Paul’s Case

By Willa Cather

Web Quest – Mimoza Hasanbelliu

Introduction

Children with Attention Deficit Disorder – CHADD, it is the only national organization representing individuals with ADD/ADHD with a full-time advocate in Washington, D.C. CHADD's Director of Public Policy works to build relationships with the United States Congress and administrative agencies such as the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services and Labor in order to present the organization's perspective on legislation and policies affecting individuals with ADD/ADHD. Since the story Paul’s Case takes place on 1904, and back then a Public Policy for children and adults experiencing disabilities didn’t exist, you as active members of CHADD and advocates of youngsters with disabilities have to go back in time to identify if Paul is learning disabled, and find the ways to help him to solve his situation and prevent him to commit suicide using a new public policy.

Task

Like the flower's "brave mockery at the winter outside the glass," Paul's "revolt against the homilies by which the world is run" is "a losing game in the end."

Your task as CHADD’s public policy analyst is to write a two pages report using Microsoft word or a power point presentation analyzing the character of the story, Paul, related to his social conditions and the theme which is the inescapability of everyday life, as evidenced by the flower. The main points of your analysis would be:

Was Paul Learning Disabled? Could that have been part of his problem at school?

Paul committed suicide at the end of the story (and I guess at the end of his life too). Could it have been prevented?

Did Paul's father abuse him?

How did you feel about the ending of the story?

Were you surprised, shocked, or saddened?

Did you feel that the ending had to happen the way it did?

What other paths might Paul have taken?

Could he ignore Cordelia Street?

Could he change his social situation?

Could he solve his conflicts?

Could he change the social rules?

Process Introduction

Scenario

Paul lived with his father in Cordelia Street, a medium class neighborhood, where all the houses were the same. Paul was a high school student who did not have good grades in his classes. He based all his life on lies. After school, he worked as an usher at the Carnegie Hall. He enjoyed artist life and dreamed of it. Paul's father had abused him emotionally, and probably physically, throughout his life. He did so much to Paul's flagging self-image so Paul had to boast to others to feel big, while he was tiny inside. It would make the reader wonder if Paul's father had ever told Paul that he loved him, or maybe he just tears into Paul all the time, for every mistake he makes (which could be attributed to a learning disability, most of which were highly misunderstood at the time of the story).Paul's

teachers strongly disliked Paul, but couldn’t quite give a reason for his dislike. The

underlying reason for their dislike seemed to be that Paul was different. He was different from

the other students and different from the teachers, and they resented this. The teachers represented the general society, a society of similar people with middle-class ideals and goals, as well as expectations. This society, however, was xenophobic toward those who were different and unusual. His red carnation, as well as all his other mannerisms, belied this difference. Because of Paul's behavior, teachers and society concluded that there was "something wrong about the fellow." They set upon him mercilessly, but later feel ashamed when they cannot find a solid reason for such strong actions. They believed that he was different but they couldn’t explain where the difference consisted.

Paul's teachers didn't understand Paul and didn't understand his different learning methods or his abusive home life. They made Paul feel as if he were inferior to the other students, and that he was not worthy of their extra time for tutoring sessions, which only further discouraged Paul from wanting to learn. If they had understood his needs better, he may not have gotten into so much trouble in school. He might not have felt it was necessary to ignore and make fun of the teachers if they had made an effort to get to know him. Unfortunately though, they made Paul feel like an outsider, only stomping on his already small image of self-worth. Paul did not feel like the teachers gave him valuable moments of their time so he transposed that school was not worthy of his time, so he blew it off as soon as he could.

Process

You will work in groups where each student will have a specified role: recorder, presenter, observer. Each step of the process will be discussed within one class period following the 5 steps of Public Policy Analysis. Download/Print each page for each member in your group in order to follow along.

Public Policy Analysis: Defining the social problem

Worksheet1: Defining the Social Problem

In one or two sentences, state the nature of the social problem that your group plans to study. ______________________________________________________________________________________

  What is the specific community location of the social problem? Your answer should include both the governmental authority (e.g. school board, city council) and the particular geographic location (review Internet examples). ______________________________________________________________________________________

 List at least three undesirable social conditions that result from this problem:

1. ______________________________________________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________________________________________

  Write a short phrase that summarizes the social problem and its geopolitical location.  ______________________________________________________________________________________

Public Policy Analysis: Gathering evidence of the problem

Worksheet2: Gathering evidence of the problem

Your problem (phrase): __________________________________________________________

Present evidence that a problem exists. Be as specific as possible and cite at least one source of data

Public Policy Analysis: Identifying the cause of the problem

Worksheet3: Identifying the causes of the problem

Your problem (phrase): __________________________________________________________________________

Briefly list several underlying factors that contribute to the problem that you have identified (support these factors

with evidence

Public Policy Analysis: Identifying the cause of the problem

Worksheet4: Evaluating existing public policies

Public Policy Analysis: Developing public policy solutions

Resources

Internet

FAILING OUR CHILDREN: DHS IN CRISIS: Pictures Of Abused Kids Prove Point: More Help Needed

Prevent Child Abuse Nebraska - Kids Activity Page

Prevent Child Abuse America

Child Abuse TOC

Court Cases

Was Paul Learning Disabled?

Other Resources

Ø The Great American Short Stories (Part 2)

Ø The Movie “Paul’s Case”

Ø Graphic Organizer Software

Ø Dictionary

Evaluation

Students work will be evaluated based on the following rubric.

Score	1	2	3	4
PowerPoint knowledge Microsoft word	Shows no knowledge of the application	Little knowledge writes, change fonts	Insert and modifies graphics pictures,	Use animation video clips, sound
Public Policy Analysis	1-2 sources to support PPA	3-4 sources of data to analyze PPA	5-6 sources well organized to support PPA	7-8 exceptional resources to support PPA
References	No references	Few references relevant to PPA	Many references supporting PPA	Excellent and well incorporated references
Textbook & Internet resource	Does not use the book nor Internet	Use little information from the text	Specific information from text	Use text, software & Internet well

Conclusion

Paul was different and unable to change, he couldn’t bare his “nonsense” life. According to Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (C.H.A.D.D.) homepage, some of the symptoms of ADD include "(1) fidgeting with hands or feet, (2) appearing not to be listening to what is being said, (3) and doing things that are dangerous without thinking about the consequences." Paul was described as doing all three of these things within the first two pages of the story.

It is because Paul fit into so many of these categories, and the fact that Willa Cather was a teacher herself (where she probably saw quite a number of ADD or ADHD children even before the disorder was discovered), that I believe that Paul had Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder.

He needed help to surpass the difficulties. Society couldn’t & didn’t have the desire to understand him. He was rejected, so naturally the big fish eats the small fish.