In the article “Don't Send Your Kid to the Ivy League” by William Deresiewicz, Deresiewicz explains the flaws within the coveted ivy league system. He begins by explaining his experience in the ivy league acceptance process and how the applications are read and judged by the acceptance panel, some applicants have too many educational qualifications and too few extracurricular activities, others have too many extracurricular activities but low GPA’s and class rankings, and others must be judged based on contributions to the college by their parents. He then transitions into how college students have over achieved but have no purpose or drive, they do things to get into college but don’t know why they want to go or what they
“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
In the essay, “We Send Too Many Students To College” by Marty Nemko, he argues that, contrary to popular belief, college is not for everybody. Nemko states that colleges accept numerous high school graduates every year, when they know that if the student did not do well in high school, they have a very low chance of actually acquiring a degree. However, If someone is fortunate enough to graduate from college and obtained a degree that costed them an exceptional amount of money, it is likely that they will have to settle for a job they could have “landed as a high school dropout”. Colleges are just out for money, and the only way they can get money is by accepting countless students into their “business”, whether the student will prosper from it or not is a different story. The article reports that there is no proof that students actually learn and remember everything they get taught during their college education. In fact, some college seniors failed tests that should be easily and accurately completed, and instead of these institutions getting penalized perhaps, they are “rewarded
In this article, William Deresiewicz the author who is a previous a Yale professor talked about Ivy League universities and what it does to the students who attend those universities. Mr. Deresiewicz talks about what it's like to attend those universities compared to others. Mr. Deresiewicz suggests that Ivy League universities are alright but so are public universities, even in some cases that school might not be worth attending.
For many college students, college is their first big step into adulthood. Students now need to worry about money, roommates, serious relationships, pursuing their passions, future and present jobs, and above all homework, class, and studying. This is the situation that most college students are thrown into. We simply don't need one more thing to worry about. I believe this is why in 2008, an AP survey found that eighty percent of students say they are stressed daily, thirteen percent have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder or depression, and nine percent have considered suicide.(Cite 1) This makes colleges that are actively pursuing lowering students grades such as Princeton seem maleficent. Harrell brushes this off in his article as he says that lower grades will increase competition and then makes the incredulously pompous statement: if you wanted to breeze through college you should have gone to Harvard. Harrell says that at Princeton their goal is to “Teach, not to entertain... [to] maximize academics, not leisure.”(CITE0) This mindset is not healthy. A student at a university that puts an emphasis on lowering everyones grades and increasing difficulty fosters a culture that overemphasizes gades. In other words, a college with this attitude would have a campus where instead of pursuing things like health, community, or lieser, students would mostly be inside worring and
In the article “Prestige Panic” by Robert Samuelson is about parents pushing their children to apply and attend a prestigious school. According to Samuelson, parents force their children to get good grades in high school and get a high score in their ACT or SAT. This means that if children get high scores they would be able to enter a prestigious school. A big example that shows that parents push their children is when Samuelson mentions, that parents influence a lot in the decision of students in their academic choice. This indicates that college decision is more about parents than students. Samuelson explains, that selective school have the same education as less selective schools and that it depends of the student decision, if the student
In the article “College is Not a Commodity. Stop treating it like one,” Hunter Rawlings explains how people today believe that college is a commodity, but he argues that it’s the student’s efforts; which gives value to their education. Rawlings states that in recent years college has been looked at in economic terms, lowering its worth to something people must have instead of earn. As a professor Rawlings has learned that the quality of education has nothing to do with the school or the curriculum, but rather the student’s efforts and work ethic. Rawlings explains the idea that the student is in charge of the success of his or her own education, and the professor or school isn’t the main reason why a student performs poorly in a class. Rawlings
...ation for the career of their choice. As Gatto so eloquently points out in his article, “We have been taught (that is, schooled) in this country to think of ‘success’ as synonymous with, or at least dependent on ‘schooling’…” (Gatto 150). If he is correct, and success is reliant on our schooling, only the few elite students even have a chance at becoming successful. And that is truly unfair because every student in our country’s education system deserves the chance to be able to become something great.
Deresiewicz is the author of Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life as well as a former professor at Yale. During an interview Deresiewicz stats that as people we question important stages of our life such as “What do you want to do with your life? What’s important to you?” (Bradley) And that such questions built character education, have been lost as today many students are finding it difficult to break away from their parents shadow and find their own voice, their own direction and sense of purpose. In addition, Deresiewicz believes that education is more than an important step or decision that we come across but rather it’s a way to invoke your curiosity and own identity. Deresiewicz emphasis these beliefs in his quotes “Life is more than a job; jobs are more than a paycheck; and a country is more than its wealth. Education is more than the acquisition of marketable skills, and you are more than your ability to contribute to your employer’s bottom line or the nation’s GDP, no matter what the rhetoric of politicians or executives would have you think. To ask what college is for is to ask what life is for, what society is for—what people are for. Do students ever hear this? What they hear is a constant drumbeat, in the public discourse
In Artie Kohn’s “The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation” in Bergmann’s Academic Research and Writing, the author is skeptical regarding if the issue of grade inflation is really existent. It is shockingly apparent after reading the portion of the essay stating Harvard University’s two headlining quotes, each quote’s dates were spread apart by over a hundred years (Bergmann, 2010, pg. 260). Those representing Harvard University in the quotes come off as rather egotistic and overly confident in nature. The author states within the essay “To say that grades are not merely rising but inflated – and that they are consequently ‘less accurate’ now…is to postulate the existence of an objectively correct evaluation of what a student (or essay) deserves,
Ivy League schools are often seen as the golden ticket to a happy and successful life. However, many who aspire to attend these top prestigious universities are oblivious to the pressing issues that surround them. Rates of suicide, sexual assault, and prescription drug abuse amongst the Ivy Leagues are through the roof, but they won’t tell you that at the Harvard open house.
According to the article Getting into College, “there are over a half million more 17-year-olds in the United States than there were 10 years ago” (Ewers and Haight). The increased amount of applicants only makes the process that much more selective and competitive. The article continues to point out that, by 2004, nearly forty-seven percent of high school students graduated with an A average. Because of this influx in applicants, colleges only want to accept the smartest, most diverse, and most involved students. This is obviously a very frightening and stressful thought for most adolescents. Students then begin to push themselves just a little harder, stay up just a tad longer to study , and take on just a few more clubs with one motive in mind—to further decorate their college applications. This added stress and pressure may not seem like a monumental issue at first, but it can develop into serious illnesses if it is not maintained and
“He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger” (brainyquote.com). Society has been firmly educated on the stressful factors college encompasses such as loans and degrees. Students and parents struggle to not only find a school they can afford but also one they truly believe in- one they can see their child or themselves growing in and learning to the fullest. When considering all the decisions that need to be met upon, there are often factors that are looked over. Some of them far more important than which school provides financial aid or intramurals. The dangers college harbor are not taken into account
“Ivy retardation” (1) as said by one of William Deresiewicz’s friends in Deresiewicz’s essay, “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education”, means that people of a higher education believe that they are smarter than the average person due to the fact that they have become experts in their specific field of studies. Deresiewicz’s personal example for this was that he was having trouble talking to a plumber who was in his house and that even though he has an Ivy League education; Deresiewicz couldn’t talk to the plumber with less education than himself. With this example being stated as an attempt to show that he has the same personal issue that he is critiquing, the questions are: what
The Ivy league, the most prestigious universities internationally, is the goal for every student and parents. The “perfect resume” as tiger parents states the main accomplishments in order to go into Ivy League consists of 5.0 GPA, 2400 SAT, sweeping 1st places in every music competition or even sports and volunteering at hospital or aboard.
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