Throughout life, one develops their own characteristics that make them who they will be for the rest of their lives. In that interesting life, however, there must be important moments that highlight your personality, and overall make you the crowing person you are today. Whether that moment be life-searingly painful to remember, there are others that are so memorable because they were a time of great jubilation. These are the ones that we usually choose to make our lives encircle. Personally, there are many events that lead me up to becoming the honors student, actor, and “ladies-man” that I am today. When I attended KEY Camp at Casper College the summer of my fifth grade, it taught me three important lessons, which were the power of friendship, intelligence, and confidence.
It was late in the year of fifth grade, and the feeling of summer was setting in. Cody Baumstarck, Jason Wang, and I were all over by the closet talking about random subjects, none of which had any relation to the subject supposedly being taught by the instructor, Mr. St. Clair. In all actuality, I’m pretty sure he was sleeping on his desk while the kids just played around for the day. Later though, we arrived from choir to notice that he had awoken, and was writing the math assignment down on the chalkboard. Cody, Jason, and I sat near the front of the room, the sound of screeching white chalk on the board was so familiar to us, as well as the groaning of noticing there was an assignment from other classmates.
To be honest, however, my friends and I had no trouble with the math, it was usually actually pretty fun. Ten minutes before the bell rang, he called us three, and two other guys out into the hallway. At first, we were scared (our elementary track re...
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...MY friend!”
With the entire realization that I could’ve only attended this college trip, it reveals that having extreme intelligence, especially at a young age, can help you with so many problems in your life, such as relationships and jobs. College isn’t just for learning, it’s for life-learning. Teachers and doctors, and the most important people in the world are all that they are because of college. Their intellectual minds allowed them that access.
With the pain of feeling regret or being rejected, one must stand up to challenges and be confident in your choices, making you a true leader. If I hadn’t won the game, my confidence wouldn’t have soared enough to be able to ask Miranda to the dance. The entire experience of KEY Camp strengthened not only my mind, or intelligence, but also my confidence, as well as my ability to make friends by making me more social.
We have been taught all throughout our years of school that grades are important. True, grades are very important, but are they the only quality we should be focusing on as we enter college? Perhaps we should look past grades and focus on things such as the adaptation into the college life. Patrick Sullivan shares college education is more than just tests and intelligence. He also shares tips on how to prepare for this life-changing move into adulthood. In his article “Essential Habits of Mind for College Readiness”, Sullivan discusses specific qualities that are crucial in college years and beyond, such as curiosity, openness, creativity, accountability, humility, and character. I believe these qualities are what shape a college student, because
College, a gateway for expanding the horizons within our youth has many conflicting ideas due to it's cost, suggesting that it may not even be worth it. Yet thinking about having this privilege of exposing our minds to anything and everything we desire while providing ourselves with far more opportunity in the future makes every late night double shift, staying up until 3 am, living off ramen noodles well worth it.
As students around the world have reached the end of their high school career all must choose to go into the work force or college for a higher education. As generations have progressed it seems now the only option for our youth is to get a college degree. Now it seems almost all jobs that pay at or above salary in the United States acquire some form of higher education. The articles The New Liberal Arts, College Prepares People for Life, and Hidden Intellectualism are only a few of many essays/articles that dive into the subject of college, and the impact it may or may not have on one’s future.
Imagine telling that to a student who just finished four years of hard, grueling, expensive work; or, even worse, a parent who paid for their child to finish that same grueling work. But, in some ways, that statement can’t be any further from the truth. College can prepare a student for life in so many more ways than for a career. However, in the way that college is supposed to prepare soon-to-be-productive students, that statement could be right on. As a student myself, I’ve found college to be a little bit of both. I often find myself asking, "How will this help me later in life?" But, then again, college gives me more control over my life and where I want it to go. In trying to figure out what exactly made college like this, and whether the way I felt was felt by others as well, I interviewed an Anthropology teacher at Las Positas College, Mr. Toby Coles, and I examined an essay by Caroline Bird called College is a Waste of Time and Money. The two sources offered interesting views from both side of the spectrum.
Hacker and Dreifus note that many students should become more thoughtful and educated in fields other than vocational ones during their time in college. Glassner and Schapiro agree with that assertion, admitting that they are concerned that while in college, their students receive the practical knowledge as well as more sophisticated intelligence so that they can become leaders, prepared to address prominent societal issues rather than simply having a
Another point that society makes is that college will turn its students into better people. But how does college actually turn someone into a better person? College can place students in situations that call for responsibility and in situations where they may demonstrate qualities of leadership. However college does nothing more then give the students the opportunity to demonstrate the qualities that they already possess. As Bird effectively quotes from respected psychologists Bruner and Piaget, "Specific learning skills have been acquired very early in life, perhaps even before formal schooling begins" (306). Piaget and Bruner believe that the skills of leadership and responsibility have been learned prior college. College simply provides an environment to display the basic skills.
In all, I feel that the author’s message was to prepare the reader being the college freshman on the journey to becoming a college student. The author wants the reader to know not to lose what they have learned before making the journey of becoming a college student. I believe that if you stick to what you have learned prior to becoming a college student, and know that this is a journey where you will find success, in not losing who you are you will graduate and will have fewer worries on the
Wallace speech and Edmundson’s essay have many things in common as well as differences. Both of them see college as something different than just an education where you learn. According to Wallace and Edmundson, a college where students are thought something and later forgotten is not an education. They both have an interesting view on what college is mainly for. Wallace states that college is to teach students how to think, whereas Edmundson explains that college is to “find yourself”.
The author Charles Murray says there are too many people going to college without really saying it. The essay is written in a way that his audience will understand by the time they finish reading that he has many valid points. He Persuades his readers with facts and counters arguments to false stereotypes involving college and success. By questioning whether college is for everyone makes "you" the reader want to rethink if your time spent in college was really worth it in the end.
As a young girl in school, I always believed that I would one day would be successful and had the hope that a college education would assist me in being successful. I exceled in school even with circumstances such as hurricane Katrina and September 11 and had a thirst for knowledge. At the same time, the teachers that influenced me in life convinced me to attend college for the betterment of knowledge and a potential for a job or a career. However, those same teachers were teaching me textbook methods and no real on hand training that is essential in an education especially a college education. In "Vocation or Exploration? Pondering the Purpose of College”, Alina Tugend ponders the idea of college being either Vocation—job training— or Exploration learning. She starts off by referring to her oldest son is about to graduate high school, but quickly goes straight to the point of her essay with “What exactly is a university education for?” She provides answers such as college is a way to automatically receive a job if one majors in science, technology or a major that can be applied to a changing world that we live
Attending college is not necessarily the mind expanding endeavor everyone makes it out to be. It is assumed college graduates will be better critical thinkers and problem solvers, but those benefits do not automatically
Nikki Giovanni made numerous fascinating points. The beginning of her essay began with a good amount of questions. Her questions made me realize just how important education really is. Nikki argues that college education is important, and I agree because education is what sets us apart from uneducated people. For example, she mentioned a question regarding jobs, she said “ Being turned down for jobs because you are not college educated?” This question made me think of many of my family members because, a few of them have been turned down from getting a job because they had no college education. This question also made me realize how fortunate I am to have an education. In Nikki’s essay she provided her readers with great advice. For instance, she told her readers to meet with their professors, to do assignments on time, to go back to a professor when you believe you deserved a better grade, and to participate in school activities. I believe the most useful piece of advice that she gave for me was, to go to class.
The transition from high school to college can be a difficult experience, but also life changing. It is a time of independence, along with constant questioning. This transition is a coming of age story, just like the novel Persepolis, the story of Marjane’s childhood and growth. Both are about transitioning from a safe haven to an unknown, distant place. Marjane learns to question authority, and form her own opinions through her experiences during the Iranian Revolution. By the time she steps onto that plane to leave her parents behind in country faced with political unrest, she is an independent woman. A part of growing up is learning how to think for yourself in order to thrive in a new environment such as college. Although Marjane’s story and mine are separated by geography and circumstance, many of the things we learned while growing up allow us to question authority and find a new perspective by thinking for ourselves.
In his article, “Live and Learn : Why We have College” published on June 6, 2016, by author and professor of several public and Ivy League universities, Louis Menand writes an article about college and why we have college in our society. Menand claims that society wants to know the intelligent people as early as possible in order to figure out what career suits them that would make use of their talents to its maximum. Menand’s article exercises his usage of ethos with his three theories that present explanations to why we have college, which allows him to promote his article and portray college as a foundation of learning, and a place that helps oneself form realistic goals for themselves, however, Menand takes a wide stance to why we have
Dr. Laust’s Comments: This student's assignment was to write a personal narrative essay describing an event that dramatically affected her life. Her choice of narrating her rise in the ranks of JROTC is unique, interesting, and very appropriate for the assignment. She does a very nice job of using specific details to describe aspects of the experience as well as employing dialog to accent her account. The reader gets a clear sense of the impact this event had on her life.