Journal Entry: Response
Monday, January 27: Read: “College is a Waste of Time and Money” (Bird),
On Monday, January 27: I read Caroline Bird’s essay, College is a Waste of Time and Money, in which she evaluates the idea behind college and the reception of students regarding the institute. In Caroline Bird’s article, College is a waste of time and money; she claims college education is pointless as well as not typically desired by students within the institutions. In the essay, the author states that students attend since it is becoming a common thing to participate in due to its pleasing and pleasant environment. Further, Bird adds that to some college provides an avenue to get funding without working in occupations they do not like. Others go to college because of the pressure their parents put on them and the emphasis made on education. Subsequently, some reasons other students provide are not entirely related to the course they are engaged in or those organized by the colleges (Bird, 428). The author’s perspective is that majority of college students are never in college for the academic experience but a number of other reasons, primarily due to extremely commercialized universities. She continues further to suggest that college does not make some individuals smart, creative, content, or progressive, but she simply states that 75% of learners perceive colleges as a social environment as well as home or jail for teenagers and young adults. Also, the author observes that most of the students are pretty unhappy. Birds proceeds on asserting that college education is becoming weaker as time progresses by and also that the campuses and education have very little influence on the educational experience of learners.
The primary argument she presents is that the myth that someone is practically guaranteed to earn more income if they attend to college; however, in reality, due to the apparent expense of education and the slight relation between studying and the future achievement, it is probably financially sensible for one not to go to college. However, even though at some point the author makes plausible claims with the few aspects making a claim quite relatable, it might not appear reasonable to support the claim that college is a complete waste of time and resources. It is accurate that colleges have been highly commercialized and that the value of college has also risen considerably. It is also true that several learners are affected by the commercialization in terms of a college education. Another drawback in Bird’s claim is that although colleges do not specifically train someone in their potential career, it provides students lifetime skills, including reading, writing, communication skills, embracing and delivering positively and negatively reviews and criticism, presenting ideas distinctly and accurately, and listening skills among others.
Regardless of the evidence that colleges have become increasingly commercialized and costly, a college education may be a life-changing experience whenever the school environment is right, and the mentality of students is optimistic. Nevertheless, the evidence used by Bird is unreliable as its figures are obsolete since they date back to 1972. Today, I personally believe one is most likely to make more income with a college degree than high school education. There is a shortage of accessible employment due to recession, and finding a job can become very challenging. With a little more experience, obtaining employment is somewhat better than getting a job with just a high school diploma.
Monday, February 3: Read: “Learning to Read” (Douglass)
On Monday, February 3, Learning to Read and Write by Fredrick Douglas was my central reading for the day. In the article, the author evaluates the challenges that he faced as a slave, and the impact it had on his education. Having no formal instructor, the narrator had to learn how to read and write through unconventional ways. Fredrick Douglas faced a lot of challenges when he was growing as a child. From the essay, Fredrick’s predicament as a slave in a foreign land is seen. Therefore, the author was forced to deal with being a slave and also teaching himself reading and writing. The people who he had been working for all that time did not want him to get an education or learn anything. They knew very well that if he gets an education or gets a concept of learning could become a valuable person. For enslavers, slavery and education were not compatible (Douglas, 405).
In the text, the author experiences provide a scope on which one can learn more about the implications of slavery. As such, his resilience and willingness to learn, the challenges faced, and the ability to overcome are the main ideas that contributed to Fredrick’s interest in developing the claims he makes. In the article, the author evaluates the concept of domination and identifies it as having control or influence over someone, while resistance is refusing to be controlled and acting upon it. Douglass proclaims another side and defines these two terms in another perspective. His lifestyle and struggles have opened a deeper meaning for these two words. For example, based on “Learning to Read and Write,” domination is defined as an impact and struggle towards another person’s life. This is shown in the text and is given a clear image; a piece of evidence would be the treatment on Douglass’s due to his mistress and her chance in character. It’s quoted, “Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamb-like disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness.” (Douglas, 404). This clearly shows that other people’s impact can cause domination and can be reflected in society.
Another case that has been stated would be his knowledge of reading while reading a book called “The Columbian Orator” at age twelve, he discovered how slavery came to be. After discovering the truth, there was an enormous amount of pain and hatred towards his enslavers and had the desire of a nonexistent life. It’s stated, “I often found myself regretting my existence and wishing myself dead” (Douglas, 406), which is an assured example of domination having control over someone else life. By evaluating the concepts of domination and the impact it had on slavery and discussing the entities of history, the author was able to influence my interests towards understanding his point of view. In the article, the author begins narrating his personal experiences, and as a result, he provides evidence regarding his resistance to the compelling challenges of slavery. In the text, he begins and ends with the theme and idea of resilience; for example, it states, “I succeeded in learning to read and write” (Douglas, 404) in the beginning. In the end, he says, “after a long, tedious effort for years, I finally succeeded in learning how to write.” (Douglas, 408). These themes and the ability to coherently provide a vivid image of his struggles, the author was able to make his argument conceivable to my sensibilities.
Tuesday, February 18: Read: “Hidden Intellectualism” (Graff); and “Blue Collar Brilliance” (Rose).
On Tuesday, February 18, I read Gerald Graff and Mike Rose’s essays Hidden Intellectualism and Blue-Collar Brilliance, respectively. In these texts, both Rose and Graff employ their different experiences in education and aim at developing a similar central theme. The texts imply that street smarts, just like knowledge acquired from school, are important. They seem to lean on the claim that a person’s level of intelligence and the grades obtained in school does not define their abilities in the real world. Both authors stress that by identifying education as the only credible source of intelligence creates a sense of cultural divide that leaves the society at a disadvantage.
Going through school, education continues to facilitate only our educational qualifications, shaping us all into believing that depending on whether or not you comprehend the content being instructed influences how good your life will become. However, in the articles, the authors contradict this assumption. Graff in “Hidden Intellectualism” discusses on his interaction with education and how schools frequently consider street smarts acquired by children as defective in facilitating a better life, he states “what a waste, we think, that one who is so intelligent about so many things in life seems unable to apply that intelligence to academic work” (Graff 418). Street Smarts means that you’ve benefited about what has occurred to you directly and make the right choices based on the actual life situation.
Street Smarts implies that a person learned from what happened to them directly to make the appropriate decisions based on the actual reality. The most significant difference between becoming educationally smart and street smart the central concept of knowledge that one has. Graff says that believing that a child’s street smarts are not as relevant as academic smarts induce us to lose out on exploring their capacity. Graff explains his argument by thinking about how schools continue to expose students to studying content that does not really challenge them, leaving students lagging behind the tuned out academic text that they don’t comprehend or have no value in. This conceptualization of street smarts provided by the author engages my interests in understanding their perspective on the arguments.
Employment and the social background do not decide how intelligent an individual is, and having these thoughts places the society at a disadvantage. Mike Rose, in “Blue-Collar Brilliance,” discusses his mother, who had been a waitress in the 1950s. Roses’ mother was excellent at her work. She utilized the abilities she had learned to handle tasks, a knowledge that could not easily be practiced in a school, but by studying her setting and learning experiences. Rose says in his article, “If we think that whole categories of people identified by class or occupation are not that bright, then we reinforce social separation and cripple our ability to talk across cultural divides” (Rose 449). Therefore, these ideologies presented by the authors, and sharing personal experiences provide evidence on the value of street smarts in identifying intelligence. I concur with everything the authors’ claim since I can testify to the idea that high school doesn’t even equip anyone for the actual world. On some occasions, you can leave high school and obtain a profession that needs real-world experience that can’t be simply acquired from academics. Thus, one cannot describe their competence with the scores they receive after a very challenging end of semester exam, but do not challenge the competence of anybody who earns a livelihood by attempting to use something they have learned in school.
Monday, February 24: Read: “The Sanctuary of School” (Barry);
On Monday, February 24, read The Sanctuary of School by Lynda Barry in which the author evaluates the education system. In the narrative “The Sanctuary of School” exemplifies a subtle use of personal experience to draw attention to the deterioration of public schools in the United States. She describes a situation she’s been through and the role that her particular school played in making her life better. Barry also depicts her story through multiple uses of pathos and other literary devices. The narrative effectively held my interest through Barry’s excellent way of connecting her personal experience to the reader. The author starts her narration with a strong personal connection; private information makes the reader feel something, which holds interest and creates a tie between the reader and the story. “I was 7 years old the first time I snuck out of the house in the dark, it was winter, and my parents had been fighting all night” (Barry 414). This sentence introduces the narrative; after reading this, multiple questions arise, bringing the reader’s interest to a peak. Questions like, “Why is a seven-year-old sneaking out, and does she make it somewhere safe, or does this story take a turn for the worse?” Barry does an excellent job of bringing the reader into the story just through the first couple of sentences.
Barry uses pathos to continue a personal connection and illustrate a new argument on the depreciation of public schools. In today’s society, schools are continuing to cut before and after school programs, and creative classes are always the first to go. “If parents are neglectful temporarily or permanently, for whatever reason, it’s certainly sad, but their unlucky children must fend for themselves. Or slip through the cracks. Or wander in a dark night alone” (Barry 415). Barry was in this situation but always had school to turn to. Imagine what could have happened to her if that wasn’t the case. This portrays a whole new point in the matter of this country needing to step up and realize the necessity of certain things in school.
The author also makes generalizations in the text through a powerful analogy to round the narrative and complete it with a lasting point. “Children across the country do it faithfully, I wonder now when the country will face its children and say a pledge right back” (Barry 416). This statement is calling for the country to improve the education system for children all over the United States that desperately need it. This particular part of the narrative is somewhat vague, but the point is clear, Barry is looking for improvement in the public school system. It’s a call to action for any person that reads her story, looking for the reader to feel something, and in turn, want to do something about it.
By using different figurative language elements and a concise and transparent flow of events in her narration, Barry achieves the acquisition of a reader’s interest and sensibilities. She also makes her arguments credible and relatable to, by simply providing a personal narration. Barry exemplifies great literary techniques through her use of personal information throughout the narrative, pathos creating an emotional connection between her and the reader, and a powerful analogy that leaves the reader interested and pondering about the topic at hand. Barry does a great job of instilling interest in the reader, and because of this, it’s clearly understood what she’s aiming to portray through her words.
Works Cited
Bird, Caroline. “College Is a Waste of Time and Money.” 1975. The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction. Ed. Melissa A. Goldthwaite et al. 14th Ed. New York: Norton, 2016. 428–36. Print.
Barry, Lynda. “The Sanctuary of School.” 1992. The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction. Ed. Melissa A. Goldthwaite et al. 14th Ed. New York: Norton, 2016. 414–17. Print.
Graff, Gerald. “Hidden Intellectualism.” 2003. The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction. Ed. Melissa A. Goldthwaite et al. 14th ed. New York: Norton, 2016. 418–22. Print.
Rose, Mike. “Blue-Collar Brilliance.” 2009. The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction. Ed. Melissa A. Goldthwaite et al. 14th ed. New York: Norton, 2016. 449–56. Print.