{"id":36257,"date":"2024-01-26T01:44:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T01:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=36257"},"modified":"2024-01-29T18:18:25","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T18:18:25","slug":"students-in-this-course-learn-the-art-of-the-apology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/students-in-this-course-learn-the-art-of-the-apology\/","title":{"rendered":"Students in this course learn the art of the\u00a0apology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nancy E. Berg<\/a>, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis<\/a><\/em><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\"Text<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Uncommon Courses<\/a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Title of course:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sorry: The art and literature of the apology<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What prompted the idea for the course?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A number of years ago our students and faculty read Eula Biss\u2019 book \u201cNotes from No Man\u2019s Land<\/a>\u201d for our first-year reading program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It ends with her essay \u201cAll Apologies,\u201d which braids together seemingly disparate moments of apology: Biss to her little sister for hitting her, Ronald Reagan\u2019s apology to Japanese Americans for WWII internment<\/a>, and Bill Clinton\u2019s apologies for marital indiscretion<\/a>, to Hawaiians for the U.S. overthrowing their monarchy<\/a> and for the Tuskegee syphilis experiment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had the opportunity to expand on a discussion of Biss\u2019 book with a class of first-year students. It started me thinking about the significance of the apology in our lives. From politicians and other public figures to friends and family, we often experience the apology given or withheld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does the course explore?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The course explores much more than just the anatomy of an apology and what makes an apology succeed or fail. The course also gets students to consider how apologies can be used to understand historical events, interpersonal relationships and differences in culture and gender. We also discover how apologies provide insight into the nature of celebrity and corporate success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized<\/a> in 2015 on behalf of the government for having forcibly removed Indigenous children from their homes to teach them in residential schools, he repeated \u201cwe are sorry\u201d in French, Cree, Anishinaabe and Inuktitut, recognizing the very cultures the forcible removal was meant to erase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After several people died from cyanide-laced Tylenol<\/a> in 1982, the parent company \u2013 Johnson & Johnson \u2013 issued a statement that has since become one of most oft-cited examples of an effective corporate apology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Ellen DeGeneres apologized in 2020 for fostering a toxic workplace, it missed the mark<\/a> because she tempered it with humor and didn\u2019t take ownership. Similarly, YouTuber Colleen Ballinger, accused of exploiting her fans, failed spectacularly in her apology, not because it was accompanied by her ukulele strumming but because she painted herself as a victim<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assignments include a case study that each student chooses and a short research paper on a related topic, such as shame, confession, guilt, forgiveness and absolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is this course relevant now?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We are living in a post-shame era<\/a> in which outrageous and offensive behavior is often accepted and even applauded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, the current governor of Montana body-slammed a reporter while running \u2013 successfully \u2013 for Congress; entertainer James Corden apologized for berating a hapless waiter but then withdrew the apology; \u201cReal Housewives\u201d throw drinks and flip tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The apology itself is often monetized, weaponized or \u2013 most often \u2013 skipped over. Almost 20 years ago, Aaron Lazare wrote about the growing importance of apology and its power and complexity in his book \u201cOn Apology<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s a critical lesson from the course?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A good apology \u2013 that is, an effective one \u2013 offers a reset, restoring balance or repairing a rupture. A really good apology might even strengthen the relationship between the offender and the offended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What materials does the course feature?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Course texts include scientific studies, transcripts of apologies, essays and poetry. The novel \u201cSorry\u201d by Australian writer Gail Jones<\/a> opens a unit on the national apology, the debt to Indigenous people and the case for reparations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unit ends with a screening of Mimi Chakarova\u2019s 2023 film on Russell City \u2013 \u201cThe Apology\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students begin the semester by writing their own personal apologies. I never ask to whom. They are submitted in sealed envelopes. Students revisit their apologies at the end of the semester. I never read them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What will the course prepare students to do?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My hope is that by the end of the semester the students will be able to apologize effectively. But like all courses in the humanities, it is meant to teach students to analyze and interpret texts and to appreciate the very best creative expressions of humanity, even when created in response to the very worst actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nancy E. Berg<\/a>, Professor of comparative literature, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nancy E. Berg, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching. Title of course: Sorry: The art and literature of the apology What prompted the idea for the course? A number of years ago our students and faculty read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":36258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[292],"tags":[15114,4385,147,3703,15115,6951,15111,13,15113,15112,13094],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36257"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36257"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36276,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36257\/revisions\/36276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}