Summary of “David Foster Wallace on Life and Work” In David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech given to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College, he first points out to his audience that the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about (para 2). Wallace continues throughout his speech sharing this idea of how sometimes our self-centeredness gets in the way of what is really important. For instance, we only see what we want to see. Wallace then carries on explaining to his audience that for most of us, it’s not really our fault, but refers to it as our “default setting.” Wallace elaborates on this topic for a while with examples from his personal experiences putting things into a better perspective. One of the most important arguments Wallace makes in his speech is when he’s explaining the liberal-arts cliché, “teaching you how to think.” “Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think.
With reference to this, if students shy away from attaining greater dreams and goals and argue that they are not bright enough, then that is only an excuse. As the president of the university declares, there is no such thing as smartness; it is simply how much people try to get what they need and desire since lethargy and the thought that someone is smart will not take them anywhere (TED, 2013). The four pillars of success, he confirmed, were forming community amongst the students, high expectations, using researchers to create researchers and educational faculty getting concerned with their students’ affairs (TED, 2013). The high expectations create a feeling of curiosity
When I was reading the book I was so surprised at how much Esme used multiple intelligences and different use of texts, media, visual, and other many good practices. Esme’s classroom was a canvas of stimuli and visuals. When told by a colleague that her room was distracting Esme thought to herself that the teacher in question was jealous. I have to agree with Esme, I believe the teacher was jealous of Esme’s enthusiasm, youth and spirit. The teacher may have genuinely been concerned with presenting too much information to students but through my classes at Sage, excessive stimuli is good of students with ADD because it gives them many things to focus on instead of causing behavioral problems.
Instead of worrying about the pay off the students should be concerned with developing all they can intellectually. The author then expresses their feelings towards multi-year contracts. They tell how tenure plans which would be more beneficial. They believe that professors have no motive to improve their skills when rewarded with tenure plans, for themselves or their students. Another thing mentioned in the article that people who come to teach in a college that are not actually considered teachers.
Taking Responsibility For Education Students rely on a number of things in their pursuit of a higher education; teachers, accredited institutions, and textbooks containing correct information. James Loewen, who wrote Lies My Teacher Told Me, brings up concerns for students stating US History lower-learning textbooks are not equipped with factual information. In Loewen’s text he brings to light some very significant US events he believes are not factual. When we think of studying history we think about learning specific dates, events, or wars that impacted our country. Not many people stop to question if the information they are reading or being taught is factual.
Less Is More Professor Clay Shirky, utilizes his sixteen years of teaching social media at New York University as a point of reference to present analytical and sentimental appeals to convince The Washington Post readers of technology’s distractive nature, which should result in its ban from classroom use. In his article, “Why a leading professor of new media just banned technololgy use in class,” Skirky’s intent is to impress upon readers that productivity and concentration are adversely affected by disruptive technology. Professor Shirky begins his ethical appeals with the following statement: “I teach theory and practice of social media at New York University, and am an advocate and activist for the free culture movement, so I’m a pretty unlikely candidate for Internet censor. But I have just asked the students in my fall seminar to refrain from using laptops, tablets, and phones in class” (Strauss 2). Shirky immediately establishes his credibility with The Washington Post readers by acknowledging his occupation as a professor in the field of social media.
Reformation takes when students, faculty and administrators see that what has worked for years isn’t working anymore. Ultimately, the students are the product of a university where they are either changed to make a difference in the world or offer little in return to the community. According to the authors and I agree when they say “college should be imaginative and integrative…where ideas are at work (Palmer, 2010).” It is easy to say what college should be or can be easy but difficult to do – that is why they are calling for reformation. Internalization of thoughts and accomplishments in higher education administration and its performance should be what push for changes in teaching and
How the Web Destroys the Quality of Students’ Research Papers In the article “How the Web Destroys the Quality of Students’ Research Papers”, David Rothenberg argues that the qualities of undergraduate’s papers have been reducing because of overuse of the internet. Accordingly his article, Rothenberg tells us that mostly students, who find information from the Web, is based on fundamental facts. First, he points that there are only articles or information on the bibliography cites and those information are out dated, he sees one of his student’s work that his resource has been published for a long time. He also discovers most of the students’ works are very cleanly and analysis it nicely, but actually the details that his student give are not related to the material; it jumps on and off on the topics. Moreover, students do not try to proof read their assignment before they hand it out.
As Deborah Tannen stated in her essay titled, “How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently,” how male and female’s conversational styles influence discussions in the classroom. Also, Tannen mentioned how girls like small groups where they are sharing their secrets that make them best friends. However, boys like large groups and are expected to use language to catch center stage by exhibiting their skill, displaying their knowledge and challenging each other. Tannen also discussed how classrooms use challenges and arguments which many women do not like to talk about and hide from it while men feel really comfortable and enjoy this challenge. Men are more dominate in a conservation, while women hold back what they want to say.
It was a pleasant surprise to know I can trust them with such tasks that often frustrate me when students keep asking the same question over and over. As for the two students who broke the trust I had a talk