Janet and Roger both wrote papers on Paternalism but took different routes in doing so. The purpose of this experiment was to see how lack of authority shapes the writing and reading practices students adopt. While reading this article I found myself relating to Janet in the sense that she lacks experience. As a college student, there are still so many things that I am learning every day. Not only for my academic career but for life in general as well. Unlike Roger, who was already deep in his career and far more knowledgeable. That gave him a slight advantage over her, and due to this Janet felt like an outsider. I feel like that is a feeling a lot of college students go through, or at least I do. Kind of like everyone is just ten times smarter than you or that you don’t really know what you’re doing. However, confidence in one’s own authority is said to increase with age so I still have a long way to go.
While Roger is writing his paper he touches upon different ideas, claims, and controversies. He also changes his mind a few times as his writing progresses. Janet took another approach. Her paper consists of facts to argue her point. She doesn’t actually include any opinions or personal input. Because of this, she isn’t mentioning important parts of information. Although it’s hard to blame her due to her unfamiliarity with the context. It was concluded that Janet’s strategies were expert but she failed to reflect that in her writing. On the other hand, even though Roger changed his mind, he explored multiple things and was still the more sophisticated of the two. In order to take authority in writing or any other situation, students need to believe there is authority to spare, that their voice can be heard. Teachers can help implement this by encouraging their students. Whether that’s by saying “hey I really liked that you did …” or by asking them to participate in discussions.
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