Response from Emerson Society

Weekend Jan 23 2022

I wrote about my use of Emerson essays in my audit and ethics classes. I thought the President would find the application of Emerson to current business teaching and practices.

Here at Tamusa we are encouraged to have students 'write across the curriculum' as well as present in class. You can see I am attempting both.

This is a opportunity to set yourself apart from students at other business schools.

We will visit in class about this.

interesting and out of the ordinary. Here is what I sent Professor Prentiss.

Dr. Prentiss

 

By way of introduction I am an Associate Professor in Accounting at Texas A  & M University San Antonio.

 

In Texas one must take a State Board approved accounting ethics class to sit for the CPA Exam.

 

I created and have taught the ethics class since inception.  My experience is that business student don't readily relate to

Aristotle, Hobbs, andLocke. However once I turned to RWE, they were amazed that 1841 essays were so relevant today.

 

Well students times change people do not.

I have extended the assignment to my two audit classses.  They must post their thoyghts on the Blackbard Discussion Board. Here are a couple of responses.

 

I can’t help wondering why we are reading an essay about self-reliance in an Auditing class. However, as I kept reading and understanding what it is about, I started to appreciate it. The title itself “Self-Reliance” made sense to me. The essay is everything about us, the person within us. The power, mind, strength, and voice within us. It gives us inspiration and motivation. It has nothing to do with what class we are in, what major we are pursuing, how old, or what is our status in life. The essay is about listening and believing in us and giving ourselves due respect. By doing so, success is inevitable.  

One statement really caught my attention, the part where it says “The voice in your own mind is so familiar to you that you give it no respect. Instead, you give too much weight to the thought of others — your neighbors, your teachers, or some great thinker from the past”. This is so true; we became so afraid of what other people or our friends think about us. We are so busy pleasing other people that we lose our true selves in the process.  

In addition, the current environment and situation we have where people are forced to be “politically correct”, is also not helping us to grow. People are now more worried to get “canceled” than to say their truth. Where is the growth in that? 

________________________

this from a student from the country of Jordan

 

This is my first time reading for Ralph Waldo Emerson, And I really enjoyed it, and makes me think about myself, my actions, and things I've been doing lately.

The most amazing thing that this Essay was written long time ago, and still applied to this time.
The Idea that I learned from Emerson's Essay "Self-Reliance" is be yourself, and be honest with yourself, and work on youeself, if you want to change something start with yourself, don't be what other people wants you to be, or doing what other people expecting you to do, do what you belive in, belive in yourself, if you don't make yourself happy nobody can makes you happy.

I really Enjoyed it, and I think I will read a lot more for Emerson in the future.

________________________

 

thought you would enjoy discovering that yes RWE has plenty of application in the study of accounting ethics!

 

Are you interested in papers from my students on how RWE has helped mold their ethical sensibility

 

Dennis Elam PhD CPA

Associate Professor COB Accounting

Texas A  & M  University San Antonio

[email protected]

[email protected]

________________________________

 

Here is her encouraging response

 

Dear Dennis,

 

Thank you for your note, and for sharing some of your students’ responses to Emerson. I’m delighted that they find him relevant, and that his writing prompted them think more deeply about their ethical sensibilities.

 

The Emerson Society Transparent Eyeball Blog accepts submissions on a rolling basis. Here is a description of what we’re looking for:

 

We welcome short—500-1,000 word—submissions from undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, independent scholars, early career as well as established scholars, artists, activists, and the general public. We especially encourage submissions that address Emerson’s relevance in our 21st-century moment; consider him in conversation with philosophers, poets, environmentalists, artists, and activists, within and beyond the nineteenth century; and explore him in transnational and interdisciplinary contexts.

Submissions may take any form—meditations, provocations, polemics, analyses, critical-creative hybrids, personal reflections—but should be original work, jargon-free, and accessible to the general public. Submissions will be received on a rolling basis and reviewed by members of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society Media Committee. Submissions may be returned to applicants with suggested revisions. Please submit your Transparent Eyeball contributions to [email protected]

 

Your students are welcome to submit something if they’re interested in writing a somewhat longer response (maybe a reflection on how Emerson helps them to think about ethics?). We’d also welcome something from you – or a collaboration between you and a few students -- if you’re interested in writing something about Emerson in the Accounting Ethics classroom. My colleagues on the media committee would gladly review anything you’d like to send our way.

 

Thanks for reaching out, and please feel free to email if you have additional questions. You can also tell your students that they can follow the Emerson Society on twitter @EmersonSociety.

 

All best,

Prentiss

 

 

—

Prentiss Clark

Associate Professor

Department of English

University of South Dakota

[email protected]

Comments

[Denique Escobedo]

Wow! It is amazing to see the reach that Emmerson's Essay has on the students of TAMUSA- I thought it was just me. I will definitely look into writing my own experience and effect of the Emmerson Essay. Great opportunity- Thank you!