Society views college as the door way to success. However, many people fail to realize the same effort put into college also needs application after or failure starts creeping in from the side. Anna Chinero, a recent graduate, moved back home after failing to find a job. Chinero concludes her article, “Elevated by the Train”, by expressing, “instead of always looking out toward somewhere else, I’m beginning to look around here, wondering how I can make this neighborhood the better place my parents always sought for me.” Many graduates, like Ana, loose direction in attempting to achieve their dreams they possessed entering college.
Selena is a movie that expresses the life and career of Selena Quintanilla, a major figure in Tejano music. Selena was not only an adored star in the American Southwest but also in Mexico. The movie focuses on Selena's relationship with her family, her fame, and also dealing with the establishment of her own musical identity. While her heritage is Mexican-American, her primary language is English, and secondary language is Spanish. She still has a dream to be able to express herself in both languages along with both cultures.
I choose to respond to “The Speech Graduates Didn’t Hear”. This essay has several different parts but has the same underline idea, college graduates and students within the past fifty years have not been receiving a proper college education and experience to ready them for when they enter the work force. That college students do not so much earn their grades as hope and wish for them, at which point the professor obliges. Additionally, the author states that colleges are not longer teaching students what they require to succeed in their chosen careers. Beginning with the first several paragraphs of the essay, “The Speech Graduates Didn’t Hear”, the author Jacob Neusner, states that they are teaching students for a world that does not exist.
Alfred Lubrano the author of “the shock of Education: How college Corrupts” explains the differences and difficulties of what students can go through while they are in college. Lubrano says that when a student arrives at college, they lose their connection to their families. This is due to the extreme workload put on the student by the professors they don’t have the time to really chat with their parents like they used to when they lived at home. Also if there is an enormous distance gap where the students go to college and where their parents live it may create that sense like they don’t know each other anymore. I agree do with Alfred that college students change once they go to college they start grow apart from their families.
1a:“College is a singular opportunity to rummage through and luxuriate in ideas, to give your brain a vigorous workout and your soul a thorough investigation, to realize how very large the world is and to contemplate your desired place in it. And that’s being lost in the admissions mania, which sends the message that college is a sanctum to be breached — a border to be crossed — rather than a land to be inhabited and tilled for all that it’s worth. ”(Bruni 10) 1b: This passage, which is included in the final pages of Bruni’s introduction, helps define both his thoughts on the purpose of college and, at the same time, why he believes the rapidly increasing focus on college admissions is a problem.
While the ever increasing pressures and cost of a college education seem to be a recent event, they problems have persisted for many decades. In 1979, William Zinsser wrote “College Pressures” in order to portray the daily struggles of college students and argue how students see college differently in the modern era. Zinsser stresses how college has changed from being an institute purely focused on higher learning to one of almost strictly vocational purposes. He argues that modern students equate college degrees more with higher paying jobs than as a symbol of knowledge in a specific field, and that these pressures to succeed greatly impact the student’s health. Through my own college experiences, I can certainly verify that college is more
“College in America” Caroline Bird thinks that a college education may not be the best choice for all high school students because college education does not bring about social equality, it does not benefit them financially, and it is not guaranteed that college will lead them to an elite profession. First of all, high school students are expected to bring about social equality through four rigorous years in college. However, college is an expensive way to categorize the highs and lows in society. It is pressuring to younger students to pursue a higher education that only a few could achieve, and is also difficult for them to established an identity in society. Second, a college education does not benefit the youth financially because it is
The Greek Philosopher Aristotle identified “The years between puberty and age twenty-one as the formative time for mind and character.” It was customary for young Greek men to attend a series of lectures that resembled our notion of a college “course”(Delbanco 36). Aristotle is a believer of education and the power it has on the development of the young mind. Likewise, he believes college is a place to establish one’s character. Caroline Bird’s essay, “Where College Fails Us,” definitely does not correlate with the opinion of Aristotle.
Throughout the essay, Charles Murray stresses the idea that college is the wonderland of finding oneself and to find the career that one would want to follow for the rest of their lives. “College is seen as the open sesame to a good job and a desirable way for adolescents to transition to adulthood. Neither reason is as persuasive as it first appears.” Murray, C (2008) Practically spoken, this is not normally the case. College is a fair amount of work, much more work than one would normally acquire through any course of a high school or secondary school setting.
A large part of college and education is personal growth. As source B shows, education helps in years after graduation for it helps address problems and potential, and we learn and experience freedom. College has a major impact on how we think, feel, and act, and as shown in Source B, it can only improve our lives. In addition, source B says that we need to be “agents of change” and “become innovators and productive risk takers.” However, this improvement of yourself and bettering the world, can only be accomplished by first attending college.
In Chapter Seven: Lessons From My Year as a Freshman, Rebekah Nathan summarizes and answers questions on the knowledge she gained from becoming a freshman. The author begins the chapter with a cross-cultural conversation between professors and students. She discusses how professors are not aware of the students living conditions or the effort that goes into achieving a high GPA. Likewise, the students do not understand professor rank and advancement.
How can our first year of high school have a good start for the rest of our four years? The article was written by Meghan Miller “An Open Letter To High School Freshmen” is one of the few articles that will help us in a lot of ways in high school. Asking specific questions will help us learn and the teacher knows in what things she should improve as of teaching. We should have in mind that teachers care in the way that we improve our learning and we mentally prepare for it. We should not be afraid of standing up for ourselves and what we believe in.
College is one of the most significant times in a person’s life. Every year high school kids will visit many different colleges so that they can be confident in their college decision. Some kids will follow in their parent’s foot steps and base their decision on where their mom or dad went, though, not all kids are fortunate to have help from their parents. Many kids nowadays may be the first in their family to take on higher education. The article, “First Generation College Students: Unprepared and Behind” by Liz Riggs explains that kids who are the first in their family to take on college are at a disadvantage compared to kids with parents who attended college.
Year Round Schools 80% of students between ages six through seventeen say that they get bored or run out of things to do over the course a long summer break. It recently has been debated on whether schools should have a long summer break, or year long school with several breaks. Most schools currently have school August through May, with a two month break for summer in between. The new proposal would require school to last all year with a shortened summer break, longer winter break, and a week long break in the spring and fall. Schools should be year-round because it’s easier for students to retain information, more spread out breaks, and students are more likely to get better grades.
It has taken many years for people in society to break out of the norms and expectations of how to grow up and live in the world. A huge factor in this “revolution”: attending college. Whether it is taking a gap year to discover the world and the waiting opportunities, or simply running with it all after high school to work, attending college isn’t considered a given anymore. Now not all cases are the same for every person, therefore they can only decide what is the best path for them after high school. Still, the benefits of a being a college graduate will never be diminished.
