My typical experience of grading final papers in composition classes has been a slew of fairly dry and usually unsophisticated rehashes of front page news with only the occaisonal gem that really approaches a subject in a fresh manner. This semester, though, I've gotten some of the bets topics I've ever seen, and in such numbers that I cann't even begin to describe my joy. I'm actually enjoying reading many of these papers, and learning tons! Some topics include:
· The impact of globalization in South Africa
· National identity for Vietnam draft dodgers expatriating to Canada
· Dowry deaths in India as feminist and human rights issue
· The compatibility of democracy and Islamic national identity
· Whether the British effectively created linguistic states in India by developing Muslim and Hindu versions of Hindustanee.
· Disney as a uniquely American attempt at Utopia
· Whether private universities provide a better education and why such a perception exists
· How and how much religious practice affects adult identity formation in college students.
· How and how much name choice impacts identity formation
· Ways that parents of Korean adoptees can foster ethnic identity for their children
· Approaches to Islamic veiling practices
· How to demystify the American beauty myth
· Chinese Cambodians and their (successful?) integration into Cambodian society
· Untouchable rights in India
· Whether American Jews should support a Palestinian state and if this undermines their Jewish identity.
· The availability of cultural icons and role models for African American men beyond sports and entertainment.
· How to best respond to French anti-American sentiment.
· Why Latino political activity is so low (esp. in N.E.) and how to address this problem
· Transgender rights and state endorsement
· How the contemporary “stay-at-home mom” compares to the 50’s “homemaker” and whether such roles represent any real improvement.
· Whether body art constitutes free speech and whether it should be protected as such
· Whether the Pledge of Allegiance represents a violation of church and state separation, How this reflects on “real” American identity, and why it matters.

It's a far cry from twelve papers each on internet file sharing, nutritional supplement use on professional sports, whether college athletes should be paid, and whether human cloning is ethical. Alas.