Michelle Obama’s Senior Thesis
Many are writing about Michelle Obama’s senior thesis from Princeton. The quote that seems to have folks’ attention is:
“My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my ‘blackness’ than ever before,” the future Mrs. Obama wrote in her thesis introduction. “I have found that at Princeton, no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don’t belong. Regardless of the circumstances under which I interact with whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be black first and a student second.”
I understand the fascination with that quotation. For me, however, I am alarmed. Not at Mrs. Obama’s alienation as a black woman at Princeton, but rather that a senior thesis is written in the first person.
I have been unable to find the requirements of the project, but no thesis I am aware of permits first person prose. A thesis, as I understand it, tests a hypothesis and reports the findings of the experiment conducted. Having written a few theses myself, that is certainly the standard I was held to.
Writing a thesis is difficult. It is dry writing and one that most are not accustomed to. Nowhere in the document should the word I be found (I suspect a direct quotation from a subject could include that word, but that would be a special case.). Scanning the thesis, I have noted the words try (and its derivatives) and probably used quite a bit. Those are other personal words that should not be used in a thesis.
Just what were the requirements for this thesis that permitted such passages?
Also blogged on this date . . .
- Corzine's Austere Budget - 2008
- Huckabee Misses the Mark on SNL - 2008
- What do you take caching with you? - 2007
- Help Harry Houdini Cache - 2007
- Organization or Obsession? - 2007
- Nuts - 2007
- Textured - 2007
- Thank Goodness - 2005