Ivory Tower

The article that I picked is from U.S News & World Report, it is written by ‘Robert Mendenhall’ and the title is ‘Change is Critical to the Future of Higher Education’. Robert Mendenhall is the president of ‘Western Governors University’ and also serves as a member of its board of trustees. The article is about how the future of higher education in the U.S is uncertain and that change is critical. In his article he talks about several key factors that require major change, in order to improve higher education. He says, “I am asked all the time about what I see for the future of higher education. Unfortunately, I think it will look a lot like it does today, because most institutions are resistant to any real change. Nevertheless,

Frank Bruni’s article “How to measure a college’s value”(2015), analyzes the value of a college education based on a diversity of often unconsidered factors. Bruni supports his claim by questioning the unknown, constantly repeating the central argument in order to shift the audience away from preconceived notations, and through statistical

Have you ever had an extraordinary desire for something, only to have someone tell you it is out of your reach? Does that make you try harder, or completely give up? In Professor X’s essay, In the basement of Ivory Tower, (X) he goes into great detail stating how his

My underrepresented group in higher education is African American. The representation of the African-American racial group within higher education is disproportionately low compared to other racial groups in higher education due to various barriers. As a consequence, the severe shortage of African American faculty is a critical challenge for many

English 101 Reading Response Summary Professor X who is a part-time adjunct instructor of English in a community college wrote this journal to discuss a very controversial issue: Is that important or necessary for everyone to continue a high level education in college? The ideal of equal opportunity gives the

Having chosen the University of Southern California (USC) over the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) as the institution to continue my educational pathway has always brought up curious questions as to why I chose one over the other. Aside from the academic stance of both institutions there were always inevitable comments about how much better the area surrounding UCLA is compared to the sketchy area surrounding USC. Having attended Foshay Learning Center about two miles from USC gave me front insight of how beautiful that area actually is despite the dark allegations. I manage to respond to those stereotype influenced notions with my high school that is actually full of hardworking underprivileged minorities striving for further higher education.

“Is College Doomed?” Reading Response In “Is College Doomed?” Wood describes the new and innovative university known as Minerva. He expresses the large and distinct differences that Minerva has when compared to the ubiquitous average American university and even universities around the world. He gives different examples of the innovation; and even states reasoning of why this system that Minerva has is even better than regular universities and colleges. For example, in the passage Wood explains how the teaching methods at Minerva are said to be more effective and even superior to that of an average university. Instead of lectures (which lack of effectiveness for learning is explained), they have online discussions and seminars which force the students to be involved because of the intimacy and small class size. Because of this innovative educational system, Wood implies the strong possibility of a future in which this system will take over and the traditional university system will be completely abolished. That is how strongly those in favor of Minerva feel about its impending success in the future and even near future.

In this interview with Texas Governor Greg Abbott on higher education, Abbott argues that the top ten percent rule, or for The University of Texas at Austin more specifically, the top eight percent, does not give the university enough latitude in deciding which students to admit. Abbott develops his argument with his audience, UT alumni, in mind. Abbott gives his audience reasons to feel by utilizing honorific language to

In his article “In the Basement of the Ivory Tower,” Professor X explains how our society pressures people to take college courses for which they are not equipped. As both a community college and private college adjunct English teacher, Professor X explains the goal of his courses is for the student to complete research, form opinions, put together facts, then write their papers. He provides examples where people must take a certain amount of college level classes to advance in their occupation or to even apply for a job. He says, “There is a sense that the American workforce needs to be more professional at every level” (X). Even though he agrees that college should be an option if a person wants it, he argues that not everyone is

After watching the documentary film "Ivory Tower", I have learned many new information about post-secondary institutions. The most remarkable ones include the cause that probably led to exploding tuition costs for higher education, the facts and statistics about the current situation like that massive total student loan debt of over

Will There Finally be Ebony in the Ivory Towers? The tech industry has been lambasted for the lack of diversity in the major players like Apple, Facebook, and Google, especially for the lack of black and brown personnel in upper management. Spike Lee has recently renewed his cry for a more diverse Hollywood, recently commenting, "It's easier to be the president of the United States as a black person than be the head of a studio [or] network." What about the nation's ivory tower educational institutions? Would it surprise you to know they are predominately white and male?

Lane A. Glenn manages to make a compelling argument that potential students should be optimistic towards their higher education. He utilizes rhetorical devices that are affective on his target audience. He knows that people respond to a well-rounded argument so he addresses the counterargument. He acknowledges the needs of his audience and uses logic to offer them a solution. And he understands that people respect authority and bases his whole argument around authoritative opinions. Glenn knew exactly how to convince his audience to pursue a college

Chasing the American Dream As Dan Rather once said, “A college degree is the key to realizing the american dream, well worth the financial sacrifice because it is supposed to open the door to a world of opportunity.” The two colleges that people are impelled on attending are the University of Indiana Bloomington (IU) and the University of Louisville (UofL). There are a variety of similarities between this colleges. An example is that both colleges have a student-faculty ratio of 17:1. In this non-biased based essay there will comparing and contrasting between these college paths.

Corwin mentions how affirmative action, the policy of favoring members of a group who suffers from discrimination, plays a role in the admissions of inner-city students to universities. Since most inner-city students are of minorities and lack stable economic conditions, many people accuse them of being more favored by administrators. However, a study suggests that “about 45 percent of the students who were accepted as a result of affirmative action, despite lower grades and test scores, were white.” They were chosen as a result of possessing “characteristics…other than race that were deemed important.” Furthermore, even after affirmative action ended, Pete Wilson, a presidential nominee at the time, ran his own affirmative action program that “benefitted the children of the rich and influential white people,” those he considered to “play by the rules.” Corwin also reveals that Wilson has used his position to gain UC admissions for his family and acquaintances; some of whom were chosen before more qualified

Introduction New Ivory is a private company which manufacture and produce packaged sauces. Based in the UK they work in a competitive market supplying 50% of products to supermarkets and 50% to other clients. New Ivory (NI) attempt to use lean principles in order to make their business more efficient. Using these principles helps them to deliver their products to clients within the given lead time of 14 days; currently they rely heavily on forecasting sales. It is not an effective system and there is potential to erase the waste they create, they still need to apply further lean principles to achieve this. Kaizen is important with all the flows and processes; it will however take time to implement. The theories need to be implemented carefully and within certain ideals to create continuous improvement.