Analysis Of ' Project Classroom Makeover ' By Cathy Davidson

High school graduation marks the start of young adults’ lives, a time where they are expected to decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Many young adults are pressured into attending college, whether they have determined their goal or not, but is it necessary? “The Case Against College,” an article written by Linda Lee, a mother who has questioned the former belief that college equals success, claims that “not everyone needs a higher education.” College, though beneficial to many, is not for everyone and should not determine an individual’s life.

In “How Not to Get Into College”, the author, Kohn discusses that people are beginning to lack intrinsic happiness as individuals are following societal expectations which leads to living a life of extrinsic motivation. For instance, Kohn states that although people have accomplished some form of extrinsic rewards, “[they] would follow the most prestigious appointments, partnerships, vice-presidencies, and so on, working harder, nose stuck into the future, ever more frantic…until, perhaps, they might wake up one night in a tastefully appointed bedroom to discover that their lives were mostly gone” (para 9). The author implies through his text that as people continue following these societal norm, they deter themselves from motivating and discovering their intrinsic selves; this is a realization that is recognized through time and it makes individuals believe that they have wasted their lives and have forgotten to live for themselves. Comparatively, Jones suggests that when one follows society’s expectations, they are not living as themselves through intrinsic rewards, but rather as someone who lives through extrinsic rewards. He states that by “giving students the knowledge and skills to achieve their goals for the

Amy Widner claims to be interested in how other people think and understand. In her paper, “The Pursuit of Getting By,” Widner is obviously annoyed with the attitude of her peers. She expresses the opinion that students who casually dismiss their low grades are only wasting time and money. She questions why these young adults believe college only exists so that they might earn a degree. She then goes on to ask what her fellow students think will happen to them when they graduate from college. Future employers will believe these graduates will have learned what they need to know to correctly assume a place in the real world of the adult workplace. The nagging and informal tone used by Widner in, “The Pursuit of Getting By,” makes it difficult

In the essay “College Value Goes Deeper Than the Degree” author Eric Hoover claims a college education is important to one 's well-being so they can get a job and be productive in other parts of life. Promoters of higher education have long emphasized how beneficial college’s value and its purpose. Many believe the notion that colleges teach students are life skills to apply anywhere, they also work hard to earn a degree and learn specific marketable skills which they can use to get a good job. Though obtaining a college education and a degree is helpful in countless of ways, it is not necessary to pursue a college degree in world where a college degree is seen different now, people without turn out fine, the growing average of debt that students who attend college have to pay off and people without a degree can obtain many jobs that do not require college degrees.

"Some people are hustled off to college, then to the cubicle, against their own inclinations and natural bents" (“Matthew B Crawford”). Some people are forced to go to college because they’re parents don’t want them to be nothing and not make something

Another area many people tend to aim to be successful in is the concept of the American Dream. It is thought that if you live in America you need to fulfill the goal of achieving the American Dream and if it is not achieved or not meant to be achieved then the life lived has been a failure. Older generations and even present generations want the younger generations to get good grades, have a ‘successful’ college life, get a professional job, get married, have kids, and buy a big, just because that is normal to everyone but some may choose to live their life not as vanilla. William Zinsser talks about how everyone just follows the social norm in order to be seen as successful, “Our advertisements and TV commercials are a hymn to material success, our magazines articles a toast to people who made it to the top... He is our national idol, and everybody else is our national fink” (Zinsser 601). Becoming a specific type of successful is being pushed onto teenagers who are still struggling to find out who they are and what they want to do. They may want to figure out a different way to become successful in their own independent way.

The topic of “Are Too Many People Going to College?” was presented by Charles Murray, the W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise. In today’s world college is a must due to many employers seeking educated individuals. Murray develops an interesting conversation by demonstrating that many high school graduates who are seeking to go to college do not need a degree depending on their career paths. Murray provides the analogy of a high school graduate who is looking to become an electrician but is not sure if college is the most logical decision. Murray acknowledges the fact that a B.A. does not necessarily led to a higher income than one with a degree. The logical argument of money is brought to attention and is stated “the income for the top people in a wide variety of occupations that do not require a college degree is higher than the average income for many occupations that require a B.A.” (Murray 247). Although this is his main point, he understand that it varies due to the occupation one is leaning towards. There has been individuals without a college degree that are making millions of dollars, but it varies. Murray claims that getting a B.A. is going to be the wrong economic decision for many high school graduates (Murray 246); however not everyone wants to be an electrician or any other hand held jobs that doesn’t necessarily need a degree, but if one wants to be a lawyer, doctor, or anything require a degree, college is the answer. Having a degree in a

More often than not, young students are taught to believe that they must go to a prestigious university to obtain a Bachelor’s degree or higher in order to have a fulfilling and satisfying career. This may hold true for some people, but others do not need to follow this same path. For students who choose a career that isn’t considered conventional or isn’t high in pay, they tend to be looked down upon which pressures them into choosing career paths that they do not have a passion for, or the skill set to actually accomplish which makes college a waste of time and money. While everyone should be encouraged to get an education beyond high school, people should be encouraged to get the education that is relevant and proper for them to make sure they are getting their money’s worth.

The main reason why we go to college is not because we want to, but because it’s a must. Nearing the end of your high school career, you are persuaded by guidance counselors and our parents to apply for colleges because it the “right thing to do”. In an essay “Are Too Many People Going to College”, Charles Murry wrote, his narrative is about someone who is trying to decide what to become an electrician or a manager. He compares how his life can benefit from becoming electrician, “the satisfaction of being good at what one does for a living (and knowing it),” vs becoming a mediocre manager, “to the melancholy of being mediocre at what one does for a living (and knowing it).” He explains that someone who still is growing and developing may not

As society advances and the boundary between people becomes seemingly less apparent, many individuals attempt to promote various plans based on the concept of equality. Anyhow, many so-called egalitarian plans would inevitably result in failure because their proponents blindly believe in the efficiency of equality. They neglect how people are motivated to improve and to test their limits by their instinct to compete. In her writing “Project Classroom Makeover”, Cathy Davidson proposes egalitarian plans consist of a “democratization of knowledge” (54) which depends on crowdsourcing and “working together collectively” (51). In Davidson’s perspective, problems will be solved by allowing everyone the equal opportunity to express themselves. However, Karen Ho’s research directly shows the impracticality of her plans by explicitly revealing the existence of hierarchy in her writing, “Biographies of Hegemony”. As shown by Ho’s research, no matter how alluring Davidson’s plans seem, they will not come about. Because Davidson’s idealistic plans disregard human beings’ instinct to strive and fight for what they valued. Such egalitarian plans will not be executed with hierarchy deeply rooted in our society, results precisely from human’s desire to compete with each other.

“Misconception No.1: A liberal arts education is a luxury that most families can no longer afford. ‘Career-education’ is what we must now focus on.” (Ungar, 2010, pp.191) As Ungar has claimed, there is a recent misconception that a liberal arts education is no longer a necessity but luxury because it doesn’t provide an instant career launching education. With so many people having to a need to spend as little money as possible, they are determined to only spend money on preparation for their future career. For this reason they go to college only to take courses that are necessary for their future. “She is in college to take vocational training. She wants to write computer code. Start a business. Get a job in television. She uses college to take vocational courses that pertain to her career interest.” (Murray, 2008, pp.228) Murray explained the story of a girl who is in college solely for preparation for her career. Because of this, she isn’t interested in a liberal arts education. If the course doesn’t directly pertain to her desired career, she prefers not to take it.

As a result of influences of the societal culture, going outside the norm of what is perceived as success is discouraged. In an attempt to achieve this perception of success, students declines to go outside the norm of what is deemed as success, they limit their options. According to informants in Ho’s article , “If you go to Harvard , Yale, or Princeton, there are only two career fields presented “ (169). These two fields are presented because they are the only fields Wall Street and Ivy League college campuses deem as being successful. Students display the extent our culture shape

This closed-minded view of success is what Shames goes on to call a flawed philosophy in society, as the hunger to have more will always arise. He targets this piece of writing mainly to youth who still have the power to change this narrow way of thinking, the way we look at success in our world and to create a place where this concept does not have to necessarily equal material possessions. For example, one of the many things taught from an early age is to get to know yourself and your strengths and weaknesses. This is key when it comes to setting goals for yourself since no person is the same, how can we expect to achieve the same narrow target of “success”? With this in mind, we do need to be realistic in our aspirations, but that does not mean that we must limit

Success is an idea that widely varies from person to person because of how it is based on each individual and what their personal view of success is. No one can decide for another what success constitutes, but it is something each person decides for themselves. Even institutions such as colleges, though some may try, cannot decide what success means in the life of its students because their definition can be very different from what the students think. In “An Army of One: Me”, Jean Twenge discussed the idea of self discovery in the lives of those belonging to the GenMe generation. They viewed success as something that could be easily achieved because they have high self esteem, and are continually reassured by those all around them that as

al., P.177). We must lessen our pursuit for self-gratification with our obligation to community. Bellah et, al writes "The self-interest demanded by the individualistic pursuit of success needs to be balanced by voluntary concern for others" (Bellah et. al., P.199).