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Table of Contents

HOW HAVE I IMPROVED? 2

SUMMARY OF KENYON COMMENCEMENT SPEECH: WALLACE 4

ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE GOING TO COLLEGE? 5

COST VS. WORTH: THE DILEMMA OF HIGHER EDUCATION 7

WORKS CITED 16

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Kait Hill

Mrs. Levitt

CE English 1010

16 January 2014

How Have I Improved?

My writing this past semester has vastly improved,

especially in organizing ideas. In one of my first essays,

discussing a lecture by Ken Robinson, I was lost and vaguely

resembled and ADHD child with my writing pattern. However,

as I progressed, I was able to give form to my thoughts and

keep and organized pattern to my writing. By the time I

wrote my first literature review, I was able to make

succinct points with flair and poise.

My word choice has also improved. I used to feel like I

had to sound dry as I reviewed the works we read, but as we

continued I was able to become invested in what we were

reading and allow myself to experiment with similes and

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metaphors within my writing, which allowed my to cause my

essays to be fun to read as well as to write.

A third thing that has improved about my writing isn’t

actually my writing at all, but my ability to read others’

writings and put them into short, one-page essays that

others may read as a spark notes version of the real deal.

It has caused me to expand my vision of others’ essays and

use their own personal idiosyncrasies from their lectures,

writings, or videos and incorporate them into my own

writing.

This course will help me in my future life because it

has taught me to summarize so that I do not bore someone

with all the gory details, but they still are able to

understand the complete point and thought process. I will

also be able to turn any topic into something fun because

I’ve been able to learn how to make even the most boring of

topics into a “tropical paradise” (Levitt).

I would still like to develop the writing skill of

keeping ahead. I have a tendency to procrastinate and

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justify such procrastination. I need to learn how to break

things up into small increments so I never fall behind.

Summary of Kenyon Commencement Speech: Wallace

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At Kenyon College, David Foster Wallace gave a

commencement speech. In his speech, Wallace argues against

the implication that students need to be taught how to

think. He states that it’s not that we need to be taught how

to think, but rather we need to be aware of what we choose

to think about.

Wallace advocates for awareness. He does not argue from

a moral standpoint, but rather he wishes for listeners to

learn to be aware of their default settings. He wants

everyone to be aware of what they’re thinking, not change

what they’re thinking. He ties in this awareness of thought

to the value of education. He states, “It is about the real

value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do

with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness,”

(Wallace). Wallace sees the value in education through the

efforts of teachers to get the students aware of thought. He

believes that if people can become aware of the unconscious,

if they can pay attention enough to their hard wiring, then

they create a choice for themselves every day: A choice of

how and what to think.

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Are Too Many People Going to College?

Author Charles Murray argues - college is becoming

increasingly obsolete! A liberal arts education should not

be reserved for college, but should be taught to children in

kindergarten until 12th grade.

Murray insists that high school is where liberal arts

should be taught. However, he contradicts this belief when

he proceeds to discuss “the limits set by the nature of

college-level material” (225). Discussing this topic, Murray

draws the conclusion that while “it would be nice if

everyone could acquire a fully formed liberal education,”

not everyone can (225). Murray continues on to suggest that

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college education is great for those who desire to obtain

it, but no one can be forced to reach their intellectual

capacity. He states that when someone enjoys something, they

work at whatever it is to improve. The opposite is also

true. Therefore, Murray insists that people who don’t desire

to learn and dislike school should not waste 4 years trying

to get a college degree.

Murray presents ideas that clash with the philosophies

presented by Hacker & Dreifus in their essay “Are Colleges

Worth the Price of Admission?” While Hacker & Dreifus rally

together in preference of better student-teacher interaction

and encouragement of mental growth and development. Murray,

on the other hand, stands in opposition. He insists that

student-teacher interaction is useless in today’s

technology-fueled world. Hacker & Dreifus do not deny the

useful functions of technology in an educational setting.

They believe that one way to get students involved in

learning is to utilize technology in classrooms. Murray, on

the other hand, claims that technology should replace

teachers instead of just assisting them. Students no longer

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need the interaction between themselves and a teacher; they

just need the opportunity to learn.

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Cost vs. Worth: The Dilemma of Higher Education

As many approach graduation from high school, the same

question overwhelms a vast majority of young, college-hungry

graduates: How will I pay for college? Price is no secret

when it comes to higher education, but shrouded in mystery

is the true debate. For while many may think price is the

latest hot topic, the true debate isn’t actually over price

– it’s over worth.

Many diverse people with just as diverse opinions

present several views to take in the confusion of cost

versus worth. From finances to student needs to options

outside of college, many perspectives come together and

share their own lights and opinions on the beast that is

higher education.

With so many options, it’s no wonder people have

clashing opinions over college worth. What all can agree on

is the differences in each option presented. Each option has

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and array of strengths and weaknesses in all sorts of

subjects. Some schools are able to work with students to fit

their needs, while others are easier to fit those struggling

financially. Though there are so many topics open for

debate, recurring themes include: Money, student needs, and

alternatives to getting a college education.

While many high school students wish they could be

Peter Pan, never growing up and never having

responsibilities, the world just doesn’t seem to work with

them. When the reality check comes at graduation, these

students soon realize the beasts of adulthood. The most

notorious beast these students face is the monster of money.

Notorious for greedily gulping down student incomes faster

than they can earn their next paycheck, this monster shows

no mercy as these students upgrade their education to

college. As authors attempt to warn students of the monster

ahead of them, some dispel the rumors of the debt crisis,

while others bemoan the excessive business-like structure of

some of the best educational institutions.

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Professors Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus present a

staggering idea at the very beginning of their essay “Are

Colleges Worth the Price of Admission?” Their opening

sentence states, “Tuition charges at both public and private

colleges have more than doubled – in real dollars – compared

with a generation ago” (Hacker 179). American prides itself

on its educational opportunities, but Hacker and Dreifus

give the warning that opportunity might well be synonymous

with burden of bank account. While education gives graduates

a wide variety of options post-college, the burdensome debt

they manage to weasel their way in to cause the glorious

life of a college graduate to become a terrifying financial

strain on their otherwise promising futures. Researcher

Kevin Carey would concur with Hacker and Dreifus, but Carey

limits himself to for-profit colleges, focusing his disdain

on for-profit colleges and their money-driven education.

However, Carey gives the recognition that for-profit

colleges do not hide their business-like structure. He does

state that it is the “financially unsophisticated consumers”

who are targets of these abusive business-market for-profit

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colleges (Carey 217). Carey also states that colleges are

“loading students with crushing debt in exchange for low-

value degrees” (Carey 219).

The opposing view is also argued, and is argued

vehemently, by a woman named Robin Wilson. Wilson reports on

the less-vocalized stories of those with manageable debt

from their college experience. While those who have fought

long and hard with the ferocious monster of money are very

vocal about their battle scars of deepening debt, other less

vocal knights have their own version of the battle to tell.

Wilson gives the stories of three valiant knights who

escaped the battle with barely any scrapes to speak of.

Robert Carter, a schoolteacher who graduated from college,

is able to manage his debt comfortably. Carter actually

states that “It’s not all luxury for sure, but we’re doing

OK” (Wilson 267). Through Wilson’s objective reporting,

students receive the comforting knowledge that they can face

this monster of money with confidence, and allow themselves

to focus on the other beasts of the collegiate battlefield.

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Hand in hand, the deceptive serpent of student needs

appears to be on the student’s side, but this serpent does

not truly have the student’s best interests in mind. It is a

beast like any other. Preying on the student’s discontent

with the current system, this serpent serves as a breeding

ground for arguments over the best systems of education for

individuals. As these arguments are tossed out with passion

and fervor, all the different opinions clash and students

rally behind these opinions with force and commitment.

David Foster Wallace, a novelist and essayist, gave a

commencement speech at Kenyon College expressing his concern

that schools are attempting to teach students how to think

when, really, it’s more important the students learn what to

think. Wallace argues the idea that students have more of a

choice than they realize when it comes to having a quality

education. They can choose how they look at their college

opportunities. With this choice comes the decision of where

they want to take themselves. Driving themselves to a for-

profit college, a community college, or a traditional 4-year

college takes a certain outlook and choice. Carey gives the

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idea that for-profits, while slamming students with debt,

are still able to “fill a void left by traditional

institutions” by allowing their schools to be innovative and

technologically advanced (Carey 220). Carey’s argument is

that for-profit colleges, through the innovation of their

system, meet students’ needs. He also advocates that for-

profit colleges meet other needs presented by students, and

gives the example of the University of Phoenix. This

University is built just off a freeway so that it is

available to working students who want to take evening

courses.

Perhaps the strongest supporters of the should-be

requirement of colleges to meet student needs would be

Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus. The two professors bemoan

the lack of interest most colleges express towards

individual students. They accuse these colleges of missing

the vital cog in the education machine. These schools,

according to Hacker and Dreifus, are teaching too many

things that are irrelevant to these budding philosophers,

engineers, artists, authors, and other future working men

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and women of society. They even claim as their first and

major point that “Colleges are taking on too many roles and

doing none of them well” (Hacker 180). Hacker and Dreifus

are bewildered by colleges and universities across the

United States that refuse to change to fit the students,

therefore insisting that the students continue conforming to

the old-fashioned ways of their schools. While America

continues to hold its head up in pride and boast of great

scholars and philosophers and scholars bred on its soil,

Lady Liberty refuses to acknowledge the words of those she

so proudly brags of. Scholar Ralph Waldo Emerson, born and

raised on American soil, stated, “Whoso would be a man, must

be a nonconformist.” Yet American schools continue to

protest the individuals, insisting they conform to the

traditional ways of the institution. Hacker and Dreifus

reiterate Emerson. They awaken the students; give them cause

to think, give them a voice and words to associate with the

feeling of desire to be heard burning in them. They cry for

colleges and universities to allow students to grow, and

plead with universities to change their ways and to behead

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this slippery and deceptive serpent of student need. What

these students need, Hacker and Dreifus beg, is for colleges

to stop stuffing themselves in the box and start thinking

outside of it.

As these colleges attempt to think outside their boxes

of conformity, other options have been growing in the

shadows and have begun to face the sun. In the midst of

monsters, hope rises and more accessible alternatives come.

These accessible alternatives give students shelter from the

monsters of colleges and universities still bogged down in

conformity. These alternatives provide students with

individual options that not all colleges offer. Some of

these available alternatives come in slightly smaller

packages than big-time colleges and universities, such as

community colleges. Other options may be avoiding college

altogether and becoming a brilliant blue-collar contributor

in society. All are viable options, and all are available.

In response to Rick Perlstein’s essay “What’s the

Matter With College?” Liz Addison, graduate of Southern

Maine Community College, wrote an essay entitled “Two Years

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Are Better Than Four.” Using subtle sarcasm and a spunky

presentation, Addison gives Perlstein the hope that while

the “University of Privilege” may not be as he remembers it

to be, community colleges still offer opportunity to

students to find themselves and discover adulthood (Addison

211). Addison offers the idea that community college is a

place where one can form their “first independent though”

and she argues adamantly, “community college is America’s

hidden public service gem” (Addison 213). Addison, being a

graduate of a community college, knows that community

college has become a respectable place to go to get your

start without jumping in cold to the harsh educational

competition. With cutthroat students and militant

professors, Addison offers the hope that college can still

be a place of discovery and learning. Addison also offers

the hope that all can go to college by taking a simple

placement test.

Here, Charles Murray, author of “Are Too Many People

Going To College?” would disagree. Murray finds that many

students attend college with no hope of actually becoming

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anything more than what they were upon entering the world of

college business. Giving the example of a student who is

pushed to accomplish something, he states that she cannot

achieve a certain level if she does not want to. He states,

“If she wants to, fine. But she probably won’t, and there’s

no way to force her” (Murray 228). Murray firmly stands on

the side of genetic disposition. He believes that students

who enjoy learning a certain subject will excel in that

subject, but will no achieve much in those subjects they

find less than appealing. Mike Rose, a professor at UCLA,

finds common ground with Murray. Murray believes that some

people should not attend college because they are

predisposed to fail at education. While Rose might not

wholly agree with everything Murray argues, the idea that

some people do not need to go to college is one that Rose

might find true. Rose gives examples of blue-collar workers,

one of whom happens to be his mother, who never attended

college but still gained a certain kind of intelligence.

Commonly referred to as ‘street smarts’, Rose gives the idea

that those not inclined to sit in a classroom and absorb

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knowledge given in a lecture, may find on the job learning

to be much more effective and even enjoyable. Rose presents

a new perspective that maybe not everyone needs to go to

college. He even claims that one can get just as useful an

education through blue-collar work. Through working in a

diner, Rose’s mother was able to learn and develop extremely

useful cognitive abilities that she would not have learned

as effectively through a lecture in a classroom. Rose

protests society’s inclination “that work requiring less

schooling requires less intelligence” (Rose 247). This, Rose

argues, is not true. In giving examples of his mother and

uncle, both blue-collar workers, Rose desperately gives the

reader a less heard perspective – the perspective of blue-

collar workers who recognize the intelligence and strategy

required at their work places.

While monsters come in many shapes and sizes, and many

authors, professors, and experts in their respective fields

of knowledge have presented opinion after argument after

opinion, many topics are still left open to debate and to

solve. With so many issues to debate, questions to answer,

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and problems to solve, it’s a wonder that these experts find

it worth debating at all. However, these researchers find

themselves coming back to the same hot topics, merely

glancing over other topics that still affect students

searching for the perfect fit. Some of these topics include

things such as religion and scholarships.

Barely touched on by Carey is the use of privately

owned institutions in today’s society. These privately owned

institution, if researched further, could show an increasing

amount of religious institutions. Colleges such as Brigham

Young University and Holy Cross College are religious

institutions owned by their respective churches. Devout

religious followers may be swayed by these schools, and may

attend them just because they are associated with their

religious beliefs. While many colleges have made efforts to

accommodate those with certain beliefs, there is still a

certain persuasiveness of privately owned religious

institutions for some devout followers of their faith.

Another topic that’s barely discussed is that of

scholarships. Carey gives us a slight inside-look into

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finances of for-profit colleges, but there is little to be

found on scholarships. Pressing questions on the freshly

graduate high-school student’s mind may consist of which

college to attend or what their major ought to be, but the

largest weight these graduates have to bear is the constant

issue of money. Scholarships give those academically,

athletically, or musically gifted some peace of mind because

they have been seen as exceptional and the university

recognizes their abilities through money. Other scholarships

are given to those who live in financially unstable or

deprived homes. But what of other students who may not be

exceptional according to collegiate standards? With such a

wide array of scholarship opportunities, every student has

some sort of financial aid opportunity. There are

scholarships for artists, actors, photographers, etc. for

those who are driven by their right hemisphere, and there

are scholarships for essays, poetry, linguistic abilities

and so much more for those who operate more with the left of

their brain. Financial aid can be as simple as filling out a

short application or it can be as challenging as a ten-page

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essay on cost versus worth in regard to higher education.

The opportunity, however, is available to anyone who seizes

it.

So to those hand wringing, bullet-sweating, heart-

racing graduates from high school who see the monsters and

beast up ahead and feel faint, hope is still there. When

graduation day comes and they arm you with a diploma and a

tassel, you need not fear. Experts have done it before and

survived, and students across the nation will continue to do

so. College may come with it’s monetary monsters and slimy

serpents of student need, but the hope of available

alternatives, accessible aid through scholarships, and

determined dedication, students find themselves adequately

and sometimes excessively armed and ready to deal with the

not-so-terrifying-anymore monsters of adult life. They find

themselves prepared for the life ahead of them, opening

their arms to the beasts of the future saying, “Be ready,

because I am.” They see adulthood as an opportunity and not

a curse. They embrace the chance to become another American

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great, and eventually, they change the world. In the end, it

was never about price anyway… It was always about worth.

Works Cited

Addison, Liz. “Two Years Are Better Then Four.” They Say/I Say

2nd Ed. w/ Readings. Ed. Gerald    Graff, Cathy Birkenstein,

Russel Durst. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 211-214.

Print.

Carey, Kevin. “Why Do You Think They’re Called For-Profit

Colleges?” They Say/I Say 2nd Ed. w/ Readings. Ed. Gerald Graff,

Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W.W. Norton,

2012. 215-221. Print.

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Hacker, Andrew, and Claudia Dreifus. “Are Colleges Worth the

Price of Admission?” They Say/I Say        2nd Ed. w/ Readings.

Ed.Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst. New

York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 179-189. Print.

Levitt, Natalie. Personal Interview. 14 Nov 2013.

Murray, Charles. “Are Too Many People Going To College?”

They Say/I Say 2nd Ed. w/ Readings. Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy

Birkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012.

222-242. Print.

Rose, Mike. “Blue-Collar Brilliance.” They Say/I Say 2nd Ed. w/

Readings. Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel

Durst. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 243-255. Print.

Wilson, Robin. “A Lifetime of Students Debt? Not Likely.”

They Say/I Say 2nd Ed. w/ Readings. Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy

Birkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012.

256-273. Print.