College entrance essays no place to explore angst

Q. I read your [recent column about choosing a subject] for the college essay. Is it possible to choose a topic that's too controversial or too personal? I was thinking about writing about a friend's suicide attempt and how it really affected my views and beliefs. Do you think this essay could work? How should I approach the subject?

Anonymous, Marshfield

A. Though there's value in finding words for your reaction to your friend's struggles, the college essay is not the place to take on a subject as complex, chilling, and unknowable as attempted suicide. A personal journal or a letter to a trusted friend, parent, or mentor is a more appropriate and less confining place to express the tangle of thoughts and conflicting emotions doubtlessly provoked by the near-tragedy you mention.

It's easy to understand why you and many teens are drawn to moments that exact a psychic toll, particularly when colleges ask for a defining moment. Yet it's possible for a personal statement to be too personal.

Each year I've had to walk a fine line with students who've wanted to write about intimate matters, such as discovering their true sexual orientation or revealing a struggle with depression. I applaud their courage and candor, but ask that they step back and consider the audience and objective of the college essay.

You want to demonstrate both accomplishment and potential with originality, modesty, wit, and acuity. Tales of besting adversity can work well. Tales of existential despair, however, can appear as a red flag to admissions committees, many of which are increasingly concerned about their prospective students' state of mind. One need not relay a dark night of the soul to reveal a promising quality or talent.

Most important, make sure your friend has sought help for his struggles. Speak with a parent or guidance counselor about locating resources. Do not keep the matter a secret. It is friendship, not betrayal, to help someone contemplating suicide.

Q. Do you have any ideas on how to use this presidential race in your English classes?

A.M., Boston

A. The debates should provide an ideal opportunity to discuss with students the art and artifice of words intended to persuade another: rhetoric, a subject they're formally introduced to in freshman year when reading Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar."

We'll look at the way that written remarks differ from the spontaneity of the spoken word. With the freshman, I'll stick to the basics of rhetorical style: tone, diction, allusion, humor, understatement, transitions, illustrative evidence, euphemism, and hyperbole.

My seniors and I will read Orwell's timeless "Politics and the English Language" and James Fallows' "Rhetorical Questions," an autopsy of the primary season's debates published in September's Atlantic Monthly.

We'll continue to weigh a language conundrum embodied by George W. Bush throughout his presidency: ineloquence as evidence of sincerity, folksiness, and humility. How and why has the privileged president fashioned himself as a simple-talking man of the people whose "gut" we should trust? What are the consequences and appeal of his blunt, reductive phrasings of complex issues? Is there a place for nuanced expression in our national dialogue? Why do some critics disparage Obama's measured oratory as elitism or pretty emptiness? Is McCain's self-christening as a "straight-talker" warranted or an attempt to emulate the sitting president?

Meanwhile, we'll keep in mind Orwell's thoughts on manipulation of the masses as we look at the way various media spin the spinners in their coverage of the debates.

Debate will beget debate, I hope, among students sharing their analyses of the candidates' rhetoric with classmates. All the while, we'll keep in mind the importance of distinguishing knowledge from opinion.

Chat with Ron this tomorrow at noon on Boston.com

Ron Fletcher teaches English at Boston College High. To submit a question, email rfletcher@bchigh.edu. Include your name, town, and email address. Questions, upon request, can be printed anonymously. Ask the Teacher runs on alternate Sundays with Campus Insider, a roundup of higher education items.