Analysis Of ' Project Classroom Makeover, And An Army Of One : Me, By Cathy Davidson

With todays’ advancement of technology and social media, the prominence of the individual has greatly increased. Self-portrayal has essentially become a way to express the significance of an individual. However, many believe that the newfound importance of the individual is constantly walking the line of narcissism. Yet in a world where it’s so easy to follow the crowd, I believe it’s important to celebrate the individual and praise one for being who he wants to be.

People attend college or university for several reasons, including exploring hundreds of career opportunities, pursuing their passions, learning critical thinking skills, and achieving their maximum potential. According to Dr. Richard Vedder’s, “For Many, College Isn’t Worth It”, attending college or university is not worth the time, effort, or money – Dr. Richard Vedder wants to solely focus resources on private universities and institutions. Vedder describes how many graduates with Bachelor’s degrees do not even obtain jobs in their specific field and how they will never start a career in their area of academic study. In his article, Richard Vedder describes how there should be more stringent standards placed on college undergraduates; he believes that public universities are not necessary and only private, more elite universities should remain operational. I personally believe that obtaining a college degree from an accredited university is worth the risk and the money, not only for one’s self but for society as a whole. Instead of shutting down undergraduate universities, we should consider raising collegiate admission standards throughout the nation.

Throughout the essay, Charles Murray stresses the idea that college is the wonderland of finding oneself and to find the career that one would want to follow for the rest of their lives. “College is seen as the open sesame to a good job and a desirable way for adolescents to transition to adulthood. Neither reason is as persuasive as it first appears.” Murray, C (2008) Practically spoken, this is not normally the case. College is a fair amount of work, much more work than one would normally acquire through any course of a high school or secondary school setting. In no way saying that the average student cannot meet the requirement and achieve success over the amounted work, it would also be ridiculous to expect every graduate to pursue going into higher education with the expansion of work that will be given.

Andrew Simmons published his article for The Atlantic, “The Danger of Telling Poor Kids that College is the Key to Social Mobility” on January 16, 2014, which raises his concerns that higher education is only being promoted as an opportunity to increase their economic status, when it should be an opportunity to experience an education (Simmons). Through the use of students such as Isabella, Simmons disagrees with the way students now look at higher education and blames the educators through the students’ lives for this view. Instead, Simmons views education as an intellectual opportunity rather than a way to elevate ones economic class which is all people see when they see “higher education.” He believes that education, ambition and work ethic is how you have a satisfying life, not with how much you make. He makes the point that when economics becomes the main goal of education it’s all children begin to think about and they might not pursue something that they are truly passionate about or what they want to learn about, which then does not create an intellectually awakening experience (Simmons).

More people than ever before are attending college due to the endless opportunities that it provides. Louis Menand, a college professor and the author of “Live and Learn: Why We Have College,” explains the meaning of college through three theories that have been developed. Theory 1 supports the idea of the sorting-out process that separates the highly intelligent from the less intelligent. Menand’s second theory explains that college provides opportunities for developmental growth, personal growth, and teaches individuals about the world around us. These are valuable lessons that will not be learned anywhere else. Theory three supports the idea of people attending college to specialize in a specific vocation. I

Charles Murray’s essay proposes that American colleges are being flooded with individuals who are either unprepared for higher education or who are simply forced into attending college and can’t succeed because of the lack of certain innate abilities. Murray’s essay goes on to take issue with the idea that the pursuit of a traditional college education is somehow strategically creating a separation of the American class system. While Murray makes many salient points with regards to America’s obsession with college education as a standard into a class of the intellectual elite, the essay fails to take into consideration the various motivators that can lead to student success, despite

Murray hope this would leave these people to begin develop a better way for people to achieve academic or professional success. Also this essay translates easily to those in position of seeking higher education so they will understand Murray’s point of view.

The way the mind works is through a set of processes, which are steps that must be taken in order for the function it is producing to be accomplished successfully. These processes are related to those that society must be willing to take in order to achieve a desired goal, otherwise known as the ‘struggle’. Younger generations, called Generation Me, develop narcissist views that did not allow for the ‘struggle’ to be considered in their generation. The basis for this mindset is introduced by author Jean Twenge in her essay, “An Army of One: Me”, as she described the gap that occurred between Baby Boomer parents and their GenMe children. This communication was severed because GenMe was taught that their ideas are the best, and therefore not

In addition to revealing to people what the true "self" of others was, Jean Twenge explains in "An Army of One: Me" that the "self" is changing with generation after another specifically in the twentieth century. Twenge argues that over the second half of the twentieth century, American's have become more about individual celebration rather than the being worried about other. This new change in individualism had a direct correlation how the "self" is now viewed, "[f]or the Boomers, who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, self-focus was a new concept, individualism an uncharted territory... which is why many Boomers talk about the "self" using language full of abstraction,

Growing up in a generation with high expectations of identity that are constantly altering whether it’s the latest trends, styles and even mind-set principles, can be over whelming. When asked to describe one-self, we often are stuck thinking of what particular word could fully describe who we are as a person. We have such a hard time of coming with just one word because there is no form of describing one’s self. How we see ourselves, we may not want to be that the next day. “Looks can be deceiving” or “the first impressions are the most important” is commonly instilled in our mindset which it is true to some extent. Our work

The article of “ In the Basement of the Ivory Tower” really remind me to considered plenty of things that I have never been thinking about before. In my mind, pursuing and accomplishing a higher level of education is always good for people. However, the view that the Professor X raised is a very sharp phenomenon buy it does exists in our society. In the article he questioned whether it is necessary for everyone to get higher education or not. It seems that as far as Professor X concerned, some of those students who are just waste of time and money by taking college education. He exposed that many colleges nowadays are bend to financial profits rather than to provide a high quality education. What is more, some of the students are not that well prepared for their college study and many of them cannot pass his class.

Ever since its inception, human civilization has been run by a pecking order; a small group of elitists on the top of the chain of command dictate the social norms for the remaining individuals on the antithetical end of the spectrum. Individuals with traits outside these norms are ostracized and looked down upon by the hierarchy. Cathy Davidson’s, Project Classroom Makeover, promotes the use of customization in the education system to accommodate every students’ learning habits over the current use of standardization and curriculum based teachings. On the other hand, Karen Ho’s, Biographies of Hegemony, is about how one’s environment is engineered by institutions, which in turn establish hierarchies who set standards for society. However, Son by Andrew Solomon describes how horizontal identities, traits influenced by peer groups that separate individuals from their families, are seen as abnormalities and those with such identities are on the bottom of the said hierarchy. Based on Davidson’s, Solomon’s, and Ho’s works, individualism does into question because society forces individuals to conform to the standardized norm in which they are not allowed to have unique identities.

The mind is a very powerful tool, yet we are able to be manipulated by what we see as well as manipulate others. If we get to analyze a person and know his strength and weaknesses, eventually we will be able to have control over them or persuade them to do as we say. The cadets at The Citadel, are described to be the leaders who are training the knobs, freshman, to be “real men” who are seen to be women, in Susan Faludi’s essay “The Naked Citadel”. Jean Twenge talks about how she explores the evolving idea of “self” and how self-esteem is to be questioned to determine if it is healthy or not. Along with bringing up the idea about how narcissistic people are not healthy for the environment or community. Twenge’s idea about “self” and narcissism

Moreover, “recruiters visit the university virtually every week, even on weekends; they show up in the greatest numbers at career forums… and social events. Wall Street’s recruiting monopoly is simply that its presence dominates campus life” (Ho 170). As a result of the presence and pressure that investment banks have on students from Harvard and Princeton, they are most likely bound to result in a job in finance. However, if students were to cultivate Thurman’s “wisdom” they would know that “if [they] don’t know exactly who [they] are all the time… [they’re] actually in luck, because [they’re] more realistic, more free, and more awake” (Thurman 443). If students in the competitive society that is investment banking cultivated the “wisdom” that Thurman describes, they would know to look past investment banking and all the advertising for the industry and pursue a career in another field that they may be more interested in.

For the past half a century education has been heralded as the key to success. Parents across the country preach to their children that, providing they acquire a college education and degree, the world is their oyster. The documentary “Ivory Tower”, directed by Andrew Rossi, calls that whole notion into question. The biographical film opens at the University of Harvard, the nations oldest institution of higher learning, on move-in day. Hundreds of new students and their parents flood the campus grounds of one of America’s most prestigious universities. From there, in order to provide a complete overview of the complete college experience, several other types of colleges are shown; such as community, 2-year, and vocational schools. Each is examined in turn to determine both the positive and negative aspects.