"The Case Against College"

I thought this was an interesting article because it is an extremely relivant topic to all of us since we are all attending college with the hope that it will improve our career opportunities in the future. The article made some interesting points, which made me question and remember things I have heard about getting a college degree. Today, almost everyone attends college after high school, even if they have no direction or desire for a particular degree. In fact, this is so true that in most fields you cannot even get a good career with just a bachelor's degree. This defiantly makes you question the purpose and necessity of attending college. While I was reading this article I was thinking about all the successful people I have learned about who dropped out of college to follow their passions in life. One example of this is Bill Gates. I think an interesting point made in the article was about how going to college limits people's freedoms because after college people must immediately start working because they have so much debt from loans they took out in order to pay for their education. I think this is an unfair argument. Although it is true that many people graduate and must start paying back massive amounts of debt, if a person did not go to college, he or she would also have to start working immediately. Things like food, rent, and all other living expenses aren't exactly free. In addition, a college degree makes a person qualified for a wider variety of jobs. I don't think that having a college degree necessarily guarantees a financially successful future, but I do think it helps.

Essentialism

According to dictionary.com, essentialism is a noun for "a doctrine that certain traditional concepts, ideals, and skills are essential to society and should be taught methodically to all students, regardless of individual ability." Essentialism is a main topic covered in Bell Hook's writing. Hooks talks about how experience is important to teaching, but knowledge is also essential. One of my favorite quotations from this piece is, "I might ask students to ponder what we want to make happen in the class, to name what we hope to know, what might be most useful. I ask them what standpoint might, just for today, be a mountaintop, such that if we climb it, we will be able to see farther. Sometimes that standpoint is a personal experience. Then there are times when personal experience keeps us from reaching the mountaintop and so we let it go because the weight is too heavy." This quotation is special because it summarizes Hook's main point that knowledge should be gained through education and personal experience, in a metaphorical way.

"How to Do a Close Reading" response

I thought it was interesting how this article gave you the definition of a close reading and then gave you a short passage to read. By breaking down the parts of the passage, the article helps the reader realize what things he should be looking out for while reading. For example, the article describes many different literary devises that are used in the passage: metaphor (spider's web becomes a universe), personification (the spider has human qualities: "owner," "fingering her guidelines"), and diction (of the western setting- "gulch," "arroyo," "buffalo grass.") Then the article tells the reader to ask questions about the patterns in the passage. I think this is a very helpful tool in looking at small details in depth and coming to a conculusion about what the passage as a whole means (inductive reasoning). Then, the article tells you one interperatation of the passage: "Eiseley is suggesting that our universie is also finite, that our ideas are circumscribed, and that beyond the limits of our universe there might be phenomena as fully beyond our ken." This is a pretty detailed conclusion that shows the reader where each part of it came from. For example, the article shows how the word "circumscribed" is used in the passage: "The spider was circumscribed by spider ideas." This shows the reader the meaning of the connection between our ideas and the spider's ideas.

"China's Rise isn't our Demise"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/opinion/chinas-rise-isnt-our-demise.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

I read this article, by Vice President Joe Biden, about the growing concern for China becoming a more major world power and its negative impact on the United States. In the article, Biden clearly tries to discredit all reasons why citizens should be concerned about China's increasing power. He mostly discredits it because of economics reasons. Mainly that the United States is not really in debt financially to China. He states, "China holds just 8 percent of [the United states'] outstanding Treasury securities." Another important claim he makes is that the United States has a competitive edge over China with regards to the labor force's skills. He states, "In the 20th century, we measured a nation’s wealth primarily by its natural resources, its land mass, its population and its army. In the 21st century, the true wealth of a nation is found in the creative minds of its people and their ability to innovate." He continues to remark about the United State's educational system to be far superior to China's. I thought this was an interesting remark; especially because in class we have been focusing on educational reform. Sir Ken Robinson's video ("Changing Education Paradigms") gave a strong argument that the United State's educational system is very outdated and not suited for the current economy. Robinson also strongly argued that our current education system does not develop these "creative minds" that Biden suggests. This is interesting because Biden is saying almost the complete opposite in his article. Biden is saying how the United State's education is what is helping us keep up and stay a world power over upcoming powerful countries.

"The American Scholar" #2

One interesting paragraph I found in this section of "The American Scholar" is the one that begins with, "These being his functions, it becomes him to feel all confidence in himself..." I thought this paragraph was interesting because it talked about the way mankind is so similar and that one can relate to generations past. Emerson sates, "The world at any moment is the merest appearance. Some great decorum, some fetish of a government, some ephemeral trade, or war, or man..." This is saying that even though events that are currently happening seem like new news, they may not need so much attention because it is just a spec of history in the long run. Furthermore, he states, "He then learns, that in going down into the secrets of his own mind, he has descended into the secrets of all minds. He learns that he who has mastered any law in his private thoughts, is master to that extent in all men whose language he speaks, ad of all into whose language his own can be translated." Essentially, Emerson is stating that once a scholar has mastered learning from within, he can find truths about all of mankind, or as Emerson calls it "universal truth." Later in the passage, Emerson states, "Brave; for fear is a thing, which a scholar by his very function puts behind him. Fear always springs from ignorance. It is a shame to him if his tranquility, amid dangerous times, arise from the presumption, that, like children and women, his is a protected class." This comment would probably strike the attention of many 21st century scholars because it suggests that women are not part of this "protected class" and are fearsome and ignorant. The word choice would probably be different if a modern day Emerson wrote this because of the feminist movement becoming more prevalent in literature.

"The American Scholar"

One challenging passage in "The American Scholar" is the part about the second great influence on scholars. This influence is the "mind of the past," which can many times be represented in books. Emerson states, "It came into him, life; it went out from him, truth. It came to him, short-lived actions; it went out from him, immortal thoughts." In this quotation, the author is showing that wisdom and knowledge can be derived from reading certain books. The word "immortal" is especially important diction because it shows that what is gained from reading is so powerful that it is not even at human's level. Emerson states, "As no air-pump can by any means make a perfect vacuum" to show the faults with just reading. The importance of reading books is to promote thinking, not to just agree with what past scholars have written. In fact, Emerson states, "Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views, which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books." These meek people are not taking advantage of the information they are reading and are just believing what other well-known scholars have proclaimed without ever expanding on the concepts themselves. Emerson calls these people "bookworms." This is how he shows the faults with books and how "books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst." He also describes the "active soul," or an active thinker, as one of the most valuable things a scholar can be. Books are supposed to inspire scholars to have this "active soul" by giving them complex concepts to think about and the ability to "invent" new theories or concepts.