Mark Edmunson's Who Are You And What Are You Doing Here?

Noted authors, Brandon Chambers, is quoted saying, “If you are going to fear anything fear success. Think about what you are doing and when you succeed what life you will have.” There are several different reasons why I could stay home, work and not go to college; I could go to work every day and make more money for the house, it’s easier, and I would be less stressed. Now, on the other hand there are many reasons why I should go to school; such as further my education, make my family proud, and make myself proud. I am attending college for several different reasons. One reason is to further my education. I hate feeling like I don’t know something, I like being the person everyone comes to for information. Also, because I want to

Growing up, it was beaten into my head the importance of going to college to get a good job. I have to provide for myself and make good money. I won’t be “happy” unless I have this. Even though my parents told me that the game was just a game, I was still impacted by the very thought of not failing at life. Based off the game I had the notion that was how the real world worked, and in a weird way, it is how it works. The goals aspired in that game are ones my parents and authority figures have me strive for continually, to go to college, get a job, have a family, be successful. There’s all kinds of pressure at the dinner table of, “So do you know what you want to be when you grow up? A lawyer, a doctor, or a business woman?” Even in middle school I was given personality assessments to figure out my future career, and how to plan my high school schedule according to my desired profession.

“I feel sorry for the person who can't get genuinely excited about his work. Not only will he never be satisfied, but he will never achieve anything worthwhile” (Walter Chrysler). Deciding on what one wants to be in life can prove to be a demanding task. There are so many, yet limited, different opportunities in the world to have an excellent career and make a decent living while doing something one loves. It is limited because there are only a few specific career paths that someone could take to make good money. It is very difficult to make a fulfilling living being a garbage man. There are many different opportunities because, within these specific careers, there are usually various paths to take. Someone who has dreams to be a

College is an opportunity to truly discover who you are. Often enough, you hear people saying “You should really major in this field, I think you would really enjoy this career.” or, “Do you think you really want to study that? Have you thought about what you will be doing ten years from now?” filling your mind with self doubt, uncertainty, and the anxiousness of not knowing what you want to do with the rest of your life. Mark Edmundson wrote an article titled, Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?, published in Oxford American addressing college students and their families how the most important thing college students should focus on is personal growth. When students take their courses seriously their engagement can help finding out who they really are and which future career will lead not necessarily to great financial success, but to a career and life that is very satisfying. Edmundson wants to inspire his audience and have them take what he is saying seriously. Edmundson uses satirical informal language and hypothetical situations to effectively persuade college students to focus on their personal growth in order to create a life and career that is deeply fulfilling.

I want to to go to college for something that I love. When I’m done with college and have a job, I want to know that it was all worth it. My motivation isn’t my parents. My parents aren’t going to be there to make all my decisions and tell me what to do. Going to college is my ultimate decision. Secondly my ultimate motivation to go to college is for the money. I want to be able to support my future self and also my family when the time comes. Lastly I want to go to college so I can get a degree. Many jobs now a days require that you have a degree. According to the article “Even for Cashiers College Pays Off” by David Leonhardt he states, “ Education helps people do higher- skilled work, get jobs with better-paying companies or open their own businesses.” Many workers alike benefit from having a high-school diploma and a college degree. People acquire many valuable skills while in college. Either way, the skills that colleges teach, related to discipline and persistence, may be more valuable than academics. My motivation to keep going to and go to college has always been my own expectations of being able to to reach the highest point of success in doing what i want in

After high school, many students make the decision on attending college based off of the things their parents/ teachers may have taught them when they were young. For example, many students further their education because throughout their lifetime they’re told they have to. In school we’re taught that in order for us to receive good jobs, and make a decent amount of money we have to have a college degree. Some are even taught that they must go beyond the undergrad and receive their masters, and doctorate degrees if they really want to be known as something in this world. While others go because it would make their parents proud, or to fulfill the legacy of being a first generation college student in their families. While this may be the case majority of the time, if you’re like me you go because

College students are often worrying too much about becoming wealthy in the future rather than worrying about funding a career they love to perform in the future. Many students feel they need too have their entire life figured out and only take classes that will advance them. While these classes are important, taking elective classes are also necessary to experiance new things and open their minds.too In “College Pressures” by William Zinsser, Zinsser uses pathos to explain how students are stressing out about planning their futures.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. “ Those words, spoken by Confucius, represent the goal of not only mine, but many others when it comes to finding your true calling. The voyage to find your purpose in life can be quite difficult. Often times this journey proves too challenging and forces an individual to give up all together and instead settle for something easier to obtain and inferior to their original goal. This can commonly lead to feelings of unfulfillment and regret in the choices you have made. It’s not until you find your true calling that you go from thinking about your job as something that you have to do to something that you love doing.

Leah LaBelle once stated, ¨Work hard for what you want because it won't come to you without a fight. You have to be strong and courageous and know that you can do anything you put your mind to.” Society is often caught in the realm between making a living and being content with the work someone is completing. Some argue that happiness should come before money, but others feel as though money allows for more opportunities to create joy. In Mike Rowe: Learning from dirty jobs, Rowe addresses that there are several distasteful jobs that are available to the American people, however, “The broken basic bargain” discusses the psychological issues that can accompany someone should he/she follow one of these unpleasant careers.

==========Despite the benefits and securities, there are a number of reasons why college is not meant for everyone. The person may not perform well or even learn anything from college. A person can be successful with or without a college degree. College is known by many as a “rite of passage” (Addison 256). The misconception is that people believe that you have to receive a four year education in order to be successful in life. A college education is like a key that opens the doors to more opportunities in life. However, it is not always needed.

Everybody knows that after high school you attend college, right? College is expected from society that has been placed for decades; it’s what you do is what society expects with these expectations comes pressure. Pressure from peers, choosing the right college, group mind, and deciding whether or not if you would like to attend college. College is not for everyone, so when a student is pressured to attend college, they often drop out before the first semester ends. The pressure doesn’t end with the initial decision, it continues with course selection or declaring you’re major. So they attend college to find themselves, and to see what they’re interested in. In the 21st century, the pressure to attend college causes students to fall under the pressure and attend college even when it not the best fit for the student.

People express the decisions they reach each day and their desire to alter some of the outcomes. As I observe the world around me, some just graduating high school ours rebuilding themselves for something better in life. Everyone is striving to be something in life; it’s as if the returns are boundless by the time you graduate college. Just learning to watch people and the decisions they make can affect the means which I adopted to pick my profession. Becoming a paramedic educated me on surveying people and their habits. Being empathetic amongst the things you do, sometimes comes with a penalty, others come with admiration. The unique obsession that urges me to exceed each time is knowing that each human being is helped, through everything

Dale Carnegie, an American lecturer on self-improvement, wrote, “Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.” My most examined memory is of my father complaining about his job, a cyclical unpleasantry. He became a physical therapist not out of passion, but by reason of a pleasing salary and stability. As it is now time for me to select an occupation, numerous elders have suggested careers such as pharmacists, radiologists, and drug researchers; an ‘oh they earn nice money’ follow the unwarranted suggestions. Despite the “allure” of wealth, I find safe jobs incredibly mundane. As people grow older, we extinguish our flaming passion for various reasons: family, money, security,

For me, the reason that why I go to the college is everyone in my senior high school does it.Most of students in Taiwan who have graduated from high school, they go to college rather than find a job. There are two reasons why I follow most of people’s footsteps to enter into college. First, I don’t truly realize what I pursue. Instead of thinking what I desire, I just has been taught to learn the knowledge of textbooks during schooldays. Second, I still have no ideas what kind of occupation is suitable for me. I consider that if I go to college, maybe I can get some ideas during four years. Therefore, I choose to continue with studying in order to figure out what I want to do in the future. In conclusion, I choose to follow most of people’s

For many, after graduating high school the next big step is college. I never asked myself why or if I even wanted to. Yet, since I was not yet ready to join the work force, and didn’t want to disappoint my parents, I simply followed the path that I was supposed to take. For a while I had no direction, but through the loss of my high school English teacher and my dream of making my family proud, I discovered that college was the place I wanted and needed to be.