The definition of success differs from one person to another. If asked, people will define success from their point of view differently from one another. In Cathy Davidson’s article “Project Classroom Makeover” and Karen Ho’s essay “Biographies of Hegemony” both authors explore how people’s view and societal needs affect the educational system and how that in turn affects Society’s view of success. Both authors have had affiliation with “elite” institutions, despite both authors agreeing about exclusivity that elite institutions create, their definition of what is considered successful is still connected to what is considered elite by society. It is evident that society defines success based on what they think is important which creates a narrow …show more content…
This notion of success limits creative innovation of thought and pressures people achieve a careers that they may be interest in (grammar problem?). Ho explores this idea in her essay (qtd Peterson 2002) “It’s been common knowledge that many of [Princeton] undergraduates join the financial realm every year, creating a kind of lighthearted, self-deprecating joke about becoming I-bankers and once hopeful novelists heading to Wall Street” (170). The environment around those students was able to force them to change their career options based on what is considered successful by their peers. Despite This idea of success being narrow and not inclusive to everyone, some students felt the need to give up on their dreams and give in to the pressure. This pressure is not exclusive to elite institutions, society as a whole experiences this pressure when trying to pursue a lesser value endeavors. Davidson explores the idea of exclusivity that is created by society when she says “This is the lesson of attention blindness yet again: If you measure narrowly, you see results just as narrowly. In other words, the more standardized our assessment, the more kids fail” (61). The standardized tests that the educational system uses narrows itself to specific skills and talents that society considers important. It limited what students can achieve based on the talents that they acquire. Artistic talents do not have the same value compared to conventional studies. Similarly, elite institutions like princeton and harvard, have also narrowed down what careers are considered successful or worth pursuing. Ho describes this phenomena in her essay “I found not only that most bankers came from a few elite institutions, but also that most undergraduate and even many graduate students assumed that the only “suitable” destinations for life after Princeton-the only sectors
“We want to emphasize that the personal characteristics and skills of each individual are equally important”. (Page #221, para #3) Owen and Sawhill are inquiring that to be successful in any major requires dedication and personal motivation, which is another example of the authors bringing pathos into their argument. Owen and Sawhill state that “if they don’t just enroll but graduate, they can improve their lifetime prospects”. (page #220, para #1) Owens and Sawhill statement is taken as, applying with great intensions is not good enough to be successful in college. Owen and Sawhill are completely open about the fact that college isn’t for everyone and that’s perfectly acceptable. “It may be that for a student with poor grades who is on the fence about enrolling in a four-year program, the most bang-for-the-buck will come from vocationally-oriented associate’s degree or career-specific technical training”. (Page #222, para #1) this statement opens the argument to be about both, is college worth it financially, and also academically. Owens and Sawhill want their reader to understand that, being pushed to achieve something that you have no passion for attaining, only robs someone of their true
Society’s expectation of Ian to strive for superior education in a big city holds a large role in negatively impacting his struggle to achieve his goals. Modern society has inclined towards a Charles Darwins Principles of Biology (1864) occupational system, or as Herbert Spencer coined: survival of the fittest. In current civilization, the competition in the job industry has become vastly augmented due to the influx of individuals striving for the maximum level of education possible. With this development of competition, location and degree of study is imperative to success in one’s future. The expectation to receive a higher educa...
To achieve this, “banking firms provide [them] with a way to maintain [their] elite status in society by providing avenues to wealth and power that other professions do not” (179). They leave them unconsciously with an ultimatum, to either continue living their prestigious lifestyle and be the in the top with the elites, or settle for lower than what they’ve worked for, which is any other career path. Students who attend Princeton and Harvard who aspire to become teachers or writers are told they are settling for less than what they deserve and will be “more happy” with an investment banking career. There is a subtle form of manipulation being acted upon prospective students from investment bankers which is hidden by all of the positive, glamorous stigmas of Wall Street. To fully understand Wall Street as a whole, someone must know the small components that make it come together as a whole. This is shown through Karen Ho’s observations such as learning that students at Princeton and Harvard do not need to hold a finance degree to obtain a job on Wall Street. Whereas, Yale and Brown students must have a finance degree and are forced to show their abilities at a higher level than Princeton and Harvard students. Underneath all the dashing appearances and smart conversations on Wall Street, there is a hidden bias and a constant manipulation system in order for them to get what they want. The small components of Wall Street consist of their “small” priorities,
It seems our definition of success is related to our own individuality. Our view of success is rooted in the outcome of competition among individuals. Americans seem quick to claim that we have each succeeded through their o...
In “Project Classroom Makeover,” Cathy Davidson gives the reader a taste of the first few tiers of the educational hierarchy in the United States while, in “Biographies of Hegemony,” Karen Ho’s shows the later tiers, ones regarding higher education and elite jobs. Since a young age, children have been instilled with the desire to be the best and impress. They are taught always aim for the highest version of themselves and to pride themselves on “smartness.” (Ho 167) But how can American student be the best version of themselves, if they aren’t all receiving, as Davidson shows us, the best education they could from the school system?
The article “How to Be a Success” by Malcom Gladwell speaks about how success is something that can be achieved if you put the time and work into it, and how success is not achieved overnight but rather through long hours of constant practice. His article is targeted to more than one group of individuals. The groups of individuals that his article targets are teenage students, young adults, adults, people who want to become an expert, or want to succeed in something they have an interest in and in general society. Another article also related to the success of an individual “An A+ Student Regrets His Grades” by Afraj Gill describes how in society many schools focus more on students’ grades, rather than their learning, and how a student is
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
In the article “America’s Most Overrated Product: The Bachelor’s Degree” by Marty Nemko, the author argues several different views on why higher education may be very overestimated. For starters, the author shares his opinion more than anything else due to him being a career counselor. The purpose of this essay is to explain to the readers that most people start off with the idea of living the American Dream. Which is practically going to college to have a better life and career. But over the time the idea of working very hard for a Bachelor’s degree has become very dimmed. Furthermore, for some people, when they think of the American Dream they think of hope for bettering themselves and also helping their families. Unlike the author, Nemko feels that even the thought of trying to pursue to get a bachelor’s degree is overrated. The audience of this passage would most likely be teenagers going into college and parents. Nemko states that “Colleges are quick to argue that a college education is more
In earlier times, the acquisition and spreading of knowledge was not used to improve society. Instead it was used to have control and to exclude certain groups. As one could imagine, there needed to be a change in the way that the education system was set up. In her essay, “Project Classroom Makeover”, Cathy Davidson discusses how the “one size fits all” model of learning hinders students from learning in a new and modernized way. She suggests the notion that using technology to teach and learn can be effective in many ways. Davidson shows that using technology presents the opportunity for a traditional classroom to become more inclusive and creative. The “democratization of knowledge” is the improvement and modernization of how information is taught and learned. Having a modernized and advanced learning system is a vital point for students because they gain insight and experience with what is considered a society dominated by advanced technology. Technology has become a dominant resource in the 21st century which makes it a relevant and essential factor needed to succeed in the world of education and
...a career to something that guarantees a successful life. This negative light gives many student the ugly side of college that maybe it isn't as good as it sounds. The function of the essay to deter students from becoming like sheep and following social norms, Murray wants students to become informed before making decisions that can change the outcome of their life for many years.
The definition of success varies around the world, but according to Malcolm Gladwell its achievement can be broken down into a few components. Although Gladwell never truly establishes credibility in his book Outliers, he still backs up his proposed theories with reputable studies and sources which intrigue the audience to keep reading.The purpose of Outliers was to enlighten people about the different elements of success while also informing them of real life situations where seemingly less than likely people beat the odds and became the powerful figures that they are today. The intended audience is anyone who is looking to become successful or who is perhaps interested in the idea of success itself and wishes to learn more about it. Understandably, a secondary audience could be high school students who are about to venture out into the world on their own because with this book they will hopefully start paying attention to different factors of their lives and seizing opportunities that they may have otherwise passed up. Malcolm Gladwell talks about the 10,000 Hour Rule and also how I.Q. does not amount to much without creativity. He also speaks of how chance opportunity comes into play and that the distant background of a person still reflects how they handle situations in their present day life. Gladwell’s Outliers successfully informs the reader about the different components that add up to success with probable theories and credible studies to make for an interesting and motivational read.
Despite this, there continue to be incidents where middle class people are devastated when unable to achieve the so-called American Dream. Of course, the social expectations of a society are generally set by the previous generation and cause the newer generation to feel guilt when they cannot meet them. In order to avoid this feeling of guilt and insufficiency, people are willing to give up their unique hopes and goals; thus creating a people that are cohesively identical. Students in today’s universities are amazingly bright and creative, yet change their majors to those society has placed honor on, such as medicine, law, and engineering. The amount of innovation and invention
The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” As you watch mainstream media you notice that the rich and successful are always joyful and confident. This eludes you from the hard work it takes for someone to become successful. Main stream media has falsely popularized the true definition of being successful. Many people start to believe that you’re only successful if you own an enormous house with multiple rooms that you can sleep in a new room each night, or having luxurious cars, owning expensive items, traveling anywhere you want at any given time, but in fact the true meaning of success is far from that. In
The complexity of the term success in unbounded, with little to no restraints on how the term can be construed to the liking of the one doing the defining, however, true success will always be classified by the basic principles of morality, happiness and altruism. Unfortunately, many people aspiring to success in modern society are driven by the most luxurious objects that are present in society, but these are unfulfilling and short-lived. To be truly successful, one must not only benefit themselves in the present, but benefit the entirety of the human race for generations to proceed.
Even though the definition of “success” has a very nuanced meaning depending on its culture and context, highly successful people typically exhibit the same universal characteristics. For despite common belief, successful people are not affiliated with some exclusive club and it has to do more with attitude than superior I.Q intelligence. Therefore, many people have the ability to learn about how they can be successful and do better than they are now. Due to having the privilege of interacting with successful people on a daily basis, I gradually coined my own theory of success. In addition, interviewing successful college students for the basis of the EPE course project has managed to further support and strengthen my theory. Yet rather than just being applied to an academic setting like a college or school, theses theories can be slightly modified to be applied in other aspects of life as well. It should be worth emphasizing that exhibiting some of these traits are likely good indicators of being a successful person, however there are a lot more not mentioned. For due to their vast variety, it would be extremely difficult to talk about each of them individually. As a result, I have taken the liberty of grouping them into broader categories and have listed them in no particular order.