Mona Charen wrote “Snowflakes or Fascist?” (November 13, 2015) to argue that college students have become entitled and demanding of teachers. Charen supports this claim by explaining present and historical incidents where students have crossed the line and disrespected their authoritative figures. Her purpose is to show recent events in order to explain to the reader the effects of poor behavior of students and the inability of teachers to discipline on the college community. The author uses a comical yet censorious tone to appeal to her audience that is University teachers and their students.
In the First paragraph Charen is introducing the topic of her column by quoting Sinclair Lewis who said, “When fascism comes to America it will rewrapped
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in the flag and carrying a cross”. She uses this quote to allude to political ideas and then states her revised version of this quote as her thesis statement. This occurs in order for Charen to compare American political views to views in a college environment. For the readers this allows them to connect and become interested in reading the column. In paragraph two Charen discusses the resignation of a University President because he was criticized and disrespected by his students.
She alludes to religion by calling the presidents mistakes sins and the students are the overseers or “gods”. Her tone is demeaning as she discusses the president but she is apathetic towards the students. She does this in order to make it clear that she thinks what the students did was wrong, but she does not have respect for the University President because he was a coward and did not defend himself against the students. In this paragraph sarcasm is also used in order to show her despise for the students actions and the presidents coward …show more content…
actions. Paragraph three is used to describe the corrupt ethics in universities. It states,” … You can offend every principle enshrined in th eBible and the U.S. Constitution, you can make a mockery of higher education by offering courses on Martha Stewart’s whiteness or “Fifty Shades of Gray”, but don’t mess with the football team.” This is an appeal to ethos because in focuses on the ethics of college students and how they morals have declined. They are no longer focusing on their education but on their “needs” that are not being met by the faculty. In the next paragraph Charen states,” … She offered a view that would make Castro Proud.” This allusion to Castro and his tyrannical rule is to add description of how teachers are beginning to fight back against the poor behavior of their students. In Paragraph six Charen focuses on the actions of Universities in America condoning the poor behavior of students.
She states,” Congratulations, Yale, and Missouri, and America academia in general, you’ve succeeded in undermining the ethic of free inquiry, disinterested scholarship, and certainly anything like decent manners.” This is a paradox of congratulating these universities for their mistakes. It emphasizes the fact that they have not done what is necessary to develop a sense of authority in these schools. The tone is comical as she criticizes the Universities not because she does not take this seriously, but because it makes this paragraph stand out from the rest. this paragraph makes readers think and contemplate the changes needing to be
made. In the seventh paragraph Charen uses a metaphor that states, “ Students - - brimming with self-righteousness, unaware of how easily violence can spread, stimulated by the scent of blood in the water - - have provided the shock troops for most totalitarian movements.” Sharks are one of the most deadliest predators. They are capable of smelling blood in the water which normally leads to an attack. Charen compares students to these sharks because the students are able to see when a teacher is easily manipulated and that is when chaos takes place. Also in this paragraph, Charen alludes to historical events where students were tyrannical and destructive, more so than they are now. It states,” … American students seized buildings, held a dean hostage, looted research files and committed promiscuous vandalism. Nazi students “cleansed” Heidelberg and other universities of Jews and others. Russian universities became incubators for radicals who took their ideas into the streets. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao’s faithful pupils subjected their teachers to “re-education” and even occasionally cannibalized them.” This exert shows that students are not as distractive as they once were but once violence takes place in a group setting a mob mentality takes over controlling everyone. With this past knowledge society should be able to see when mod-mentality is beginning. With this we can predict and end this violence before it starts. Mona Charen wrote “Snowflakes or Fascists?” in order to show the declining behavior in students in universities. She believes that students feel entitled and find it acceptable to disrespect their teachers and other faculty because they were not disciplined correctly. She developed this argument through the use of the appeals, rhetorical devices, and exceptional organization of thoughts. Her points were clearly stated and she used great evidence to support her views. She appealed to her audience of students and university workers in order to see a change in these problems.
Within Megan H. Mackenzie’s essay, “Let Women Fight” she points out many facts about women serving in the U.S. military. She emphasizes the three central arguments that people have brought up about women fighting in the military. The arguments she states are that women cannot meet the physical requirements necessary to fight, they simply don’t belong in combat, and that their inclusion in fighting units would disrupt those units’ cohesion and battle readiness. The 1948 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act built a permanent corps of women in all the military departments, which was a big step forward at that time. Although there were many restrictions that were put on women, an increase of women in the U.S. armed forces happened during
In her article, “Lecture Me. Really”, Molly Worthen addresses the issue college students know all too well: how to lecture properly. Published in the New York Times, Worthen writes a passionate article about lecturing but from the perspective of a professor. Worthen presents the idea that lecturing, although some may think ineffective in the classroom, is a way to truly challenge and engage students into critically thinking. Worth dictates this idea with an excellent build up logical argument but lacks the proper evidence to support her claims creating a faulty argument.
The snow woman, a short story written by Norah Burke, brings the reader into the lives
In the article Who is a Teacher, the author made a factual claim about two correlated theories; that students are permitted too much influence over their instructors, and that influence affects female professors to a greater degree than their male counterparts. The article was written from the perspective of the author’s experience as a female professor at the University of Georgia as well as the accounts of her colleagues. The article listed numerous examples of inappropriate behavior, which would not be tolerated in many other circumstances.
Essentially students were afraid that the professor would irrevocably confirm their academic inadequacy.” She was speaking upon professors who have an “I am better than everyone” attitude. Students feel as if they cannot reach out for help because they will feel unintelligent. Students fear they are not meeting with the teachers wants for turning in assignments and as if their work is not good enough, feeling almost too embarrassed to submit assignments. They feel looked down upon by professors and are scared to speak up or ask questions about assignments. So instead they fall between the cracks and struggle their way through college. I was able to relate to that statement because there have been moments in college where I have had a fear to ask a teacher questions. A fear that they will tell me “I explained that topic in class already.” or “Were you not paying attention during the lecture?” I have heard teachers answer students with those exact words therefore I never wanted to ask questions about anything if I really did not understand the material. That alone can make a student feel as if they do not want to be a bother to the professor. A students own fear is what continuously inhibits them from college
...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.
College is full of new experiences, new people, and new communities, and many universities encourage the exchange of new ideas and diversity among students. This year, the University of Chicago sent out a letter to all of its incoming freshmen informing them that in keeping with their beliefs of freedom of expression and healthy discussion and debate, the school would not provide “safe spaces” or “trigger warnings”. Senior Sophie Downes found this letter to be misleading in many ways, including in the definitions of safe spaces and trigger warnings, as well as the issues it was addressing. Downes claims that the letter was misrepresenting the school, but also was using the letter as a sort
Not So Much” had defended the actions of millennials of which had been misinterpreted as have other generations past. However, “A’s for Everyone” by Alicia C. Shepard had voiced the opposition’s side, focusing the student and often times parent harassment on professors for better grades of which student entitlement as well as the inflation of grades have been to blame. With these two articles, one could conclude that although this most recent generation has been misunderstood, certain factors has made this generation expect some comeuppance. To put it simply, Generation Y had been bashed by its elders for their behaviors seen as immoral, lazy, and even negligent in their roles of society. Although some may have proved to increase efficiency in the workplace as well as in personal relationships, the human trait of entitlement has, in fact, been ubiquitous, especially pertaining to academic
Policymakers pushed for the reconstruction of college financing models, into what we now have today, as a profitable student loan market has emerged (Rossi). Although Edmundson agrees that colleges and universities do not offer today what they once were envisioned to, his opinion on why greatly differs from an emerging possibility. Edmundson in his essay outlines a student body, wholeheartedly content with an education system created entirely for show, rather than the widening of perspective, as a liberal arts education was once meant to do. When detailing student responses to his teachings, Edmundson writes that, “most of all I dislike the attitude of calm consumer expertise that pervades the responses. I 'm disturbed by the serene belief that my function -- and, more important, Freud 's, or Shakespeare 's, or Blake 's -- is to divert, entertain, and interest.” The interest of the students, in the opinion of Edmundson, is supremely consumerist in nature, as defined by their inability to “see intellectual work as a confrontation between two people, student and author, where the stakes matter. ” He goes on to argue that, “university culture, like
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.
...ter of your liberties?” (4) “Can you not see that the task is your task—yours to dream, yours to resolve, yours to execute?”(4) It is a great deal when Sinclair describes the atmosphere of moral decay, applying the critical pronouns – I, me, you, they – to show the almost global scales of the problem that concerns every common citizen of America.
The question of whether or not college students have become too “sensitive” is one that is currently being debated in the United States. This issue, which has seemed to increase in the past few years, is one that has angered many due to the fact that what this world needs is straight-forward commentary. In “The Coddling of the American Mind,” by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, the issue of college students being too “coddled” is discussed in many different aspects. Similarly, an article published by Scott Stump in Today Parents shows an example of how the effect of political correctness on these students has caused a realization that we are in dire need of some desensitizing. Validating one another, these two articles prove that the coddling For example, the fact that comedians across the country are having to cancel college appearances simply due to fear of microaggression just shows the lengths of the college student’s sheltered life.
. . . . She wanted the General at her graduation because she wanted to show what she stood for, or, as she said, "what all was behind her," and was not behind them. This them was not anybody in particular. It was just all the upstarts who has turned the world on its head and unsettled the ways of decent living. (134)
This social institution strived on being compelling, considerate, and uncompromising, which they stayed consistent to most of the time. Critical thinking stayed consistently taught throughout my English and religion classes. But my schooling also taught me that my opinion is just as important as anyone else’s, which leads to Rouner’s opinions of people believe that their opinions can not be wrong (2015, 1). Many rewarding aspects came from being enrolled in a private school that I know many of my friends in public schools did not receive the opportunities to do. For example, having an optional class specifically dedicated to applying to different colleges, a class that taught you how to build a résumé, and many others. These opportunities lead others in public school to assume that myself and the other students at my high school were rich, snotty kids because we were at a private school. They assumed that we are all rich and thought we were better then them, which is far from the truth. These assumptions made
Light, J. R. (2001). Making the most of college: Students speak their minds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.