Summary of Bok's Essay Overview

After reviewing summaries of Derek Bok’s essay written by Michael Noel, Taylor Effling, and Beth Guthmiller, it is obvious that we all share the same basic concept of the piece. What is more interesting is the fact that each of us was given the same information, but each summary varied in tone and perspective. Most of all, this illustrated to me that interpretation is as unique as the individual.

In reference to perspective, Effling and I both choose the gereral overall idea Bok was making about freedom of speech. Noel and Guthmiller had a more specific approach by citing more facts from the essay including information about the incident at Harvard and the hanging of the flags. Overall we all had the same basic understanding of the concept but in choosing to write from different perspectives, we each put our own “spin” on it.

For example, I choose to leave out the specifics of the Harvard flag hanging. By doing that my summary approaches the subject of freedom of speech applied to all situations in general. Noel and Guthmiller both choose to include the flag hanging making their summaries more focused on the university and how freedom of speech be handled on that level. All the summaries I read made it clear to me that we all understood what was being said. The differences in the summaries made me expand my own thoughts and think about how I view the world compared to those around me. That got me excited. Without variety, life would be pretty boring.

Summaries in themselves are basically editorials of the reader’s interpretation. There really isn’t any one correct response although basic concepts should be apparent, such as the subject, and in this case it was freedom of speech. The rest depends on how each person views the world and what is priority to them as well as their own thinking style. I myself like to look at the broad view of the world. Others style is more focused on specifics. One thing is certain, whether we think in macros or micros our thoughts are as individual as we are.

Brenda Porter
May 25, 2007