Module 2 Summary and Response My first Article would have to be “Need a job? Invent it” by Thomas L. Friedman partially due to the fact that in my opinion it’s having a bigger effect on the students in the United States. In this article Thomas mentions something that really stuck with me, when referencing Tony Wagner’s argument in his book’ Creating Innovators’. He said “This is dangerous at a time when there is increasingly no such thing as high-wage, middle-skilled job — the thing that sustained the middle class in the past generation. Now there is only a high—wage, high-skilled job. Every middle-class job today is being pulled up, out or down faster than ever.” Now this stuck out to me so much because our society is so set on going to …show more content…
We got to “find” a job. But, more than ever, our kids will have to “invent” a job. (Fortunately, in today’s world, that’s easier and cheaper than ever before.)” He’s basically stating that we need to make something of ourselves to make a real living or we need to major in some high-skilled job. In school, people are often at a loss of interest and/or motivation because they feel they need to get through college and work a job for a company. Which, according to Wagner, we will forget things like this as soon as “the test is …show more content…
A big reason I picked this Article is it too is effecting a lot of today’s society. In this Article Anne talks about how scientists want to spread their knowledge and people desperately want to learn it. But due to the fact that “…science has become so complex, but it’s partly because of poor writing.” we can’t get the knowledge we hope to. “All readers need certain things from writers to understand them.” Anne mentioned. A lot of Anne’s students accused her of “dumbing down” science. She would often tell them that they can’t understand these papers because they are so poorly written, saying how she thinks “it’s time we started writing about science simply and clearly.” We really want to understand Science and what it has to offer but without it written in ‘Plain English’ we simple can’t. Which can really affect the funding in science as well. Anne makes some great points on “Writing Science in Plain English”, and I feel like if it’s not heard we will continue to have what I’ll call ‘false knowledge’ because we can’t actually explain what the meaning of it is, and can’t put any use to it. With this ever-so changing and evolving world we live in that could be crucial to our very existence. For example, people are reluctant to acknowledge global warming or just simply can’t understand the science behind
Clive Thompson is a journalist, blogger and writer. He mainly focuses his writing on science and technology but this one chapter from his book Smarter than you think, “Public thinking,” has put a spin on writing and technology. Multiple times he talks about writing in many different forms. For example, he speaks of writing on blogs, on internet short stories (or fan fiction novels), in schools, in studies, and even on a regular basis. Thomson is trying to explain to his readers how writing, and the sharing of information across the internet, is beneficial to our society and ones well-being. In my readings of Thompson’s excerpt, I will examine Thomson’s examples and show how they are relevant and that it is beneficial.
Scientific research is constantly being battled in politics. The point of communication in science is to try and get across a proven theory to the public. Under the scrutiny of political agendas, these efforts face many hurdles. Informing the public of climate changes has had a positive impact on the acceptance of science. There are several techniques the scientific community communicates their findings to the public.
...s educational system on traditionalism that focuses on fluency, appreciation, and comprehension. King states, “no one can be as intellectually slothful as a really smart person” (138). As a whole we are “creatures of habit”, thus resisting changes in the traditional sphere of academics. King uses his spin on popular culture to engage future readers and inspire the next generation of writers. “Some of this book—perhaps too much—has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. The rest of it—and perhaps the best of it—is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you're brave enough to start, you will.” (King 269-270). “On Writing” is a poignant, educated, and inspiring book, a book that is sure to help hundreds of struggling writers and will motivate others who may pick up the book not for inspiration, but mere curiosity.
Although the greater picture is that reading is fundamental, the two authors have a few different messages that they seek to communicate to their audiences. “The Joy of Reading and Writing” depicts how reading serves as a mechanism to escape the preconceived notions that constrain several groups of people from establishing themselves and achieving success in their lifetimes. “Reading to Write,” on the other hand, offers a valuable advice to aspiring writers. The author suggests that one has to read, read, and read before he or she can become a writer. Moreover, he holds an interesting opinion concerning mediocre writing. He says, “Every book you pick has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones” (p.221). Although these two essays differ in their contents and messages, the authors use the same rhetorical mode to write their essays. Both are process analyses, meaning that they develop their main argument and provide justification for it step by step. By employing this technique, the two authors create essays that are thoughtful, well supported, and easy to understand. In addition, Alexie and King both add a little personal touch to their writings as they include personal anecdotes. This has the effect of providing support for their arguments. Although the two essays have fairly different messages, the authors make use of anecdotes and structure their writing in a somewhat similar
Carr is worried. He confesses that he now has difficulty with the simple task of sitting down and reading a book. Absorbing the text is now belaboring, and he finds that his mind drifts off into other realms. Moreover, this phenomenon is not only limited to himself. Bruce Friedman, a pathologist at the University of Michigan Medical School, admits that he “can’t read War and Peace anymore…even a blog post of three or four paragraphs is too much,” (Carr). In addition, Scott Karp, a devoted blogger on online media and literature major, relates that he was an avid reader in college. Sadly, he observes the same trend in his focus as Carr and Friedman. Karp speculates that the loss of focus isn’t so much a change in the way he reads, but in the way he thinks (Carr).
Sullivan, Charles, and Cameron M. Smith. "5 Tips for Writing Popular Science." The Writer 119.7 (2006): 23-25. Print.
In conclusion, we see that the nature of printed literature has changed nowadays as well as the way of thinking. We are on the road of losing our concentration, awareness and serious thinking abilities. We are faced with such negative effects as cyber bullying and Internet manipulations. I think it is not the direction we should move on.
Arthur L. Caplan, in his news article, “Distinguishing Science from Nonsense,” warns the audience about the uncertain economic future of the United States of America due to the abandonment of science within society. Further, Caplan’s purpose is to inform the audience how the dwindling importance of science in children is not only due to schools, but also due to American culture. Therefore, Caplan uses a combination of rhetorical devices to not only warn and inform the public about the importance of science, but to also engage them to an extent that persuades the audience to take action.
In the essay “Writing on the Bias” by Linda Brodkey describes her growth as a child, and as a writer. Her point of view regulated around the idea that students are taught to write like readers, rather than true writers. This was the first article I had to disagree with. Although, she had great
Many people think that reading more can help them to think and develop before writing something. Others might think that they don’t need to read and or write that it can really help them to brainstorm things a lot quicker and to develop their own ideas immediately (right away). The author’s purpose of Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, is to understand the concepts, strategies and understandings of how to always read first and then start something. The importance of this essay is to understand and comprehend our reading and writing skills by brainstorming our ideas and thoughts a lot quicker. In other words, we must always try to read first before we can brainstorm some ideas and to think before we write something. There are many reasons why I chose Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, by many ways that reading can help you to comprehend, writing, can help you to evaluate and summarize things after reading a passage, if you read, it can help you to write things better and as you read, it can help you to think and evaluate of what to write about.
While preparing for one of his college lectures, Dennis Baron, a professor and linguistics at the University of Illinois, began playing with the idea of how writing has changed the world we lived in and materials and tools we use in everyday life. This lecture slowly transitioned into “Should Everybody Write?” An article that has made many wonder if technology has made writing too easy for anyone to use or strengthens a writer's ability to learn and communicate their ideas. Baron uses rhetorical strategies in his article to portray to his audience his positive tone, the contrast and comparison of context and his logical purpose.
Had the audience been less educated, I’m sure the language would have been more watered down and taken a more visual form. In terms of grammar and spelling there were no mistakes. Many of the words were quite lengthy and obtuse and there was not much filler material. With scholarly works such as these they go through a series of edits in order to produce the most credible and error free submission. Many of the sentences are complex, making fluid reading of this piece more difficult than other prose. The language itself is somewhat basic, there aren’t very many descriptive terms or conceptual language. In a generation that grew up with Bill Nye the Science guy, we aren’t used to viewing science in a pure and boring form. With many branches of science there are no violent explosions or chance of a breakthrough discovery. A lot of science is just filling in the blanks for phenomenon that we already understand. This language confirms that sentiment. The topic being discussed, while important in the realm of pro social development, becomes very mundane when explored with ink. Throughout this work there is no plead to ethos, it
One of the major problems Lewis and Zaidane’s argue in their piece is that fifty-three percent of graduates are unemployed (587). People are attending college, accumulating debt, and are not able to start careers. Recently, a student graduated with a degree in marketing and because of low unemployment rate he had to work as a bartender. More people will have degrees than jobs in the next ten years.
The structural-functional analysis of jobs in the U.S. is governed by the workforce stratification and technology. The more educated and diverse a society is the better society’s job market is served. This social economic separation of class has been both good and bad for society. Many workers at the lower levels of employment are both pleased and displeased with many aspects of work. Though this fact also holds true with most any job at any level, pay scale often compensates for endurance of a particular job type. The security of a person’s job also is an issue that in today’s economic times forces one to be prepared for change. This is to say that even if one’s field of expertise is needed today it may not be tomorrow. This type of ever-changing job market leads many to believe that another socio-economic change may occur at any time. This change was apparent with the transition into the industrial age and again in the information age. These concerns caused stress, various health issues, a...
Public understanding of science is considered to be one of the most important issues facing educators in today’s technological world. It is see...