Mark Edmundsons’ “Dwelling In Possibilities” gives us his thoughts on the next generation, mainly on the students that are attending his classes, Millennials. He mentions that people may try to stretch themselves so far they tear themselves apart. He ends his essay implying if the generation continues on this path, then they will slowly tire themselves to the point of destruction. ( Add the “having the reader understand why I'm holding a particular opinion about this”????? part ) With multiple intense course loads students can be overwhelmed with the amount of work they are force to accomplish, trapping students in their own mind they feel conorred, leaving them with no other options they feel the need to turn towards people who promises them …show more content…
Weather it be signing up for several extra curricular and struggle to find time or taking on too big a project that was harder than what it seemed. No matter what it may have been, people have had with the overwhelming “I can’t do it” feeling. Now think about that time you felt this and magnify those feelings by fifty. Those extreme feelings of defeat and desperation are felt by most college student throughout America trying to get the most out of their money. Edmundson mentions in his essay that he witnessed one of his students crashing due to the stress of their course load. “She was pale, sleepless; her teeth were chattering softly. I invited her to sit down and then asked some questions. “How many courses are you taking?” Five, no six, seven. “Audits?” Yes, one. “A thesis?” Almost done: She planned to knock out 40 pages over the weekend, but now her father, whom she clearly adored, was sick, and she’d have to go home and then how could she…” When Edmundson describes this girl she sounds as if she witnessed a traumatic event, and it's a difficult to believe that this was caused by an immense workload. Was this an exaggeration by Edmundson? In high school most people took on more than seven classes and meet everyday, unlike the typical college schedule, so how hard could this have really been? Was the girl doing more than work? Or was this just the result of taking on such a hefty
Students are constantly spending money over the course of four years or longer, on so many things from tuition, to dorm rooms, textbooks, and the basic needs like food and water. Many college students are coming straight out of high school. Some of them had jobs, and others did not. If I knew that I had to spend so much money, on everything, right away. I would’ve started working when I was five. Fortunately, I have parents who pay for my tuition, and help me pay for textbooks, and other things I need. But some people don’t have parents who can support their college education, or if they have paid, the cost might build up, and they can no longer afford to pay for school. So they have to withdraw or dropout. This also goes with a small part as to why I believe that college dropout rates are high, like I said, it gets too expensive for people that they can no longer attend college, without going into major debt. Gutting also talks about how, college students get these unrealistic ideas of what college life is from movies, and television shows, making it look like a dream place to go. Don’t get me wrong college can be an amazing time and place to experience new things, but the over exaggeration from the movies and
The essay “How Not to Get Into College” and the poem “Somnambulist” portray a similar message that people become unhappy and lose sight of their own values when the institutional world creates a stigma that forces them to over-work themselves. Alfie Kohn in “How Not to Get Into College” believes that students are already overworking themselves at such an early stage in their lives, and the result of this, is feeling unfulfilled. He believes that “what few realized was that the process wouldn’t end once they finally got into college. The straining toward future, this poisonous assumption that the value of everything is solely a function of its contribution to something that may come later – it would start all over again in September of their first year away from home” (Kohn 1). He proves
Every fall millions of American adolescents gear up to apply for the thousands of colleges and universities across the nation. For many students this process is a simple-natural progression through a linear educational track in which no extra preparation, beyond a paper application, is required. However, for many students college preparation can begin as early as conception. Alexandria Robbins follows the stories of nine students from Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland. Whitman is known for and could be summarized by a simple term in which Robbins’ book is also titled: Overachievers. The author explores the hectic nature of helicopter parenting, bureaucratic admission processes, the culture of Ivy (a term describing the upper echelon of academic institutions), unrelenting and unrealistic expectations, and the cyclonic degradation of innocent and carefree adolescent development.
In the essay “Achievement of Desire”, author Richard Rodriguez, describes the story of our common experience such as growing up, leaving home, receiving an education, and joining the world. As a child, Rodriguez lived the life of an average teenager raised in the stereotypical student coming from a working class family. With the exception, Rodriguez was always top of his class, and he always spent time reading books or studying rather than spending time with his family or friends. This approach makes Rodriguez stand out as an exceptional student, but with time he becomes an outsider at home and in school. Rodriguez describes himself as a “scholarship boy” meaning that because of the scholarships and grants that he was receiving to attend school; there was much more of an expectation for him to acquire the best grades and the highest scores. Rodriguez suggests that the common college student struggles the way he did because when a student begins college, they forget “the life [they] enjoyed
In fact, “a determined student, even encountering hardships in his/her life while attending college full time, will succeed” (Culpepper 330). Also, many professionals successfully graduated college while dealing with hardships such as “raising children alone, working in multiple jobs, and caring for sick relatives” (Culpepper 330). They showed commitment by staying focused on what they wanted to achieve in their lives. An overloaded student accomplishes his/her tasks by organizing his/her daily schedule, not allowing more than one activity developing in the same hour. Also, the student has to allow for himself/herself recreational time as a reward, for that will balance his/her overwhelmed lifestyle.
Zinsser, William. “College Pressure.” The Norton Reader. 13th ed. Ed. Linda H. Peterson. New York: Norton, 2013. 380-388. Print
Edmundson states, “they are, nearly across the board, very, very self-contained… there 's little fire, little passion to be found” (Edmundson, 3). Edmundson’s critic of consumer culture includes criticism of the students themselves and their lack of passion. Deresiewicz’s interpretation of youth culture undermines this “little passion” by looking for this youth to change the current wave of university culture and its lack of learning. Although it is important to note, that Edmundson’s critique of youth was the students of the 90’s while Deresiewicz appears hopeful for youth of the 2010’s. The youth of today and those of the 90’s in historical context may differ in their passions for higher education and change. While this timeline puts perspective on each context of the work, it is not unfair to criticize Edmundson’s superior tone when looking at the youth of his time. Edmundson’s viewpoint of college students distances himself from those needed most to make his vision of a better university culture come
Mark Edmundson’s Essay, On the uses of a liberal education, links a fundamental systemic flaw in post-modern education, a lack of student desire to learn, both about personal and the worldly, through study, education, self betterment, and reflection, with American Consumerism. Edmundson does so by depicting the students as customers; shopping for the easiest, highest ranking, and most “entertaining” return on their investment. However, Edmundson places too high a degree of blame on Millennial Consumerist Culture, rather than examining where this desire for a monetary return on investment stems stems from originally. Edmundson, although fully aware of the cultural dynamic shared amongst many, if not all, paying college students, never raises
In Jennine Crucet’s story, “Taking My Parents to College” she really explains to the reader how challenging it was leaving home and starting a new chapter in her life. When the author and her family first arrived to Cornell University, they were sitting there when the dean ended his speech with: “Now, parents, please: Go!” Being a first generation college student Crucet nor her family had any idea that they were not supposed to stay for orientation and had to leave her as soon as they got her settled in. They did not even have all the right materials and supplies that she needed to begin with by stating, “Every afternoon that week, we had to go back to the only department store we could find, the now-defunct Ames, for some stupid thing we hadn’t known was a necessity, something not in our budget: shower shoes, extra-long twin sheets, mesh laundry bags.” Both Crucet and I suffered from similar issues during our first few weeks on our new journey in college and we both had no idea what was ahead of us.
Imagine turning into someone unrecognizable and watching as your life rips apart, a life that you worked so hard for, because all hope is lost. You have hit the bottom of “the well of life”, and deep inside this “well of life” you understand it’s all because of students.
Believing they will be better than the previous generation: Liberality, unearned self-esteemed, self-resentment, and lowered classes. Humility is something everyone needs, not just the students in college. Elders and parents went through their own hardships to attain where they are, and considering that they didn’t have the tech that this generation have, they faced harder challenges than what this current generation’s faced. While this aeon has a reason to take pride in themselves by all the changes, they should show some Humility for their past generations for giving them the chance to be where they’re
Edmundson at first, describes college as just go to class and you will be ready for life. But he then goes on to say that the education system is not about following in line. He continues on by saying, “To get an education, you’re probably going to have to fight against the institution that you find yourself in” (Edmundson 115). He often repeats himself by recommending students fight the education system. He points out higher education is often seen as a chance to study something
First of all, many high school graduates cannot handle college. Isabel V. Sawhill and Stephanie Owen describe college as a place, “one can obtain a traditional four-year bachelor’s degree”. The work load outside of the classroom could be compared to working a full time job. For example, if a student is enrolled in four college courses and is in class a minimum of four hours the student should spend at least four to six hours of studying. This may be extremely agitating and stressful to a student that is not good at studying. The new college student may realize that the schoolwork is too much for him to handle and instead drop out. In Pharinet’s blog post, Is College for Everyone? He states that “…it is estimated that in the U.S., approximately 50% of students who begin college never graduate. There exist students who are not yet ready for the academic and financial challenges of college. There exist students who do not have the desire for college or learning.” This statement is important because if 50% of students that begin college never gradua...
It seems as though the majority of college students these days aren’t looking to further their education because it’s what they really want, they do it to please their parents, to be accepted by society, or because there’s nothing else for them to do (Bird, 372). These expectations have led to students being unhappy and stressed, and have pushed them into a school or a job that they don’t particularly care for.
In the article "Hunting for Hope in Modern America," Jeffrey Bosworth says "you're screwed" to provide a negative view on the world and presents that things are becoming easier to do, rather than Millennials having to truly work for what they are getting. In this article, Bosworth implies that Millennials' sense of entitlement is their own fault due to the fact that many make excuses and just barely do enough to get themselves by. Similarly, in the article "Preparing Students for the New Reality," Donald S. Miller and Thomas E. Slocombe explain the extent of entitlement of Millennials by referring to them as "Generation Me." They reveal that "...many students are unconcerned [and] feel their qualifications are above average." At the same time that Miller and Slocombe are presenting that Millennials are entitled due to their idealistic expectations, Bosworth is displaying his same belief by showing different reasoning in how Millennials are coming up with excuses, proving their