The Right Reasons

In today’s world, going to college and obtaining a degree is something that is necessary to succeed in the work place.  More and more jobs are requiring a degree of some type.  However, there are some people who are criticizing this and the educational system as a whole.  In an article titled, “The Case Against College” by Dale Stephens, the main focus is on how getting a degree should not be the only thing necessary to get a job.  He is pushing for a movement of uncolleging.  Stephens says that people should not go to college since it is expensive and unnecessary to get a degree.  Instead people should go out in the world and seek real experience.   He also states that “Creativity is innate — the problem is that schools kill creativity.” 

In my opinion, Dale Stephens has some good points but on others is way off.  I agree that school is not putting an emphasis on creativity and therefore killing it.   I also agree that going to college can be very expensive especially if you don’t receive any financial aid or scholarships.  There is a degree-saturated society we live in.  Many jobs are requiring a degree whether it is a two year degree or a four year degree.  However, I think that not going to college is not going to help anything.  By obtaining a degree, you are making others see that you value your education and want to advance in the world.  I don’t think that schools are the only ones who are killing creativity.  The schools are controlled by the state, which make the decisions regarding the educational system.  I conclude that by going to college, your creativity is able to expand.  You are able to take courses that will allow you to do a job you want and allow you to experience a whole new world and many new things. 

Dale Stephens falsely believes that school is the only thing killing student’s creativity.  He states that school is killing creativity because public education hasn’t changed since its original purpose; “to train factory workers in the industrial revolution.”  That is not the case; schools are forced to teach to the standards of the state.  For example, New York State has the Regents exams.  To determine how well schools are doing, the state looks at how the students scored on these tests.  Students take these exams as early as eighth grade.  Students are only being taught things that the state thinks are important and the things that are likely to be on these tests.  Since the states are trying to control what the teachers have to teach, they are not able to really teach what they want.  They want to let us be creative and allow us to do fun things.  The teacher’s have a labor union where they try to talk to the state about their issues, but sometimes they go unheard.  If the states didn’t put so much emphasis on having to raise standards, teachers would be able to let their creative side show and allow students to be creative. 

Contrary to Stephens believe, by not going to college, your creativity is not going to just come back.  Going to college can help make someone more creative.  There are many opportunities for internships and to meet new people. Going to college is a major life change for people.  They are experiencing all new things.  At college, there are many different kinds of people and new events one goes through.  At college, the state doesn’t have any testing to see where you place on their scale. Colleges do have to teach students in order to pass exams geared towards their major.  However, this is different from public education because the college isn’t as restricted on how they can teach.  They know what they have to teach but can do it in many different ways.  This is also different from public education because students need to pass these exams.  If someone is going to take a test to become a nurse, this is a critical test.  If they don’t pass it and just become a nurse, they could kill someone.  The state doesn’t have to worry about this with children in say seventh grade.   

Stephens says that after college students find jobs to just pay off loans and not start companies, but not everyone can be as lucky as Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg.  He states that the average college student is going to graduate with about $25,000 in debt and that after college the students are “forced to find a job to pay off that debt instead of being allowed to take the time to start companies or projects.”  There is nothing stopping anyone from starting a company or a project.  Americans are in debt from more than just college.  The average American debt is over $10,000 and they still start their own businesses. Just because students have debt doesn’t mean that they will not follow their dreams.  If they really want to start something, then they will. The fact is though that many new businesses fail, 9 out of 10 new businesses fail within the first two years.  Even if people started businesses after college, the majority of them would fail, leaving the person in even more debt. 

If students would take advantage of scholarships out there, the debt would be lowered.  There could be an answer to how to have the average student debt lowered.  In high school, everyone has to take all of the STEM classes.  By the time high school is completed, students are done with having to take classes that they know will not help them in their futures.  Then they go to college and realize that they still have to take the STEM classes.  They thought they would be done with them, but they are wrong.  College students are paying for classes that they know will not help.  They have to put extra time and energy into these classes.  Instead of being able to take classes geared towards their majors, they are stuck with boring classes they hate.  If colleges were to eliminate some general education courses, students might be able to finish college a year sooner.  If that was the case, students would reduce their debt by a great portion.  Some classes in high school that offer AP credit can help a student reduce their number of general education courses.  However, some high schools might not offer the exact AP credit for the college’s requirement because AP exams are not a standard for all high schools.  In most cases, for AP credit you have to get either a 4 or 5 for it to count for general education credit. 

Dale Stephens has a point to some degree when he says that going out and experiencing the world is better than going to college.  He says that having a mentor and only taking college courses when you want to is good.  I think that having a mentor would be helpful.  Having someone who has gone through something and is willing to help you is good. Certain professions such as a baker could do this.  A baker could learn from a mentor and go to college and take courses they want.  However, what if that baker was like many typical college students and didn’t really know if he really wanted to be a baker?  He should go to college and try to figure that out.  Maybe he could have an internship as a baker, but still attend college to see if being a baker is his passion.  Besides the fact that more professions require a degree than not, taking away all new opportunities. I think that learning from a mentor is very beneficial, but that should not be the only way to learn.  While in college there are many internships available, if people are serious about learning from a mentor, they should do an internship.  That way they get the best of both worlds, they are still in college and learning from an experienced person in their profession. 

As Dale Stephens stated “the bank can repossess your house, but they can’t repossess your degree.”  If he says this then why is he against obtaining college degrees?  Obtaining a degree is a way to stay competitive and get the job you really want.  Not going to college is not the answer to help people.  This uncollege movement is not going to help anyone.  If colleges and school systems could be reformed, the problems would solve themselves.  If the states didn’t have mandates the public schools were forced to follow, teachers could teach how they wanted to and creativity would flourish.  If colleges didn’t make students take general education courses, they would finish college sooner and have less debt.  Going to college is not the only path to take in order to become successful but obtaining a degree is helpful in becoming successful.  Sometimes you are going to need a degree depending on what you want to have as a future job.  Dale Stephens makes good points but not going to college is not going to help anybody. 

           

Argument Templates

I think that the templates are somewhat useful.  They allow others to follow your point you are trying to make.  However, I think that following them word for word is not helpful but using the general idea of them is.

Assignment 4

In today’s world, going to college and obtaining a degree is something that is necessary to succeed in the work place.  More and more jobs are requiring a degree of some type.  However, there are some people who are criticizing this and the educational system as a whole.  In an article titled, “The Case Against College” by Dale Stephens, the main focus is on how getting a degree should not be the only thing necessary to get a job.  He is pushing for a movement of uncolleging.  Stephens says that people should not go to college since it is expensive and unnecessary to get a degree.  Instead people should go out in the world and seek real experience.   He also states that “Creativity is innate — the problem is that schools kill creativity.” 

In my opinion, Dale Stephens has some good points but on others is way off.  I agree that school is not putting an emphasis on creativity and therefore killing it.   I also agree that going to college can be very expensive especially if you don’t receive any financial aid or scholarships.  There is a degree-saturated society we live in.  Many jobs are requiring a degree whether it is a two year degree or a four year degree.  However, I think that not going to college is not going to help anything.  By obtaining a degree, you are making others see that you value your education and want to advance in the world.  I don’t think that schools are the only ones who are killing creativity.  The schools are controlled by the state, which make the decisions regarding the educational system.  I conclude that by going to college, your creativity is able to expand.  You are able to take courses that will allow you to do a job you want and allow you to experience a whole new world and many new things. 

Dale Stephens states that school is killing creativity because public education hasn’t changed since its original purpose; “to train factory workers in the industrial revolution.”  I disagree that public education kills creativity.  Schools are forced to teach to the standards of the state.  For example, New York State has the Regents exams.  To determine how well schools are doing, the state looks at how the students scored on these tests.  Students are only being taught things that the state thinks are important.  Teachers are not able to really deviate from this.  Teachers don’t want to teach the same old boring things.  They want to let us be creative and allow us to do fun things.  By not going to college, it is not going to help magically make your creativity come back.  Going to college can help make someone more creative.  Going to college is a major life change for people.  They are experiencing all new things.  At college, there are many different kinds of people and new events one goes through.  At college, the state has no mandates that colleges must follow.  College professors can teach a class however they want.  They are able to be creative and thus so are students.    

Dale Stephens states that the average college student is going to graduate with about $25,000 in debt and that after college the students are “forced to find a job to pay off that debt instead of being allowed to take the time to start companies or projects.”  There is nothing stopping anyone from starting a company or a project.  Americans are in debt from more than just college.  The average American debt is over $10,000 and they still start their own businesses. Just because students have debt doesn’t mean that they will not follow their dreams.  If they really want to start something, then they will.  Also if students would take advantage of scholarships out there, the debt would be lowered.  There could be an answer to how to have the average student debt lowered.  In high school, everyone has to take all of the STEM classes.  By the time high school is completed, students are done with having to take classes that they know will not help them in their futures.  Then they go to college and realize that they still have to take the STEM classes.  They thought they would be done with them, but they are wrong.  College students are paying for classes that they know will not help.  They have to put extra time and energy into these classes.  Instead of being able to take classes geared towards their majors, they are stuck with boring classes they hate.  If colleges were to eliminate some general education courses, students might be able to finish college a year sooner.  If that was the case, students would reduce their debt by a great portion.  Some classes in high school that offer AP credit can help a student reduce their number of general education courses.  However, some high schools might not offer the exact AP credit for the college’s requirement because AP exams are not a standard for all high schools.  In most cases, for AP credit you have to get either a 4 or 5 for it to count for general education credit. 

Dale Stephens says that going out and experiencing the world is better than going to college.  He says that having a mentor and only taking college courses when you want to is good.  I think that having a mentor would be helpful.  Having someone who has gone through something and is willing to help you is good.  However, certain professions require you to go to college and not just learn from a mentor.  You wouldn’t want a surgeon telling you that they only took classes they wanted to and learned from a mentor.  That surgeon would most likely kill someone and no one would ever go to him.  Certain professions such as a baker could do this.  A baker could learn from a mentor and go to college and take courses they want.  More professions though would require more than just a mentor.  A surgeon, a doctor, an architect are some that would require a degree.  No one would travel on a bridge if they knew that an architect learned how to build a bridge from a mentor and never took any college classes. 

As Dale Stephens stated “the bank can repossess your house, but they can’t repossess your degree.”  If he says this then why is he against obtaining college degrees?  Obtaining a degree is a way to stay competitive and get the job you really want.  Not going to college is not the answer to help people.  This uncollege movement is not going to help anyone.  If colleges and school systems could be reformed, the problems would solve themselves.  If the states didn’t have mandates the public schools were forced to follow, teachers could teach how they wanted to and creativity would flourish.  If colleges didn’t make students take general education courses, they would finish college sooner and have less debt.  Going to college is not the only path to take in order to become successful but obtaining a degree is helpful in becoming successful.  Sometimes you are going to need a degree depending on what you want to have as a future job.  Dale Stephens makes good points but not going to college is not going to help anybody.

Template

The general argument made by Dale Stephens in his work, "The Case Against College," is that people should not go to college because it is practically useless in today's society and also creates a large debt. More specifically, Stephens argues that college kills creativity. He writes, "The problem is that schools kill creativity." In this passage, Stephens is suggesting that people should avoid going to college and should create their own educational experience in the real world. In conclusion, Stephens's belief is that college has become overrated because of today's degree-saturated society, the cost, and the fact that it kills creativity.

In my view, Stephens has valid points to his argument. I believe that in today's society, there are definitely a lot of people with degrees, making things more competitive and possibly making a degree mean less. However, I believe that high schools may kill creativity because of standardized testing and the need for teachers to teach towards the test, but I think college allows creativity to flourish because of the many opportunities that it presents to each individual. Although Stephens might object that college is a creative time in a person's life, I maintain that it rejuvenates people's creativity that is lost in high school. Therefore, I conclude that college is a very important and fundamental part of life and it should not be avoided. Education is one thing that cannot be lost or taken away.

Genres

I am not really sure what genre I am going to use for this assignment.  There are so many to choose from, http://multigenre.colostate.edu/genrelist.html , has a list of a whole bunch. 

I don't really like creative writing but I am thinking about eithere writing a fable or fairytale.  I think that those two I will be more able to write than all of the other genres. 

The website, http://ivyjoy.com/fables/ , has many different fables and fairy tales listed. 

I think that essentialism can be summoned up in three words taken from the reading "Essentialism and Experience."  These words are "identity, essence, subjectivity," also I believe that experience can be used when describing essentialism.  I think that essentialism is based on previous experience and how people act.  I think that essentialism is how people act based on how their ethnicity and gender have been treated in the past.  The way they have been treated are still there and people can't forget them and still carry them around with them.  

By definition, essentialism is a belief that things have a set of characteristics that make them what they are.  This definition can be used to define essentialism from the reading too.  This definition can be used to describe how groups of people still act like their past ancestors. 

I disagree with this though.  I think that people should not act like the past.  They can do whatever they like no matter how their group was treated or what they did in the past.  I think that people should not have to conform to how their group should act. 

Close Reading

Close reading is important in understanding and writing literature.  According to Patricia Kain, close reading can be thought of as "observing facts and details about the text."  Close reading is all about your observations about the text and what ideas you get from it.  Dr. L. Kip Wheeler wrote, "you find a specific passage and analyze it in fine detail, as if with a magnifying glass."  Close reading begins by annotating the text, looking for anything of importantance.  While doing this you should be asking yourself questions about what you are starting to notice.  You should pay attention to patterns that you see and word choices.  Asking questions about why and how the author did this or that is also necessary for close reading.