With each failure he would pick himself back up and work even harder. During his last attempt to enter the school he was feeling extremely discouraged, his entire self-worth was based on getting into Notre Dame and proving everyone wrong. Rudy said to Father Cavanaugh, “I don’t care what kind of job I did, if it doesn’t produce results then it doesn’t mean anything.” The Father says to Rudy “I think it will.” This little statement s helps give Rudy the positive reinforcement he needs to remind him that the external reward is secondary to the internal reward of self-confidence and self-worth. On Rudy’s last and final attempt he was accepted to the University of Notre
Summary of “Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission?” In the article, “Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission?” by, Andrew Hacker and Claudia Drefius there are many suggestions on how to reform colleges to make the price of admission worth it to students attending. One idea stated in the article was engaging all students; “professors must make an effort to reach their students” (180). The authors are suggesting that instead of just teaching day to day curriculum they should pay attention to how all the students are performing. Another point stated was that colleges are not pushing their students minds. Instead of worrying about the pay off the students should be concerned with developing all they can intellectually.
In “Grades and Money” by Steve Vogel, the author mentions, “… they talk about their grades all the time”(Page 389). Students rarely speak about what they are learning from the course, which is what education is all about. They don’t understand that grades just show if you passed or failed the course. Instead of taking a course that they are interested in, students take courses that they will be able to earn a high grade. “By tying grades to money, we give students incentives not to take risks” (Vogel, 392) that stop them from choosing challenging courses in college.
Mark Edmundson’s “on the uses of a liberal education” displays how corrupt the current education system is. He raises problems of consumerism in colleges and also indicates that college’s students lack intellectual curiosity. The multiple choices student have today in college have made the college a facile learning environment, resulting in complacent students. He ridicules the fact that students can withdraw from classes with a one month left in semester. In the beginning of the text, Edmundson depicts a classroom he particularly doesn’t enjoy on evaluation day.
Colleges give excessive control over a sports to coaches and the coaches have the ability to indirectly give benefits to their players. This is also a continuation of the Pryor saga. The bigger controversy of the story was that his coach, Jim Tressel, knew that Pryor and a couple of other players had illegally merchandised his belongings and received awards from a tattoo parlor (Schlabach), but coach Tressel did not report this to the NCAA. This event happened before their Sugar Bowl game in 2010, in which they probably could not have won without Pryor (Schlabach). Despite Tressel’s inaction, Ohio State only suspended their prized coach for 2 games of the 2011 football season and fined him a measly $250,000 of his $3.5 million annual salary (Schlabach).
I agree with what Graff says and also agree when he says, “The challenge, as a college professor Ned Laff has put it, “is not simply to exploit students’ nonacademic interests, but to get them to see those interests through academic eyes” (p.302). I strongly believe this is true, I wish teachers would really take this into consideration. The author also reminds us of his own adolescent experience. Graff was anit-intellectual as a young student until he entered college. Graff disliked books very much and only cared for sports.
This article is based upon different type of fallacies Beres uses to tell his audience that the Common Application process is a waste of many, and doesn’t give the students what they deserve. He uses Appeal to Ignorance when he talks about how those who have a high SAT score and “mommy and daddy credit card isn’t maxed out”. So what if their parents are working hard for this kids? Appeal to Popular Opinion by saying “kids are taking spots at universities that they may, in fact, have little to no interest in.” How can afford to go to a university that will cost at least 30K to graduate just because they don’t like it? He mentions that’s X amount of Y students got accepted into a particular college, but doesn’t talk about how many percentage of Y actually meet the requirements of their “dream”
The online open source encyclopedia Wikipedia has become a serious controversial issue in the academic world. Educators all over the world are perplexed at the idea that students should be able to use Wikipedia as a credible source. Two college professors wrote two essays with completely different view points on the issue. On the side against using Wikipedia as a scholarly source is Professor Neil L. Waters with his article “Why You Can’t Cite Wikipedia in My Class.” Then on the opposing side of the argument is Professor Mark A. Wilson with his article “Professors Should Embrace Wikipedia”. Both Waters and Wilson made some convincing points but Waters came out on top with better more convincing factual information to persuade the readers the downfalls
On the other hand, it is my opinion that student athletes should not be paid; because, scholarships usually cover a big deal of expenses, it would be unfair to their peers, and most colleges and money could change the way a
11 December 2014 Drowning in the Discourse Julie Wildhaber says that “A strong, well-defined voice is the bridge between you and your audience: It helps your readers understand who you are, and it helps you engage them” (Wildhaber). For students in college, their audience will always be their professor. Along with expecting a strong voice, professors expect students, even first year students, to master and employ the many other writing skills that make up academic discourse. Most students tend to prioritize the more technical conventions of writing over the development of a distinguished and personalized voice. The conventions of college writing are very complex and if professors are more helpful and patient with first year students as they learn academic discourse, students will be better prepared for all future academic endeavors and they will have a better opportunity to strengthen and develop their voice.