Assignment #4 Blog

Martin Kim                                                                                                                   11/21/11
Mr. Katz                                                                                                               
English 101

The general argument made by Dale J. Stephens in “The Case Against College”. Specifically argues that School kills creativity, and that college puts students in massive dept.” Dale J. Stephens writes “There are a little over 19 million college students in the United States, each of whom are graduating with an average of $24,000 in debt, according to the nonprofit Institute for College Access & Success. After college, they are forced to find a job to pay off that debt instead of being allowed to take the time to start companies, projects, causes or initiatives. They are, essentially, mortgaging their freedom in exchange for a degree.”

In this passage he suggests that going to college isn’t always a bad decision. He says “If you’re a first-generation college student and get a full-ride scholarship to Harvard — by all means go.” I agree. Obviously If you’re a first generation college student then going to college anywhere would be an amazing achievement right there. It brings up your family’s social status and it brings a type of pride to your family. Dale J. Stephen also thinks that going to an average college is a waste of time, However he believes that instead of going to college and using tens of thousands of dollars to get a degree, you can instead work outside of college and get real experience to be just as good as, if not better than a college student. Yet In the real world however, business executives, CEO’s, and other major companies look for a minimum of four years in college, and most of the time even more than that. I know that sale Stephens brings up this point, that it would be easier to “have a minimum of a masters” instead of individually qualifying applicants. The harsh reality is that it is true; CEO’s don’t want to spend the time and effort looking for qualified candidates so they leave it up to them to decide if they want to go through that effort for the job.

Another point that Dale Stephen Jr brings up is that school kills creativity. From what I read it sounds as if Stephens is solely blaming school for killing creativity in kids. Yet he does not bring into account the countless other factors that could also affect this. A child can just be lazy and not want to be creative and find the easy way out by taking other’s ideas. As they grow up nobody really knows what happens to creativity, it could just be lost or it could flourish and end up creating a new invention that would revolutionize the world. Either way there is no solid test that can be conducted with evidence that measures a person’s creativity and how creative they will be in the future. Although there was a book in 1998 called “Breakpoint and Beyond” that wrote about a test conducted with 1,500 kids around the ages of 3 through 5 being tests on their “creativity”. It showed that children score higher on their creativity test when they were young and lower as they grew older, but no matter how much people he test’s there is bound to be at least one black sheep who scored low on his test and higher as he grew older, which would make the test insufficient. In conclusion Dale J. Stephens belief is that he is for uncollege students and would like it if uncollege students and college students both had the same opportunities instead of being weighed on a scale based on a degree.

            In my view I think Dale J. Stephen is wrong because going to college does cost a substantial amount of money, however dedicating only four years of your life to get a basic foundation for the real world and being able to prepare yourself is really nothing. This amount of time is a miniscule amount compared to the next 70 years of trying to be able to grasp these difficult concepts and subjects on your own. Sure he talks about teaching yourself, but that can only go so far and the amount of money you would have to spend on tutors to teach you each subject separately will probably average tens of thousands of dollars anyways. If you think about it, if a uncollege person works at a job and makes fifty thousand dollars a year, sure he’ll be up two-hundred thousand dollars by the time a college student gets his degree. However if a college student then makes eighty-thousand dollars a year he’ll be able to catch up to the uncollege student in no time, and on top of that he will be able to make a much larger profit in the long-run. Although Dale J. Stephen might object that during those four years you can accomplish just as much as you would in the real world, I maintain my point that staying in school is the best way to go. Dale J. Stephen also states, “The Thiel Fellowship is not about dropping out of school — it’s about making a sound investment in your future.” This isn’t very true considering that going to college would actually be the smarter investment on a student’s part. The idea of uncollege is not about actually just about dropping out of college and going straight to work. It’s about dropping from college and using outside sources of knowledge to learn and evolve. This idea isn’t a bad one but it is a little unrealistic in my point of view. Teaching yourself the necessary and right information is hard enough; however what if you spend a substantial amount of time possibly learning the wrong thing? You could use hire a tutor to teach you that subject and learn it only to realize later that it has nothing that pertains to your future. That would end up being an even bigger waste of money and time. College is specifically designed to teach you all of these things that you would have to learn in uncollege in a short amount of time.

Dale J. Stephen implies that college is basically a waste of money and time because of the massive dept that students accumulate over those 4 years. However according to a law forum website another advantage that college students get over uncollege students is connections. Connections basically run the outside world, top Forbes 100 companies, elite law firms, and well known hospitals don’t only hire the smartest people, but the people with the best connections. It is sad to admit but a major factor in the hiring of employee’s can be a game of who knows the most people.  In the business world knowing people can get you places, In college you make those friends who become successful later in life and that can help you secure a position in your future. If you were an uncollege student however it would be a lot harder to secure a good position if you have no connections. One example of college students benefiting from going to college, is if you went to a big school like the SUNY University At Buffalo, you could have the chance of meeting a lot more people because it has over thirty-thousand students alone. The possibilities are virtually limitless; another way that college gives an edge to students is opportunities to join organizations such as business fraternities. These fraternities help spread out your connections even farther, to people you’ve never even met before giving you a job because you were in the same business fraternity in the same school. College life can also teach you how to get better people skills by letting you interact with others from different parts of the country. You can belong to a diverse group of friends and learn how people in California are compared to people in Mississippi. You can learn to deal with time management that a lot of high school students have trouble with. The college experience is something that is also worth going to college. It helps prepare you for the real world. It helps mature you from a boy to a man. When I was in high school I thought I knew everything and was prepared for anything that could come my way, but now that I am in college I’ve realized that there is a lot that I do not know and a lot that I could learn. Experiences like these are a once in a lifetime opportunity that you can only get from going to college. Experiences like studying abroad at different campus’s across the globe, such as London, Paris, Madrid, Spain, etc. It can teach you so much more about the world and open your eyes to new cultures. College is basically a tool to help you in your endeavors by preparing. There are billions of people on the earth, every single one of those people strive to be better, you do not want to lose to those people and end up on the bottom so you should do everything in your power to get a step ahead of them. If college wasn’t necessary, and it truly was just a waste of money. People wouldn’t be going, however no matter how idiotic Dale J. Stephen thinks getting a “degree” is, it is still just a necessary step to get ahead in the game.

One question that was asked to Dale J Stephen was “How do I convince a prospective employer that my uncollege experience is just as valuable as another person’s college degree?” It is very obvious that if you do go down the uncollege route instead of college, then it would be a difficult and hard excursion. The uncollege route in my opinion basically consumes you’re life. When you are not going to “school” then you should probably be working to make a name for yourself. I agree with Stephen on the point that college does put students in massive debt because the amount of money they charge you is a little ridiculous. Yet I disagree with the uncollege idea also, both have their negatives but college is definitely the better choice, because if you cannot change society then you have to adapt to it. To be able to convince an employer that your uncollege experience is just as valuable as a college student’s degree will be almost impossible. If you walked into a CEO’s office and show them your degree they would then proceed to ask you various questions about why they think you’re qualified, they might even ask why you didn’t go to graduate school and get a doctorate. If most jobs require degrees and doctorates today then how can a uncollege student walk into a room with a CEO and prove anything? Sure he could explain to him what he’d been doing but he couldn’t prove it to him. Unless he could seriously impress the CEO throughout that short meeting and show him something very impressive that would make him think about giving him a chance. Then there is almost little to no chance of an uncollege student convincing a prospective employer that he is as qualified as a college student.

Therefore, I conclude that concentrating on learning for four years might seem like a waste of time at first, It will take a substantial amount of money and set you back a little, but the benefits will be rewarding. College will definitely pay off in your future. Every student has a choice, the choice is up to him or her, Dale J. Stephen brings up a good point in his arguments, but is anyone actually willing to take such a big risk for the same reward? Are they willing to sacrifice their college experience and set off into the world by themselves? Some of the best friends you make in your life are created in college. These bonds strengthen and later they eventually make way for new jobs and life long connections. The uncollege experience may be right for some people however I stand by my point that uncollege just isn’t worth the risk, and that college is the smarter decision in the long run.

The argument templates that we filled out for assignment #4 was a good thing in my opinion. i like getting guides on how to do thing. i like that feeling, because it gives me a start to my essay instead of me pondering for hours on the computer just trying to make a good introduction. The argument template also helps keep me on the right track because if i ever get lost while writing my essay i can always look back to it. The general outline of it is structured in a simple yet difficult way. It is simple because it tell you exactly what to write about but difficult because sometimes you have to think long and hard to fit in the exact words that you’re thinking of. although some people would rather write in their own words rather than have to follow a outline. I’d rather follow an outline first than finish up in my own words for the rest of the essay. It just makes things more simple

Assignment #4 Blog.

Martin Kim                                                                                                                   11/21/11
Mr. Katz                                                                                                                English 101

The general argument made by Dale J. Stephens in “The Case Against College”. Specifically argues that School kills creativity, and that college puts students in massive dept.” Dale J. Stephens writes “There are a little over 19 million college students in the United States, each of whom are graduating with an average of $24,000 in debt, according to the nonprofit Institute for College Access & Success. After college, they are forced to find a job to pay off that debt instead of being allowed to take the time to start companies, projects, causes or initiatives. They are, essentially, mortgaging their freedom in exchange for a degree.” In this passage he is suggesting that going to college isn’t always a bad decision. He says “If you’re a first-generation college student and get a full-ride scholarship to Harvard — by all means go.” However isn’t that taking it a little far? If you’re a first generation college student I think going to college anywhere would be an amazing achievement right there. It brings up your family’s social status and it brings a sort of pride to your family. Dale J. Stephen is going a little extreme on that case, However he believes that instead of going to college and using tens of thousands of dollars to get a degree, you can instead work out in the real world and get real experience to be just as good as, if not better than a college student. In the real world however, business executives, CEO’s, and other major companies look for a minimum of four years in college, and most of the time even more than that. In conclusion Dale J. Stephens belief is that he is “pro-uncollege” and would like it if uncollege students and college students both had the same opportunities instead of being weighed on a scale based on a degree.

            In my view I think Dale J. Stephen is wrong because going to college does cost a substantial amount of money, however dedicating only four years of your life to get a basic foundation for the real world and being able to prepare yourself is really nothing. This amount of time is a miniscule compared to the next 70 years of trying to be able to grasp these difficult concepts and subjects on your own. If you think about it, if a uncollege person works at a job and makes fifty thousand dollars a year, sure he’ll be up two-hundred thousand dollars by the time a college student gets his degree. However if a college student then makes eighty-thousand dollars a year he’ll be able to catch up to the uncollege student in no time, and on top of that he will be able to make a much larger profit in the long-run. Although Dale J. Stephen might object that during those four years you can accomplish just as much as you would in the real world, I maintain my point that staying in school is the best way to go. Dale J. Stephen also states, “The Thiel Fellowship is not about dropping out of school — it’s about making a sound investment in your future.” This isn’t very true considering that going to college would actually be the smarter investment on a student’s part. The idea of uncollege is not about actually just about dropping out of college and going straight to work. It’s about dropping from college and using outside sources of knowledge to learn and evolve. This idea isn’t a bad one but it is a little unrealistic in my point of view. Teaching yourself the necessary and right information is hard enough; however what if you spend a substantial amount of time possibly learning the wrong thing? You could use hire a tutor to teach you that subject and learn it only to realize later that it has nothing that pertains to your future. That would end up being an even bigger waste of money and time. College is specifically designed to teach you all of these things that you would have to learn in uncollege in a short amount of time. According to a law forum website another advantage that college students get over uncollege students is connections. Connections basically run the outside world, top Forbes 100 companies, elite law firms, and highly known hospitals don’t only hire the smartest people, but the people with the best connections. It is sad to admit but a major factor in the hiring of employee’s can be a game of who knows the most people.  In the business world knowing people can get you places, In college you make those friends who become successful later in life and that can help you secure a position in your future. If you were an uncollege student however it would be a lot harder to secure a good position if you have no connections. One example of college students benefiting from going to college, is if you went to a big school like the SUNY University At Buffalo, you could have the chance of meeting a lot more people because it has over thirty-thousand students alone. The possibilities are virtually limitless; another way that college gives an edge to students is opportunities to join organizations such as business fraternities. These fraternities help spread out your connections even farther, to people you’ve never even met before giving you a job because you were in the same business fraternity in the same school. College life can also teach you how to get better people skills by letting you interact with others from different parts of the country. You can belong to a diverse group of friends and learn how people in California are compared to people in Mississippi. You can learn to deal with time management that a lot of high school students have trouble with. The college experience is something that is also worth going to college. It helps prepare you for the real world. It helps mature you from a boy to a man. When I was in high school I thought I knew everything and was prepared for anything that could come my way, but now that I am in college I’ve realized that there is a lot that I do not know and a lot that I could learn. Experiences like these are a once in a lifetime opportunity that you can only get from going to college. Experiences like studying abroad at different campus’s across the globe, such as London, Paris, Madrid, Spain, etc. It can teach you so much more about the world and open your eyes to new cultures. College is basically a tool to help you in your endeavors by preparing. There are billions of people on the earth, every single one of those people strive to be better, you do not want to lose to those people and end up on the bottom so you should do everything in your power to get a step ahead of them. If college wasn’t necessary, and it truly was just a waste of money. People wouldn’t be going, however no matter how idiotic Dale J. Stephen thinks getting a “degree” is, it is still just a necessary step to get ahead in the game. In Therefore, I conclude that concentrating on learning for four years might seem like a waste of time at first, but it will definitely pay off in your future. 

The general argument made by Dale J. Stephens in “The Case Against College”. More specifically argues that school kills creativity, and that school puts college students in dept.  He writes “There are a little over 19 million college students in the United States, each of whom are graduating with an average of $24,000 in debt, according to the nonprofit Institute for College Access & Success. After college, they are forced to find a job to pay off that debt instead of being allowed to take the time to start companies, projects, causes or initiatives. They are, essentially, mortgaging their freedom in exchange for a degree.” In this passage he is suggesting that going to college isn’t all bad. He says “If you’re a first-generation college student and get a full-ride scholarship to Harvard — by all means go.” However he believes that instead of going to college and using tens of thousands of dollars to get a degree, you can instead work out in the real world and get real experience to be good at a job if not better than a college degree student. In conclusion Dale J. Stephen’s belief is that he is “Pro-Uncollege” which means he suggests you forget college and go straight to the real word.

            In my view I think he is wrong because going to college does cost money, however four years of your life to get a basic foundation for the real world and prepare yourself is really nothing. This amount of time is miniscule compared to the next seventy of trying to grasp all of those different concepts and difficult subjects. Although Dale J. Stephens might object that during those years you can accomplish just as much as you would in college, I maintain that staying in school is definitely the best way to go. Therefore, I conclude that concentrating on learning for four years might seems like a waste of time at first but it’ll definitely pay off in the future.

What does Essentialism mean?
Experience.
Genre. 

From what i read essentialism is a pretty hard concept to grasp. i think its basically saying that essentialism is a bad thing because it kind of shuts out other students from having their say due to some experience or personal matter. However it is also saying the opposite and it gives you the idea like “Who am i to say that personal experience isn’t something that compels a student to want to talk.” personal experiences can either essentially “Silence” or compel a student to speak depending on how much it relates to them on a personal level. So the question is how can you incorporate personal experience in a classroom discussion without essentially silencing people from wanting to talk. The author also talks about black female critics and how white female critics exclude them alot. i don’t understand how this is essentialism because it doesn’t really fit my description, however i probably just don’t understand the meaning of essentialism completely. 

Experience is something that each person has and it is a unique thing with each person. some people may have similar experiences and are able to relate to that person, but others might have an experience that can shut them down because it might be to personal or maybe too distant. who knows but whatever it is if it causes them to be shut out from the conversation then it also shows that experience is bad again.

Genre: non-fiction, biography, autobiography,poetry

(In Class)

I woke up today to music from the radio and instantly I started to dance around my room. I love waking up to the sound of music and getting ready for school is the best. I see my mom dancing in the kitchen while she makes my breakfast and my dad reading the newspaper as usual. He’s boring but sometimes he gets up and dances with my mom too! I got into the shower and got ready for school. The bus came and I got into Mrs. Berg’s class. She doesn’t really like me but I don’t know why. I hate learning this stuff all of it is like my dad, boring. Today Mrs. Berg called my mom to school and talked to her. It sounded bad but I wonder what I did wrong, I hardly moved at all today just like Mrs. Berg told me. Now I’m going to get into trouble again… I really hope my mom doesn’t take away the radio again. She can take anything but just not my radio, please. My mom and Mrs. Berg stopped talking and now she’s taking me to the doctor’s office but I don’t even feel sick. I hate staying still, I don’t know why it’s so bad if I just walking around once in a while, it’s not like I’m hurting anyone. I went into the doctors and this time my mom and the doctor started to talk, but since I wasn’t in Mrs. Berg’s class I could move! After about 5 minutes my mom and the doctor told me they had to speak privately so they left but the doctor left the radio on! I got up and my favorite song started to play and I could just imagine all the words popping up in my head and I couldn’t stop moving. I feel so alive! I wish learning could be like this… If learning was this easy then I would be a genius! Mom and the doctor were outside for a few minutes and came back so I couldn’t move around too much but we went home and mom said I was going to a new school. I was happy because I would finally be able to get out of Mrs. Bergs class, but I was a little scared because my mom told me that it would be filled with kids like me. So the next day I woke up and instead of taking the bus my mom drove me to this new school somewhere really far. We got out of the car and started to walk towards this really big building and suddenly I got even more scared, so I grabbed my mom’s hand and held on tight. Mom opened up the doors and the first thing I saw were groups of kids who couldn’t sit still, just like me. I heard music playing everywhere and other people dancing to songs and not getting yelled at. Mom was right, I see other kids just like me and before I knew it I had let go of my mom’s hand and started dancing with all of them. I felt so comfortable, like I was at my home.

—————————————————————————————

(Blog Post)

Today I woke up and rushed to get ready, I was late for school! I met Jack and Sam in my dance class and we all ate afterwards. I was exhausted because I was up the night before trying to learn a new dance. I’m doing a lot better in school since I came here. My friends are all dancers and I love being with them. My mom’s really proud of me because I’m graduating top of my class this year. Who would’ve thought? I wonder what would have happened if I was still back at my old school… I would’ve been the worst student in my grade, or I probably wouldn’t even have graduated. Well I don’t want to think about that. I love my new life and everyone in it. College is going to be scary, but who knows, maybe I’ll open those big doors again and a whole new life will start.

http://brookeabaker.blogspot.com/            Baker,Brooke Ann

http://felixchan25.blogspot.com/     Chan,Felix

http://themindoflily.blogspot.com/       Chen,Lily

http://www.cassidyfox.blogspot.com/  Fox,Cassidy Elizabeth

http://shannon-g.blogspot.com/    Gallagher,Shannon Leigh

http://jocelynbg.blogspot.com/  Girigorie,Jocelyn Bing-Wms.

http://ubcollegelife.blogspot.com/     Gonzalez,Justin Michael

http://kaleigh78930.blogspot.com/ Irish,Kaleigh J

http://martinkim93.tumblr.com/   Kim,Martin Sung

http://fobbyabc.blogspot.com/  Lim,Kevin

http://sjcmsblog.blogspot.com/       Mckeone,Sophia Jane Constance

http://brittanymueller.blogspot.com/   Mueller,Brittany Carol

http://cnatalewriting101.blogspot.com/   Natale,Christina Ann

http://eanelson7.blogspot.com/   Nelson,Emily Ann

http://mikeovch.blogspot.com/ Ovchinnikoff,Michael Nicholas

http://adroit9977.blogspot.com/   Park,Edward

http://wiseryansblog.blogspot.com/    Ramage,Ryan David

http://asearer.blogspot.com/     Searer,Abigail Marie

http://ubeng101asha.wordpress.com/   Shafie,Asmah

http://annashahin.livejournal.com/   Shahin,Anna Leigh

http://blsilver99.blogspot.com/      Silverman,Benjamin Lewis

http://collegeenglishexperience.blogspot.com/   Sullivan,Patrick Robert

http://zhijiant.blogspot.com/  Tang,Zhijian

Emerson believes in the thought of a superior man, almost as if all men are one in the same. Throughout his speech “The American Scholar” Emerson talks about this topic and basically how to achieve becoming “One man”. A 21^st century Emerson would probably be ashamed of how much more divided and distant man has become, from what he believed we should strive to be. Man has changed an overwhelming amount since the time Emerson had given this speech, and we have branches even more.  I think Emerson would try to speak more often to people to try and change their thought process or he would video record his speech to spread throughout the world.  The world has changed and has become more diverse then ever and it is only continuing to grow. I think its good that the world is diverse though because individual thinking creates uniqueness and the world revolves around unique and creative things.  -Martin Kim

Yet hence arises a grave mischief. The sacredness which attaches to the act of creation,—the act of thought,—is transferred to the record. The poet chanting, was felt to be a divine man: henceforth the chant is divine also. The writer was a just and wise spirit: henceforward it is settled, the book is perfect; as love of the hero corrupts into worship of his statue. Instantly, the book becomes noxious: the guide is a tyrant. The sluggish and perverted mind of the multitude, slow to open to the incursions of Reason, having once so opened, having once received this book, stands upon it, and makes an outcry, if it is disparaged. Colleges are built on it. Books are written on it by thinkers, not by Man Thinking; by men of talent, that is, who start wrong, who set out from accepted dogmas, not from their own sight of principles. 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.

-The American Scholar

———————————————————————————————————

Response

This excerpt from Emerson’s “The American Scholar” stood out to me as one of the most difficult because of the different style of writing that he uses. Emerson does not write in common easy to understand English but he uses difficult words and phrases which can confuse me at times. John Beans Strategy for reading difficult text was actually pretty difficult to read itself but it helped me understand how amateur readers think compared to expert readers. Amateur readers usually rely on someone else to learn the information and have it recited back to them in a simple way but once it is up to them to actually read the texts they don’t have enough practice to actually know how to properly analyze it. Beans strategy also taught me how good readers reread texts slowly and carefully while having a different goal in mind such as looking for the “gist of it”. Then the next time they go through it they would look for small details, main ideas, ect. I would normally just read something one time and try to understand the whole passage and would usually have to reread it a couple of times before I really understood it. Now I will try to approach future readings using John Bean’s strategies. The syllabus for this year seems challenging but manageable. The class time is very reasonable considering a lot of my freshman classes are at 8:00 – 9:00 AM so there should be no reason for being late. The only technical difficulty I have faced while trying to start my blog is the blogger website itself. Blogspot.com was down most of the day and I couldn’t get on in time to post it so I made a tumblr account for my blog.

-Martin Kim