motivational third grade teacher encouraged my writing in ways that all teachers should note. At the age of eight, I was a child who loved reading and writing, and at the age of eighteen, I was a first-year student at State College who decided to major in English. I am now a senior in college (thinking about that fact literally sends a strange mixture of frightened, yet excited shivers charging through my body) and a very different person than that nervous first-year student I used to be.
“The Ideal English Major” is written by Mark Edmundson a professor of English at the University of Virginia; Mark defends the argument that majoring in English is the best choice for college students. He goes on to say that majoring in English is majoring in being a human being. English majors are more open to experiences and reach out to reading and writing to live other life’s other than their own. Mark explains why majoring in English is so important to a person’s life. English majors aren’t like
A former English major- for nineteen days that is; by the name of Mark Danner, gave a commencement speech to a graduating class of the Department of English at the University of California. Starting off with a familiar and dreaded question, he asks the students “What are you going to do with that?” A question that has been repeatedly asked by anyone that knows you are an English major. Retorting to his own question, he states that by striving to be an English major, they will do questioning of their
The Study of Literature I finally understand the study of literature. As an English major, a reader/ writer/ poet who has spent a great deal of time reading the works of others and writing about them, I am reminded of something I have heard my father, a teacher, say repeatedly about the modern American attitude toward education. "Nobody learns just to learn," he observes sadly, pointing out the way in which students often view particularly higher education as some kind of training ground
was a common problem for people coming from other countries or who grew up under privileged. Amy Tan and Jimmy Santiago Baca each tell a personal story of how they overcame their own language obstacles. Tan struggled with her mother’s “broken” English. Baca had to endure most of his young life facing prison and illiteracy. As they went through their experiences with speech, they defied stereotypes and became successful. Even though each story is told from a different situational point of view
even enjoyed them. I had always wanted to be an English major. In high school it was the only class that I enjoyed. I loved reading and writing about literature. There was something in the words of struggle and sadness that so many authors wrote about that gave my life meaning through a context of the joy and sorrow that are inextricably linked to living. Despite this, when it came time to choose a major in college, I steered clear of English, my thoughts filled with the intimidating associations
Computers have impacted me in many ways. Although I do not like to be instructed in how to do certain assignments (web sites and so forth) I do enjoy being able to have the luxury to type a paper on the “easy to use,” Microsoft word. Being an English major, it is very important that editing be taken very seriously and it makes my life a lot easier knowing that if I get sick of making corrections on a 20 page paper, the computer will pick out the obvious ones so that it saves me time. This may sound
establishment to reflect upon the nature of media, culture and what it means to be literate in the 21st century. The implications for teachers, libraries and society in general may be daunting, but they hint at excitement, too. There I was, an English major, a man of the book as it were, all ready to cast aspersions left, right and center at these clearly illiterate, shallow young hipsters. Within sight of my old high school library, I was ready to join the crowd of experts and decry the
practice and fallacy within faith, ignore this allegorical costume and sensationalize his message. Because, after all, Mr. Hooper must be hiding SOMETHING underneath that veil of his... The second character under scrutiny by their community and this English major is Hester Prynne, a young woman forced to don a scarlet letter "A" to signify to herself and to her community that she is a marked sinner. The letter, much like the veil, is an exterior symbol of appearance which is a popular device of Hawthorne;
Global Warming: Are Humans to Blame? An English major with a minor in Meteorology, I have a huge passion in learning about the weather. I love doing research on all aspects of the weather, but one topic has remained controversial for years and that is the cause of global warming. I decided to do some research on the issue in hopes of coming up with some type of conclusion based on the facts that I am able to find. The question always arises as to whether humans are to blame for our current
The Relation of Thought and Emotion in William Wordsworth’s Surprised by Joy Dr. Branson's comments: This essay was written in response to an explication exercise in a course designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of the English major. It demonstrates not only excellence as an explication, but also as an interdisciplinary application of psychological theory to literary analysis. In the sonnet "Surprised by Joy," William Wordsworth relates an episode of his struggle to cope with
The Challenges of English 101 Many students think their general education classes are going to be easy. This assumption is usually made because they are the basis of all of the advanced classes. When students sign up for classes for their degree, English 101 is often a requirement. Therefore, students put it on their schedule without a second thought. Most students do not realize how hard such a basic class could be. Mrs. Fox’s English 101 class is hard because it is time consuming, requires a lot
a student must consider when choosing a major. Most of the time student chooses a major that they think that allows them to earn the most money, and forgetting about the factor that they are able to pass the class or not. Most of the students are focused only on the money, no matter what kind of major it is. The student now a day’s does not take the time to figure out what is it that they would like to do in their career. Most students are taking up a major in business administration, which has more
Fort, Major Heywood and his party are attacked by Indians. Three men come to their rescue, two of them Indians, and another is a white man whom was raised by the eldest Indian. This man, Hawkeye, his brother and father rescue the Major and the two women that are in his party. Then the three men stay with the party and aide them in their journey to the British Fort. Once there, the two women’s father whom is the man in charge of the huge battle going on at that time. The French and English are at
College majors are one of, if not the most important aspect of college. Starting at young ages, students are pressured to think about their future and the possible career paths they will take, leaving little room for them to relish in their childhood. In high school, they are told the AP classes they take and the clubs they join should be reflective of the major they will have in college. This pressure ends up being a source of stress for many incoming college students who have no idea what they
nor negligent in my studies, I am enrolled into advance placement and honor classes. One of the AP classes I am currently taking is AP English Language and Composition instructed by Steve Wyrick, and it is unequivocally not elementary. To substantiate my point, Wyrick once had the class work on three concurrent essays, or major papers as he refers to them: Major Paper #2-1, #2-2, and #2-3. Additionally, all three essays had to be no less than two fully typed pages minus their headings. To challenge
Choosing a Major Some people already know by the age of seven that they want to become a pilot or nurse; others, however, have more difficulties deciding what to do with their future. People who decided to go to a university or college have to make an important choice: what major are they going into? For many people this is a very difficult question. As the statistics show, one out of five students change their major between admission and the first day of classes. Nearly three out of four students
throughout the novel. The writer shows this deterioration through the various techniques that he employs. Plot is a major technique which Grassic Gibbons employs to portray the deteriation of the relationship between Chris and Ewan. The plot details the meeting of Chris and Ewan, describing Chris's initial opinion of him being a "course, dour brute", an indication of the English Chris. She knows him only through the local gossip of his involvement with Sarah Sinclair yet soon instinctively likes
are doing the "right thing right." Doing the right thing? Several years ago, Millikin University embarked on the difficult challenge to create a seamless curriculum that provided for intentional connections -- connections between the major and the non-major, connections between the curricular components at each level, and connections between the curricular components over the course of four years. In the development of this comprehensive and cohesive curriculum (dubbed the MPSL -- the Millikin
perspective of business, the role of government in society, policy makers and most importantly the views of the stakeholders. For the spring semester gone and this summer session almost all classes were tied into my major, giving me a better understanding on what I want out of my degree. My major here at Marymount Manhattan College is Finance and this class has surely helped me in figuring out, the workings of ‘big business’ and its impact on stakeholders. This course has helped me understand why many laws