Whitman's Argument For Organizing Class-Wide Google Docs

In 2014, there were over 17.3 million students enrolled in American undergraduate programs, a 31% increase from fourteen years ago in 2000 (National Center for Education Statistics). In this day and age, most Americans need a degree to ascertain career opportunities in the future; there are options for virtually all backgrounds to receive a postsecondary education. Due to the variety of education options in the United States, there are numerous opportunities for one to reach their “Utopia” when coming to school. In an idea world, there must be a school for every student to have their individual needs met and provide the perfect college experience. Through synthesizing famous texts such as Hamlet, The Aeneid, Utopia, and The Prince, I will describe the “Utopian” college setting that will successfully prepare a student like myself for the transition into adulthood. While college is both intellectually stimulating and challenging, there should be no challenge to be prepared for the “real world.”

What we get out of the college experience, we use in our day to day lives. Even the things we think aren’t important or useful end up becoming helpful. The material we learn in college is fundamental when it comes jobs and life in general. We are taught to make choices. We are taught how the real world works, and how to turn our education into our way of life. “…the really significant education in thinking that we’re supposed to get in a place like this isn’t really about the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about.” (Wallace 199).

In Barszczs’ essay conclusion, he gives poetically clear examples why students will benefit from taking campus-based courses. He stresses the value of face to face interaction between the students and the faculty. Being late to a class, or missing an assignment has a stronger effect if the student has to personally interact with the instructor. Barszcz defines the word education as a process of “drawing out”, stating that campus life can “draw out, from within a person, qualities of intellect and character that would have otherwise remained hidden or dormant.” (8).

In her essay, she starts out by addressing the financial challenges that most college She quotes, “ Cs get degrees.” She tries to empower the reader that students don’t have any real desire to learn and are going through the motions of college. Pharinet states that the biggest challenge of college students is to convince the students to want to learn and ignite a spark. She also uses the word “freedom.” She engages the readers by convincing how time and stress management will fall short and that freedom often prevails in college failure.

Last summer, I hiked the Appalachian Trail with my wonderful partner Travis—who graduated from WCU with a Bachelor’s in Psychology. This was our first big hike together on the AT; spanning over 400 miles in just about 30 days. It was an incredible experience that grounded me and influenced a new-found discipline that only genuinely wholehearted, physically-taxing effort can provide. I was enlightened to my own personal values, goals, and abilities in such a way that I could analyze them as a network, as opposed to individual aspects of my life. I uncovered my path to continue wholly dedicating myself to my studies and my ambitions; I found what was truly important to me and what I truly wanted. Within this experience, I resolved to have “West Chester University” on my

College. The word alone sends an icy chill down my spine as my mind wanders and dreams of the day that I will finally step foot on an enlightening campus. As a curious child and even more inquisitive teen, I have always been, and continue to be, mesmerized by the glossy college pamphlets with perfect photos of students, posing “naturally” in their science labs and English seminars. I always knew college was for me, as at the age of seven I began planning out my future major (and minors). Of course, my ideal university and course of study has changed over the years, yet the idea of college has continued to fascinate me. The core principles of any given college are most likely related to collaboration, a rigorous education, and diversity, which

On our visit to the University Of Redlands, My guide walked backwards facing us the entire time. While walking backwards our guide made a special effort to connect with us, without seeing, venturing in the unknown. I chose the University of Redlands because of its academic rigor, diverse student population, and the beautiful campus. My interests are Business Administration, Political Science, Pre-law, Corporate and Sports Contractual Law. Attending at this remarkable University would allow me to invest in myself and would help change the world perspectives around me. A career in law will enable me to help people who are less fortunate and contribute to an established law firm. While attending the University of Redlands, I intend to respect

Students today have been raised to think that college is just the next step in life after high school. Decades ago,going to college was a huge achievement and not many people enrolled. Today, however it is almost expected that you go to college. The purpose of college has been changing over the years. Students and professors have lost sight of what to get out a college education. Gary Gutting explains in his article, “What is College for?” that students are losing passion for higher education. He also believes that professors are not realizing what their true job really is, and are not doing the necessary procedures to help their students succeed. “In On the Uses of a Liberal Education”, Mark Edmundson shares similar ideas, and gives a first person point of view of Gutting’s ideas about the quality of the college experience. Mark Edmundson would agree with Gary Gutting’s claims that the quality of colleges is declining and is negatively affecting the students and faculty members.

We are quiet and focused, erratic and spontaneous, power-hungry and arrogant, self-loathing and snobby. But we, students, are merely people who want to learn. Though Delbanco believes that a Liberal Arts education today might be riddled with inaccessibility and uselessness, I know, as a student engulfed in the liberal arts to the fullest, that such an education will provide students with the ability to “fight out among and within themselves…. And discover that self-interest need not be at odds with concern for one another” (177). Through interdisciplinary study and educational freedom, students can dine quite well on a balanced and colorful buffet plate of

Jerry Koehler: From St. Louis U. to Cathedral High (1963) In 1963, Jerry Koehler graduates from St. Louis University with a BS degree. With a major in history and a minor in education, he has already been hired to teach history at Cathedral High School in Belleville. Although he receives scholarship help,

. Professor Alejandro Lee starts his morning playing word games on his phone in bed. Equipped with the best coffee he can brew, the computer isn’t too far away from him at 6 in the morning. He describes this as relaxing and calming. According to an online statistic, Central Washington University has a 19 to 1 student to teacher ratio (“Central Washington University Faculty Composition,” n.d.). While others are asleep, Lee scrolls through his two Facebook pages while sipping on his cup of joe and thinks about life. Reading emails with coffee on the tongue, he is all too ready to answer back with one to two dim lights on as the day begins.

But by the end of my two years as a community college student, I had only dipped my toe into the vast pool of academic potential. Not only does the University of Washington offer infinite career and social opportunities, it provides a community of diverse student body and experienced professors all aiming toward the same goal of success. At the University of Washington I can continue my education and work toward a major that utilizes and builds upon my existing

These hours with Jerry, waiting for a ride home, or the hour we took for lunch, proved to be my favorite time of day. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College I was desperate to go back to school, I spent hours a day applying to graduate school (for two years in a row), I wrote personal statements and essays about my academic pursuits, I wrote about the importance of an academic community for personal growth without really realizing that I was already enrolled in Professor Jarrell Jackman’s seminar “Tips to live a successful and rewarding

Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing a great inspiration to me, my mother, Stephanie Sacks, about her experience in college. She went to Evergreen State College for her baccalaureate degree. She enjoyed the vast majority of the classes she took; “All of Evergreen was sort of an extracurricular.”, she said. The one she didn’t like was a biology class. “I absolutely hated that class.”, she remembered. The room was so warm, and the lectures so boring, that she fell asleep on multiple occasions. “Thank god I didn’t go to a regular college, because I would have absolutely hated it,” She chuckled. “I hated studying things I had no interest in.” Her favorite part of college was getting to pick which classes she took, which she said, “...was

In American society, higher education has become the standard and all over the country young people are being told just how important and necessary this extended learning is. The question is: why? Mark Edmundson, author of “Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?”, tackles this question with full-force in his essay about making the most of your college learning. Within the essay, Edmundson’s purpose is to inspire a new way of thinking for students just beginning their college education. He gives the readers a personal account of self-discovery amidst the depravity of academics, and emphasizes that this is one of the most important parts of the college experience.