Analysis Of What I Learned By David Sedaris

Jacob Neusner’s commencement speech points the finger not only at the graduating students but mainly at the faculty members. He sways towards how easy-going, laid back, and forgiving the professors and other faculty members were towards their students. In that sense, Neusner clearly states that these students aren’t prepared for what’s about to come because they have always had someone hold their hand every step of the way and shown forgiveness in this fantasy called “college.” College is supposed to help you get your feet wet and aid students with preparation for the harsh so called real world. Many thoughts ran through my brain while reading this speech as did my emotions which were up and down like a rollercoaster. As much as I agree with Jacob Neusner on the fact that college and the “real world” are

(40) With this in mind, Lawrence B. Schlack uses his status effectively, by referring to high school graduates as a destructive force. “The go-to-college tsunami,” in other words, Schlack is trying to convey that students have this perception that they must attend college. And with that said, students place themselves into a situation they don’t know how to handle. Despite the shortage of credibility, Schlack makes up for it with the amount of pathos he provides in the

David Sedaris is a one of the best-selling authors. One of his books is called "Naked." In this book he talks about his life. David Sedaris is a great writer who wrote about his family and himself when he was growing up. While most people usually don't like talking about the humiliating moments of their lives, he presents the reader with his own obsessions and the numerous interesting and funny events from the life of his family. Sedaris uses a lot of sarcasm in his book; therefore it is very appealing and interesting to read. Sedaris was able to see the irony in any situation. I think this quality is very important in dealing with different issues in our lives.

Cureton and John Tagg both look at the bigger picture. In “Collegiate Life: An Obituary,” Levine & Cureton discuss larger reasons for why students behave the way they do in college–hope and fear. From these two emotions, they show how other attitudes–consumer expectations, psychological “damage,” and a utilitarian approach to learning–are a result of these two greater forces (Levine & Cureton 712). On the other hand, Tagg, in “The Decline of the Knowledge Factory: Why Our Colleges Must Change,” places the blame for the failure of higher education on universities. He writes that students’ disinterest and professors’ complaints are both due to the failure of the universities. Edmundson’s essay is given context and an explanation in Tagg’s

First, a college student suffers from many financial problems because of the high cost of tuition and books. After reading Bird’s selection, I have found words such as “dismayed” and “overwhelmed” to help identify the author’s attitude. Throughout this reading, these words express that majority of college students felt lowly due to the loss of ambition towards professors or have reconsidered if they belong in a college. Given the diction, it helps portray the sense of tone that Bird expresses throughout her writing. An example is, "I am dismayed to … estimate that no more than 25 percent of their students are turned on by classwork.” Her tone in this writing sounds sarcastic and disappointed. Many people believe college is the next step after high school, however, that is not true according to Bird.

David Sedaris’s commencement speech was an entirely different tone and told in a different way but still hold some of the same themes. When Sedaris’s parents wanted him to go to college for patricide he didn’t

I found Dave Barry’s article to be very funny, but true. Throughout this article Dave Barry states his bias opinion on the way he views college. He is basically making fun of the education system. Dave Barry uses his humor in a way of arguing the concept of how we are learning things that we will never use in life. I think this article is similar to the other articles we have read, but uses a different tone to express it.

Before one can truly dig in and unpack this texts, we first need to get to know the author. The author of the article, “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s” Brent Staples, born on September 13, 1951, grew up an unpretentious boy in Chester Pennsylvania with nine siblings (“Brent Staples” 1). Staples grew up very financially challenged and “was accepted to Widener University through a program called Project Prepare (“Brent Staples” 1). By receiving his PhD in Phycology he then went on to teach at local universities in Pennsylvania and Chicago. Staple’s article, “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s,” by the use of ethos gains instant credibility as he has personal experience in the field to back up his arguments. Also coming from such a poor family with so many siblings Staples work ethic had to be sickening to become as successful as he has. This has imprinted a moral of working hard for what is received, which explains his anger towards this undeserved sense of accomplishment that college students are receiving.

Colombo explains that “Beginning college can be disconcerting experience” (Colombo, p.1). That there will be more peer pressure from your peers and an increase expectations that you have never faced during your high

Galileo Galilei, an Italian polymath, once said, “You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.” After graduating college, many students feel anxious about the new chapter of their lives they’re about to begin. Students are bound by a curriculum since primary school, guidelines they conform to all their lives in order to walk across a stage with a degree in hand. However, these individuals are seldom able to explore the passions inside of them that shape their aspirations throughout their time in the education system. Instead, they reflect on their college years of staying up all night to write final papers. Finals papers students have revised and edited a multitude of times in order to produce a paper that adheres to a rubric and, once again, conforming to another set of guidelines. In Donovan Livingston’s Harvard Graduate School of Education Commencement Speech, “Lift Off”, Livingston uses rhetorical devices such as alliteration, allusion, and metaphor to reinforce his message that students should not be limited by the confines of the education system, but that the education system should be supporting and guiding students towards reaching their full potential by the time they step out into the real world.

When my chemistry teacher handed back the test we took, I frustratingly wiped sweat away from my eyebrow. Another C- no saving my grades now. Even if I studied diligently for eight hours a day and aced everything, I can do no better than a B-. I thought about my friends who go to a less prestigious school; they can put in minimal amount of work in chemistry class and still manage an A-. Then, I stumbled upon “In Praise of the “F” Word”. In her article “In Praise of the “F” Word”, Mary Sherry makes a case that high schools are giving students grades that they don’t deserve or didn’t work for, producing “semiliterate” graduates. “In Praise of the “F” Word” attempts to persuade teachers to grade harshly on students in order for them to truly comprehend the material and be prepared for the workforce when they graduate. Sounds fairly reasonable at first glance, doesn’t it? However, if one analyzes this proposal, it’s not hard to find a myriad of underlying consequences with it. If teachers decide to go through with Sherry’s plan, they put their students at an immediate disadvantage and jeopardize their chances of getting into a better college.

In his article "Making the Grade," Kurt Wiesenfeld presents a problem regarding the ethical value of grades in modern society. A physics professor, Wiesenfeld opens the article by making the "rookie error" of being in his "office the day after final grades were posted." (paragraph 1) Several students then attempt to influence him to change their grades for the class. What concerns Wiesenfeld is that many of his more recent students consider a grade to be a negotiable commodity rather than accept the grade as an accurate representation of efforts and performance and how much they learned. The author indicates that part of this

To Sylvia, being educated means seeing things as they are. Sylvia and Miss Moore both have a considerable amount of pride. Sylvia thinks Miss Moore shows disrespect when she describes their neighborhood as a slum and their families as poor. Bambara has indicated that Sylvia 's family is striving for better conditions through the mention of the piano rental. Miss Moore views the children 's acceptance of their economic condition as ignorance and their ignorance as disrespect for their race. Miss Moore wants to change this attitude and encourages the children to demand more from the society that keeps them down. By the end of the story, both of these characters have made their points. Sylvia realizes

The author views it by telling some stories of other people and their experiences with getting bad grades and how you can still bounce back. In the story it says, "I'm ashamed I failed Precalculus, but I decided to take it again and I got a B-plus".(Paragraph 7)This quote from the text tells you that failing encourages you to do better next time and also makes you wanna work harder next time. Another quote from the text to support the first quote is, "I am now taking calculus, and even though I don't love it, I'm glad I pushed through it". (Paragraph 7)This quote is telling you that getting one bad grade encouraged this kid to try his hardest and try not to make that grade again.

At some point, someone has said that high school will be the best four years of their lives and college gets even better. So with that idea in people’s heads, they come up with their ideal image of the college. They start planning the perfect scenario of what college they will go to and what their roommate will be like. They often try to compare an unrealistic image and turn it into a realistic image, but they are unlike in many ways. Once students step onto the college campus, they will soon face what it is actually like to be in college.When people understand that college is not the perfect movie scene, then they will take advantage of expanding and furthering their education seriously. Going to college is a whole different experience and there is a lot more to it such as the rigorous classes and overwhelming school work, being more independent, and forming new bonds with others.