A Real Education In David Foster Wallace's This Is Water

Attentiveness is characterized with being more observant, thoughtful, and considerate of others. This specific trait will help us understand one another and the world around us much better because it allows us to see and appreciate the little things we often take for granted. Being attentive helps us see the world more clearly because only then are we not blinded by our own thought and feelings that we are unable to see how similar we are to one another; we all share the same thoughts and feelings. In “This is Water,” David Foster Wallace stated everyone is always rushing to get to different places; placing our needs and wants above others and how this lack of awareness of the world around us is only drifting us apart. Wallace uses an example

Acting on what could be seen as “instinct” or “default settings” is something that all of us go through at some point of our lives. I, for example, experienced it when my uncle gave me a gift card that valued five hundred dollars, he said “take this as your Christmas gift, but it’s for you and your brothers”. Right when I heard that I thought about keeping it all to myself, and as expected I did. The next day without hesitation I went to the mall and wasted all of it in things that I really didn’t need. After that, I felt satisfied with myself but deep inside I had this feeling that I couldn’t explain some sort of remorse that kept on bothering me.

Be Considerate In the article This is Water by David Foster Wallace, he talks about our daily lives and how important it is to notice our selfish ways by learning how to think. Wallace does this by applying scenarios to his article that show exactly how being self-centered occurs and what we can do to change our thoughts. In his article, Wallace also illustrated that our selfish ways are actually programmed from birth. For instance, ever since we were little, we all have come across a situation where we know someone who has annoyed us or irritated us.

It is important note that those prisoners only saw shadows. But because of their captivity the appearance of the shadows is all they knew. That is their subjective reality. But when forced out into what is actually out there, the world changes. We believe what we know. But knowing isn’t seeing. This concept is relatable to education. As Pluto states the presence and ability to learn is in everyone, deep within their soul. But how students are taught, isn’t something that just you memorize, but something you experience. Pluto uses the simile to describe this idea. He states “ The instrument with which each learns is like an eye that cannot be turned around from darkness to light without turning the whole body.” (Plato, 1974, pg. 52). Education is the key to the fulfillment of reality. Education is what is teaching us what is not just learned, but what is real. We gain knowledge, but with that we also gain insight. Liberal education is bringing awareness to various aspects of life that we wouldn’t usually look at. Liberal education is there to teach us to go out and experience new ideas, new cultures, and new ways of thinking. And that what we need to experience life

Now according to John Newman, he states that by having a liberal education system, the percentage of the intellectual community would increase exponentially. By his expectations, Newman hopes that the intellectual community would be able to communicate with one another regarding any subject matter. Newman also states that in “Knowledge Its Own End” that, “All that I have been now saying is summed up in a few characteristic words of the great Philosopher. "Of possessions," he says, "those rather are useful, which bear fruit; those liberal, which tend to enjoyment. By fruitful, I mean, which yield revenue; by enjoyable, where nothing accrues of consequence beyond the using."”. With this example, Newman is quoting Aristotle, and he is trying to say that, liberal education should be enjoyed. What he means is that, the process of learning through his system should be enjoyed. If learning a subject can be enjoyed then, the individuals who learned that subject can see why the subject is easy to learn by simply learning to take enjoyment of that subject, and the people would have a better understanding within unknown subject areas. By understanding the full scope of what Newman expects from his plan, changes would need to be made in our current United States society if this education system were to be

Furthermore, resourceful and artistic thinking also aids one in finding truth for themselves. What one accepts as truth and lives by defines who they are. In “Two Years Are Better Than Four” by Liz Addison she argues that the opportunity for self-discovery is far more important than “proving yourself worldly, insightful, cultured, [or] mature” which is the usual focus for education (Addison 213). In contrast, the process of creative thinking allows one to find what they believe, not just what everyone else tells them. Therefore, the liberal arts have great value in the aspect of

In William Cronon’s “Only Connect…” The Goals of a Liberal Education he argues that the traditional liberal arts education is good for love and freedom. The author dive into ten characteristics that he uses to categorizes a person as liberally educated. They all relate to this idea of freedom as the educated person to be able to think in a “free” abstract manner and the humanity of these educated people. Love though in Cronon’s work is a stronger connection to both each other and to the world.

...overnment to improve the current education system to a place where everybody is taught to be enlightened and curious, it would only take an individual effort on the part of a student, to change his own life. A student should simply make a choice. Freedom and curiosity lets people do or think of anything without any expectations. Hence, freedom and curiosity take us out of our comfort zones and let us evolve into the person we want to become, rather than what others want us to do or be. We are granted with freedom by nature and people can take it away from us when only if we allow them to do so. When we let them guide us, we let them enforce their ideas on us and they become part of our perception. We spend time on what they tell us because it is easier to be a soldier rather than a commander. To have a truly worthwhile semester, a student should be his own master.

Every student is intellectual in many ways and the educational system needs to learn how to incorporate their intellectualism into a topic that interests them rather than disregards their minds. For example, those who have learning disabilities are not given much attention in order for them to succeed like any other student. Educational institutions throughout the U.S. share the same curriculum which is to teach students to process information in one way, but fail to teach how to apply them in real life situations. In the article, “Hidden Intellectualism”, an English professor Gerald Graff states in his opening paragraph, “… We associate the educated

Education provides unique experiences to everyone. These experiences are not depended on the individual’s personal backgrounds or social statuses. According to Jane Thompson, a scholar in education, the process of education can either be a restriction on creativity or a “practice of freedom.” In Willy Russell’s Educating Rita, the protagonist’s experience through the Open University is a practice of freedom as she is provided with the opportunities to express her thoughts and discover her own limits. There is an internal struggle within Rita as the new environment threatens to erase her past life. Rita is able to maintain her practice of freedom through the help of Frank, whom provides her with a welcoming and encouraging learning environment.