1) Gladwell’s chief judgement is that ranking systems, that are heterogenous and claim to be comprehensive, cannot be employed to accurately or fairly represent all parties. Gladwell’s key reasons for his judgement are that colleges, especially, cannot be ranked according to a specific set of standards because there exists no direct way to measure the quality, success rate, and the level of challenge for students. 2) My initial reaction, when first reading the essay, consisted of a few different points. From the start, I had my own reservations and opinions about rankings; and consequently, I leaned in favor of Gladwell’s opinion. Another point which I differed on, in comparison to the research, is that of ‘involvement in school and social …show more content…
News). Morse attempts to counter the points made by Gladwell’s; however, he is not successful in his effort. If anything, Morse concedes to the accusations made by Gladwell (that the U.S. News excludes critical information that would otherwise affect the rankings of colleges) and responds by stating that the rankings are simply judgements made by ‘us’ and they are accurate in ‘our’ eyes because ‘we said so.’ Interestingly, Gladwell’s response to Morse’s counter is of both a conceding and refuting nature. Initially, Gladwell’s admission of Morse’s honesty seems fair in tone. Consequently, Gladwell concedes that there are no guidelines to rank colleges and therefore agrees that U.S. News has liberty to rank colleges as they see fit. Nevertheless, Gladwell does confront the problems with Morse’s argument and the ranking system, in a rather contentious manner, later in the essay. Given Gladwell’s purpose and audience I believe his readers would react in a similar manner as himself to Morse’s response; the reader’s response would most likely be one of resignation and disgruntlement. Moreover, since most of Gladwell’s reader’s share his viewpoint, their response to his handling of Morse’s response would be one of satisfaction and …show more content…
Gladwell’s tone throughout the essay is one of reason and fairness. He references outside sources to support his claims and doesn’t shy away from conflicting or opposite viewpoints. Gladwell also seems quite knowledgeable and firm on his stances. In paragraph 1-2, Gladwell explains the concept of using comprehensive and heterogenous ranking systems and how they do not work well together; furthermore, by showing his knowledge of these types of systems, is reassures the reader that he is capable of relating his stance to the subject at hand. Moreover, I also agree with Gladwell that price and affordability should be considered when evaluating the colleges. Common sense tells us that higher tuition can equate to better facilities and niceties but if the other prices of various colleges are not included or considered it becomes difficult to determine which college is the best value. I also agree with Gladwell that colleges cannot both be selective and concerned with efficacy. Schools that are only concerned with selectivity are not troubled whether the average student does or does not pass because they view it as a ‘thinning of the herd.’ Schools which are more focused on efficacy are concerned with equipping as many people with degrees as possible, so as to create a more educated
In her article, “The Case Against GRADES”, Alfie Kohn discusses the grading system and its faults. She opens her argument with information from an older psychological study that proves the negative impact of the current grading system, and she reinforces this with the proof that “no” research has contradicted this statement. Also, she gives many key reasons including: “Motivation”, “Achievement”, “Quantification”, and “Curriculum”. Kohn supports these topics with other reasearch for why the system is failing the students. She asserts that, “… the absence of grading is a necessary condition for promoting deep thinking and a desire to engage in it.” As support, she offers other solutions and then debunks them by proving that they would not solve
“About 15 percent of Harvard Students got a B-plus or better in 1950. In 2007, more than half of all Harvard grades were in the A range.” One of the questions being proposed by him is could the grade inflation be due simply to the fact that students are getting better? Primack simply refutes this argument by stating, “Privately, many faculty members and administrators say colleges are unwilling to challenge and possibly offend students and their hovering tuition paying parents with some tough grade love.” The writer claims that “grade inflation hides laziness on the part of the students, and as long as it exists, even faculty who want to do a good job grading don’t feel they can.”
She shows the perspective of many different people to show a seemingly neutral overview of the situation surrounding the status of valedictorian. Her frequent use of interviews and dialogue allows for her to show her opinion or position on the matter while still maintaining her status of neutrality; the claims simply appear to be the positions of others. The structure of her essay and positioning of her interviews also are deliberate and subtly support Talbot’s message. She grouped the interviews so that negative statements about valedictorians were positioned near the beginning and arranged the interviews with good outlooks on valedictorians near the end, separated by a chunk of historical context for the school system. The context used as a divider influences the reader to think the following interviews are stronger and more well reasoned because the audience has information to relate what the speakers are saying to. This establishes the intent behind the essay as the layout encourages the perception of the positive interviews as well written.
Malcolm Gladwell, in order to make his argument seem credible, utilizes specific writing techniques. Gladwell frequently uses anecdotes about successful individuals as examples to further strengthen his argument. Gladwell write that, “One warm, spring day in May of 2007, the Medicine Hat Tigers and the Vancouver Giants met for the Memorial Cup hockey championships in Vancouver, British Columbia” (Gladwell 15). Frequently, Gladwell starts each chapter with a story about an individual group. These stories showcase the events and lives of successful people and are followed by Gladwell’s analysis of their success. By using specific, descriptive anecdotes, Gladwell is proving the credibility of his argument. Instead of just reciting his analysis,
...ey obtain the same conclusion. Barber takes advantage of the “look what we have become” style to scare the reader into drawing conclusions in his favor. In contrast, Bloom points out a social convention, in this case the attending colleges, and pulls it apart one question at a time. However, Tannen uses something people assume is counterproductive and points from the history the benefit it brings. All three authors see something in the academic system that needs improving and in some cases they answer each other questions. Bloom suggests that college requires more time than is necessary to achieve the desired goal due to several factors. However, Tannen argues that debate in the classroom creates a fantastic environment for the student. Only time will tell how the education system will evolve and how the present will affect how education is viewed in the future.
Mark Edmundson, In the use of a Liberal Education, Edmundson observer’s his work place and peers with a long of his students he noticed how the evaluations was not up to date, Edmundson discuss with his students about how the consumerism has an impact on the college’s around the world and also talk’s about how some are financial supported by the “G.I. Bill and how the population dramatically increased after the Second World War “(44). Edmundson argues over the evaluations and how some students don’t always make them interesting and how he would commend them to be more interesting, than what has been written in the past years; Edmundson talks about how grading has gotten so much easier because the teachers are afraid of the students making
For one thing, weighting grades gives students and colleges the ability to examine a more accurate comparison of students from various schools with varying course schedule difficulties (Clinedinst). The thing is, these benefits mainly aid the gifted, college bound students in that it makes them stand out. This brings the opposition of weighted GPAs to argue that the actual weighting does not provide an equal playing field. J. Bravin argues in his book, The Executive Educator, that “The traditional reporting method, assigning grades of A, B, C, D, and F to student work, discourages college-bound students from electing to take classes that require rigorous effort… and leads to an inconsistent standard” (40). Since weighted GPAs lead to inequalities, educators around the country have protested traditional reporting methods, saying things similar to, “The only ones being penalized by not having weighted grades are our students” (Cognard
They end up being basically unsavory conclusions. For instance, Murray cites a primary counter-point that more individuals ought to get a liberal education through college. Murray consciously can't help contradicting this, saying, “More people should be getting the basics of a liberal education…the places to provide those basics are elementary and middle school,” (Murray 223). Likewise, he expresses that the larger part of individuals imagine that the motivation to attend a university is a result of the social standard of getting a BA will consequently secure a job. Murray states, "There has never been a period in history when individuals with abilities not taught in school have been at such request at such high pay as today, nor a period when the scope of jobs has been so wide… discovering the top notch talented work is hard," (Murray 236). By introducing the counter argument, Murray sets his point, saying that school is not for everyone, and social standards have changed the correct beliefs of
Knoblauch. I do not agree with this essay due to the fact that no matter which school you attend there will always be different types of students there with different types of literacy because we are not all the same. I feel he did not have extensive enough research on this for me to be sold on the topic.
Despite serving the same God and reading the same Bible and sharing the same moral values, Christians routinely disagree over how to respond to public policy issues. Why is this so?
It really made me think, and ask myself some questions about my major. He knew what he was doing whenever writing this essay, but what happens whenever everyone starts majoring in the “liberal arts?” It would not leave anyone else for anything else. That brings me to Charles Murray, and to an extent his opinions are my own, but some I could not fathom being okay with.
Former professor of geophysics, Stuart Rojstaczer, in his informative op-ed piece, “Grade Inflation Gone Wild,” featured in “Christian Science Monitior(2009),” investigates grade inflation among universities today. Rojstaczer’s purpose is to inform and educate universities on the inflation of grades, and how an A has become the average grade among those schools. He adopts a dismissive tone when generalizing and addressing the students on their behaviors and actions. Rojstaczer found over 80 universities with data on they’re grades, using this he was able to better understand the inflation and also analyze possible solutions. His logos based writing portrays a negative connotation on todays students and their ability to achieve within the classroom. There is no hiding that the standard for grades has been on the rise sense the 1960’s, and is now at an average GPA of a 3.0, but rojstaczer may have lost his audience with his arrogant approach.
Goode, Stephen and Maier, Timothy W. “ Inflating the Grades” Dissent Fall 1997: 102-04 in Mary Lynch Kennedy and Haley M. Smith. Reading and writing in the Academic Community. 2nd ed, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall 2001. 345-350.
Upon my reading of the novel 1984, I was fascinated by George Orwell’s vision of the future. Orwell describes a world so extreme that a question comes to mind, asking what would encourage him to write such a novel. 1984 took place in the future, but it seemed like it was happening in the past. George Orwell was born in 1903 and died in 1950; he has seen the horrific tides of World War ² and Ï. As I got deeper into this novel I began to see similar events of world history built into 1984.
The public high schools began a grading system as a way of telling an individual how they were performing. There was no interest by the public in reporting the school’s progress at teaching. Teachers, in an effort to recognize outstanding performers, looked for a way of rewarding hard-working students for their efforts The grading structure changed from superior and excellent to A’s and B’s. This placed much of the burden of recognizing academic talent on the high schools.