My Student Papers
This page contains old papers written while I was a student, as well as some notes on them that provide context. I find them still interesting, so you may as well, especially since you found your way here despite there being no menu button!
Virashaivism
A Note about the Virashaivism paper by Kathleen C. Bailey
This note is being written in 2025 by the author now looking back at her school paper written circa 1968. Keep in mind that it was written way before the Internet made research easy and there was no artificial intelligence tool to correct one's grammar or streamline prose. Also, there was no spellcheck and no computer to make typing easier. The paper was painstakingly typed by me on a portable typewriter that weighed a ton in an academic setting in which typographical errors could count against one's grade.
Here is the context. As an early teen, I thought about how inequalities were established and perpetrated by institutions. An example of this from my own limited-view life was sports in high school. There were school teams for boys—tennis, baseball, basketball, football—but none whatsoever for us young ladies. The boys had uniforms, tours to other venues, parties and cookouts, practices, celebrations, etc. I looked on in envy and wondered why it would be so.
Before high school graduation, I had begun to think about how society might be changed to give us girls an equal shot at resources, fun, and success. I knew it had to involve a mindset change, but I wasn't sure how to do that. Ideology, religion, philosophy—these might hold the key. So I decided that I would study philosophy when I got to university to see if there was somehow a framework for change using ideas and how they are propagated.
One of the first courses I took about other cultures was one on the history of India, which taught me about the caste system in India. I was appalled. Here I was lamenting that females do not have an equal shot at improvement and success, while the Hindu religion was telling its people that they will never have any chance to go beyond the limits and strictures of the caste into which they were born.
I wondered why Indians did not rebel and throw off the religion that was implementing the caste system. I learned that some had tried. One attempt was made by a philosopher, Basava, in the 12th century, with the teachings of Virashaivism. The monotheistic tradition taught that temple idols shouldn't be worshiped. Instead, only the linga, a symbolic icon that all people could own, should be worn to signify the element of god within each person. Thus, it would undermine the power not only of the temples with their multiple gods and idols, but also the coterie of priests who used caste as a tool of power.
I decided that I would write one of my class papers on Virashaivism. Although the paper is not erudite or particularly well-written, I still find it interesting reading. If you have a look, keep in mind that it is supposed to be a history paper, not one on philosophy or how repression works.
This note is being written in 2025 by the author now looking back at her school paper written circa 1968. Keep in mind that it was written way before the Internet made research easy and there was no artificial intelligence tool to correct one's grammar or streamline prose. Also, there was no spellcheck and no computer to make typing easier. The paper was painstakingly typed by me on a portable typewriter that weighed a ton in an academic setting in which typographical errors could count against one's grade.
Here is the context. As an early teen, I thought about how inequalities were established and perpetrated by institutions. An example of this from my own limited-view life was sports in high school. There were school teams for boys—tennis, baseball, basketball, football—but none whatsoever for us young ladies. The boys had uniforms, tours to other venues, parties and cookouts, practices, celebrations, etc. I looked on in envy and wondered why it would be so.
Before high school graduation, I had begun to think about how society might be changed to give us girls an equal shot at resources, fun, and success. I knew it had to involve a mindset change, but I wasn't sure how to do that. Ideology, religion, philosophy—these might hold the key. So I decided that I would study philosophy when I got to university to see if there was somehow a framework for change using ideas and how they are propagated.
One of the first courses I took about other cultures was one on the history of India, which taught me about the caste system in India. I was appalled. Here I was lamenting that females do not have an equal shot at improvement and success, while the Hindu religion was telling its people that they will never have any chance to go beyond the limits and strictures of the caste into which they were born.
I wondered why Indians did not rebel and throw off the religion that was implementing the caste system. I learned that some had tried. One attempt was made by a philosopher, Basava, in the 12th century, with the teachings of Virashaivism. The monotheistic tradition taught that temple idols shouldn't be worshiped. Instead, only the linga, a symbolic icon that all people could own, should be worn to signify the element of god within each person. Thus, it would undermine the power not only of the temples with their multiple gods and idols, but also the coterie of priests who used caste as a tool of power.
I decided that I would write one of my class papers on Virashaivism. Although the paper is not erudite or particularly well-written, I still find it interesting reading. If you have a look, keep in mind that it is supposed to be a history paper, not one on philosophy or how repression works.
A Look at the Literati from the Sung to the Ming
A Note on the paper on Chinese Literati at the end of the Sung Dynasty by Kathleen Bailey
One of the topics I found interesting was the use of the examination system in China to create a set of men whose knowledge base was similar and whose training had inculcated a set of behavioral norms. These men, whose thoughts and performances were sculpted by intense training, could then be depended upon to fulfill the objectives and interests of the rulers.
At the time of writing this paper, I was thinking about the role of recluses and philosophers who might reject the rigidity engendered by that exam system. And in that setting, I tried to consider the changes over time in the prevalent philosophical base of religion.
In re-reading the paper, I can see that I tried to fit too many pieces of a puzzle together without consideration of whether all those pieces were actually from the same puzzle. While I think I was asking many useful questions, my structuring of a framework for answering them is a failure. If I ever have idle time, I might go back and write the paper again with the benefit of a half-century's experience behind me.
One of the topics I found interesting was the use of the examination system in China to create a set of men whose knowledge base was similar and whose training had inculcated a set of behavioral norms. These men, whose thoughts and performances were sculpted by intense training, could then be depended upon to fulfill the objectives and interests of the rulers.
At the time of writing this paper, I was thinking about the role of recluses and philosophers who might reject the rigidity engendered by that exam system. And in that setting, I tried to consider the changes over time in the prevalent philosophical base of religion.
In re-reading the paper, I can see that I tried to fit too many pieces of a puzzle together without consideration of whether all those pieces were actually from the same puzzle. While I think I was asking many useful questions, my structuring of a framework for answering them is a failure. If I ever have idle time, I might go back and write the paper again with the benefit of a half-century's experience behind me.