient to get started
early. Happy reading!
Sincerely,
Jonathan Levin
Dean of the College of Liberal Arts
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September 2, 2009,
noon-1:00 pm,
Location tba
Greg Mortenson will talk to the Drew community about his work in the first Drew Common Hour meeting of the semester.
ResourcesPublic Access Websites
* Central Asia Institute
* Pennies for Peace
* Three Cups of Tea website
* CIA Factbook: Pakistan
* CIA Factbook: Afghanistan
* UNESCO Education for All report
* UNESCO Institute for Statistcs: education
* UNESCO education statistics, Pakistan
* UNESCO education statistics, Afghanistan
* Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Education
* Basic Education Coalition
Documentaries and other media
* "Time for School," PBS- Wide Angle Documentary
* "Time for School, 2009" will be broadcast Sept 2, 2009,
on PBS stations (includes Shugufa in Afghanistan)
* "The Girl Effect"
Downloadable (PDF) documents
* Pakistan Fact Sheet (Pennies for Peace)
* Afghanistan fact sheet (Pennies for Peace)
* Girl's education fact sheet (Pennies for Peace)
* Q & A with Greg Mortenson (Penguin Publishers)