One of the reasons why all the new students at universities in the U.S. have to take serial writing classes first is that they have to learn not only writing techniques, but also the way of thinking which enable them to go through studying ahead of them. In his essay The Politics of Remediation, Mike Rose mainly suggests three academic skills that are essential for college students. The importance of these skills can be more clear and profound by comparison with other three essays; Critical Thinking by bell hooks, What Happens When Basic Writers Come to College? by Patricia Bizzell, and The “Banking” Concept of Education by Paulo Freire. Rose discusses essential academic skills such as acquiring an academic language, critical literacy, and a problem-solving skill, all of which are required for college students for a variety of reasons and each of these skills is strongly connected to the points shown in hook, Bizzell, and Freire’s essays.
According to Rose, acquiring an academic language skill to be able to write and read is essential for new college students, which is also mentioned in Bizzell’s essay. In Rose’s essay, he illustrates one of his students called Lucia, who was Catholic from working class and had transferred from a community college. She was sent to a tutorial center because she could not understand what was said in the excerpts on her reading assignment. She did not know not only the vocabulary, but also the “frames of mind, predispositions, and background knowledge” (Rose 144). This is the first difficulty many college students encounter since most of the academic readings in the class are very different from the ones they are familiar with at home. According to Rose, many of them do not have enough experien...
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...h the most significant point of the matter. Creativity and application ability are necessary to acquire a problem-solving skill. All these academic skills are related each other. It does not work properly even if one of them is missing.
Works Cited
Bizzell, Patricia. “What Happens When Basic Writers Come to College?” Landmark Essays on Basic Writing. Eds. Kay Halasek and Nels P. Highberg. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001. Print.
Freire, Paulo. “The “Banking” Concept of Education.” Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Penguin, 1996. Print.
hooks, bell. “Critical Thinking.” Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2010. Print.
Rose, Mike. “The Politics of Remediation.” Living Languages: Contents for Reading and Writing. Eds. Nancy Buffington, Marvin Diogenes, and Clyde Moneyhun. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997. Print.
The article, “Critical Thinking? You Need Knowledge” by Diane Ravitch, discusses how in the past people have been deprived from the thinking process and abstract thinking skills. Students need to be given more retainable knowledge by their teachers to improve their critical thinking skills. (Ravitch).
In Downs and Wardle’s article, they argue and identify the flaws in teaching writing in college. Demonstrating the misconceptions that academic writing is universal, but rather specialized in each case. Citing studies and opinions from esteemed professionals, Downs & Wardle state their points and illuminate the problem in today’s many colleges.
In Patricia Limerick’s article “Dancing with Professors”, she argues the problems that college students must face in the present regarding writing. Essays are daunting to most college students, and given the typical lengths of college papers, students are not motivated to write the assigned essays. One of the major arguments in Limerick’s article is how “It is, in truth, difficult to persuade students to write well when they find so few good examples in their assigned reading.” To college students, this argument is true with most of their ...
Two professors of different backgrounds, Mike Rose of California, and Gerald Graff, of Illinois, discuss the problems college students face today in America. Though similar in slight variations, both professors view the problem in different regards and prepare solutions that solve what they feel to be the heart of this academic problem.
“This Course prepares students for reading, research, and writing in college classes by teaching students to consider the rhetorical situation of any piece of writing while integrating reading, research, and writing in the academic genres of analysis and argument. This course is said to teach students to develop analyses and arguments using research-based content with effective organization, and appropriate expression and mechanics”. (1)
According to Dr. Bean’s class syllabus, the primary goal for this course is to, “help you develop the literacy skills you’ll need during your academic career”. In other words, this class was designed to teach students to write like professionals in an academic discourse community. Through several writing and research assignments, we acted as researchers on a quest to examine “how discourse—written, spoken, and digital—is shaped by social practice”. Although I felt I was a decent enough writer, I had doubts that I could accomplish such a tall order of directives. In the end, I found that I could do it, and I did it rather well, thus giving me the boost I needed to continue to move forward on my dream of obtaining a college degree.
Human’s core knowledge starts when we first enter kindergarten and, according to Murray, ends once we finish high school. The completion of high school comes with a diploma and “considerable flesh on the liberal education skeleton for students who are still interested” (Murray 237). Murray believes that only the top five percent of high school graduates will be successful in obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree because of the sheer difficulty of the degree and the challenging courses that are required. The lower down the “linguistic ladder” (Murray 239) one is, the less likely they are to thrive in college or enjoy the readings
Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing written by; Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle, Eighth Edition, published April, 2007 by Bedford/St. Martin’s, is a textbook about writing and critical thinking. In the first chapter of Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing, “Thinking Critically, Challenging Cultural Myths”, the Authors begin by setting a relatable scene of what it’s like for a college student. How a new found independence can be overwhelming, especially with regards to critical thinking, showing that what we have learned, needs to be re-evaluated and that an open mind in essential. "What Is Critical Thinking" In this section of the chapter the editors explain what it means to be a critical thinker. They explain that critical thinking is not just studying dates and facts, but rather taking those facts and examining them. The editors then proceed by explaining how having an open mind, and taking others' perspectives into account when formulating our own opinions on what the author is trying to say to us is important. A critical thinker takes all aspects into account and reflects on personal experience as well. The editors also point out that different cultural experiences bring different opinions. They suggest that we need to become active learners, continuously questioning the meaning behind everything, testing not only the theories of others but also our own experiences and analyzing the text rather than going for the obvious. They show that thinking outside the box is the epitome of critical thinking. Basically, we need to step outside our comfort zones and what we have always been taught. The editors also suggest that we need to re-evaluate our per...
Co-author of “They Say/I Say” handbook, Gerald Graff, analyzes in his essay “Hidden Intellectualism” that “street smarts” can be used for more efficient learning and can be a valuable tool to train students to “get hooked on reading and writing” (Graff 204). Graff’s purpose is to portray to his audience that knowing more about cars, TV, fashion, and etc. than “academic work” is not the detriment to the learning process that colleges and schools can see it to be (198). This knowledge can be an important teaching assistant and can facilitate the grasping of new concepts and help to prepare students to expand their interests and write with better quality in the future. Graff clarifies his reasoning by indicating, “Give me the student anytime who writes a sharply argued, sociologically acute analysis of an issue in Source over the student who writes a life-less explication of Hamlet or Socrates’ Apology” (205). Graff adopts a jovial tone to lure in his readers and describe how this overlooked intelligence can spark a passion in students to become interested in formal and academic topics. He uses ethos, pathos, and logos to establish his credibility, appeal emotionally to his readers, and appeal to logic by makes claims, providing evidence, and backing his statements up with reasoning.
Chapter 2 of the Pedagogy of the Oppressed” unfolds a lot like a reel of film: one idea, one observation, flowing seamlessly, one thought to the next, straightforward and natural in its progression. It begins in such a way that it appears to be simply another indictment of education, only if that is as far as you manage to read into it, then you are barely scratching the surface. Paulo Freire’s piece starts life as a rather straightforward critique of education and then quickly expands into a larger understanding of education’s role in the nature of oppression.
Writing is an important part of everyone’s life, whether we use it in school, in the workplace, as a hobby or in personal communication. It is important to have this skill because it helps us as writers to express feelings and thoughts to other people in a reasonably permanent form. Formal writing forms like essays, research papers, and articles stimulates critically thinking. This helps the writer to learn how to interpret the world around him/her in a meaningful way. In college, professors motivate students to write in a formal, coherent manner, without losing their own voice in the process. Improving your writing skills is important, in every English class that’s the main teaching point; to help students improve their writing skills. Throughout my college experience I have acknowledge that
Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a nonfiction book by Brazilian author Paulo Freire. The book is best known for its philosophical concepts on oppression as it pertains to education. Since the book 's first publication in 1978 it has become a worldwide staple for educators and activists alike, who strive to conquer the problem of oppression in its many facets of life. Pedagogy of the Oppressed is an eye-opening and life changing book that should be a requirement for all future educators in order to ensure success in creating a liberating and humanizing education system.
Education is at the core of humanity and its teaching has been mistreated. Based on Paulo Freire’s theory, education has been torn apart from its truthful purpose. It is now used to alienate human beings instead of promoting unity. Throughout this chapter, Chapter 2 in Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, he concentrates on the teacher-student relationship in classrooms. He sees education as information that is being passed on or “banked” from teachers to students.
Lerych, Lynne, and Allison DeBoer. The Little Black Book of College Writing. Boston, New York:
2. Richard, Paul “Critical Thinking: Basic Theory and Instructions Structures,” Foundations for Critical Thinking. 1977. P