For Profit Universities

Before watching a few documentaries about for profit universities I can honestly say I have never heard of a for profit University. After watching the documentaries I realized I know many people that have attended these universities including my own father who went to University if Phoenix. After watching these documentaries I called him to ask his opinion on them. I gathered that the horror stories expressed in the documentaries are not every case. My father was smart and went back as a graduate student had money saved up and decided on a for profit university because of its convince and flexible hours. College can be very challenging and offering a college that there are no prerequisites for is bound to have some issues. First of all an issue they did touch in the films was the strategy of targeting low income families and student because of the appeal of finical aid and student loans. This in my opinion is mean of the school to express such options when they know most likely the loan will not be able to be paid off and that is how to school or "business" makes its money. But in all honesty I think it is the students fault that they are not doing the research or even consulting others about this. When googling a school like University of Phoenix all of these case studies show up even minimal research would make me question going there. Loans are a very tricky situation to get ones self into, banks offer them to students, businessmen, couples looking to buy a home, why should these schools be scrutinized for offering these loans that do offer one to help them receive an education and become successful in life. I would have liked that opinion to at least have been mildly expressed in the films instead of that always being the bad guy. In contrary I did not like the marketing strategy of the schools, forcing people to make phone calls and target low income families and students to pressure them into going back to school and taking on this tremendous dept. In addition making the telephone operators have quotas that must be met almost forcing them to force students to agree and sign up. Also the concept of the spending how more goes towards marketing then the teaching staff, makes me think of the school as a business first school second.

Essay rough draft

Public Thinking

         A common belief in today’s society is that the youth are not as skilled when it comes to reading and writing. A common argument for this is that past generations did not have internet and did not waste time on computers and phones when they wrote actual latters and read more books. Clive Thompson, author of “Public Thinking” would disagree. Thompson argues that not only does new technological advancements not put the youth behind, it helps strengthen the youth become better writers. One claim Thompson makes is that because there is an increase in writing on the internet, the youth is exposed to more writing, and there are more opportunities to be heard. In my analysis of Thompsons text I will examine why Thompson believes that in todays society writing is more important and how writing has improved from previous generations.

         Thompsons first claim is that writing for an audience improves ones writings and helps one become a better writer. When someone is writing for themselves they do not have any pressure to write to their full potential, but when an author knows that people could be reading something and judging the work, one is more likely to try harder. What better audience is the internet. Posting something on the internet anyone can read it, not just people you live near by but anyone in the world with internet. This compels authors to put time and effort into their writings even if it is something as simple as a blog post. As Gabriel Weinberg, a founder of a search engine created to protects one’s privacy, “If someone were to come across it in my name, I have to take it more seriously” (54). This is known as the audience effect, when someone knows there is an audience watching them or reading their work, they tend to try harder in fear of judgment. Thompson uses research to help prove his point, “studies have found that particularly when it comes to analytic or critical thought, the effort of communicating to someone else forces you to think more precisely, make deeper connections, and learn more” (55). Through this quote, Thompson proves that the audience effect that works with athletes and musicians also works with writers, and that knowing there is an audience helps writers out their best foot forward and revise their work until they feel it is good enough.  Having the internet available as ones audience where anyone can read anything can really put pressure on someone to think before they post something. Having this generation exposed to such a large audience then what was around before the internet is incomparable. Anyone can now be a writer and get recognized right from their bedrooms, they do not need to be published in The New York Times to be noticed.

         Although intelligent writing is very important to help readers and writers grow intellectually, just plain writing in general can be very beneficial not just for the audience, but for the individual. Thompson claims “writers often find that it is only when they start writing that they figure out what they want to say” (51). With writing especially when the audience effect comes into play, many writers have a tough time starting and getting stuff written down. But once the worlds are out there and on paper, it becomes much easier to formulate ones ideas. This idea of writing what comes to mind and then analyzing it later is not only common among novelists and journalists but poets too. Cecil Day-Lewis commented on his poetic compositions once, “we do not write in order to be understood, we write in order to understand” (51). Thompson is trying to convey that writing can be a great way for someone to express what they want to say and how they are feeling, in some ways it can be therapeutic.

         The internet is a great way to make connections, with anyone being able to post anything around the world. Making connection and discussing topics with groups that are interested in the same topic helps generate deeper thought that could lead to discoveries. History shows that even if two people have never meet before they can both independently invent the same thing neither person knowing someone else has already done that. This is known as the law of multiples, where there is a need or an advancement in society and two people think up the exact same solution. In 1922 sociologists William Ogburn and Dorothy Thompson had a explanation why, “our ideas are, in a crucial way, partly products of our environment” (59).  This exemplifies that one’s peers and the knowledge one obtains from them helps shape their ideas and thoughts. The internet being a breeding ground of people with all different thoughts and ideas waiting to make connections.

Due to this surplus of writing, digital media is creating a golden age of literacy. Because of the benefits of having the internet there is a lot more writing then there ever has been before. Due to the audience effect a lot of the writing is well written pieces. Writing like this has not been seen for years and should be something as a society to be proud of, not ashamed of the use of our new technology.

Exploring Thompson

In response to Thompson’s chapter Public Thinking a few questions to ask Thompson pop into my head. First off a lot of new technology has enabled poor spelling habits due to spell check and short hands due to texting is a lot of poor writing better than fewer better writing? Next with this new technologies to post anything at anytime how do you propose we fix the issue of how hard it is to determine if something is truthful and a real fact compared to falsified documents?

            One argument I found very persuasive was his argument that writing is very beneficial to get ones ideas out. For me it is very hard to start writing and I do find it interesting to just write and see what comes out to see what I am thinking no filtering and editing just free response. Another argument that he makes is that writing is a great way to help understand what is going on around the country and around the world. Now a days we don’t need to read day old newspapers and hear things from the grapevine. We can go online and see a video of an event happening live, and live tweets about things that are happening everywhere.  One argument I did not find very persuasive was the one about numbers and how much writing everyone does everyday, as a solid claim as to how much writing is happening al the time, because this could be just ones that are posted or ones that are done by college students posting for homework. It does not necessarily mean that everyone is more into writing now and that writing during ones free time everyone does.

            I think Thompson opens with a story about a Kenyan blogger, Ory Okolloh, to connect with readers as an example of an every day person who just posts online about things that are happening in her life. She is not a journalist and this is not part of her job it is just a hobby she enjoy. This example connects really well with his claims about how writing is now something that happens as a causal pass time that is very important. Even though Okolloh did not realize it she started to get a lot of followers and people relied on her blogs for information during a time when information about government and everyday life in Kenya was hard to get. Another claim Thompson makes is that we do not realize how much we are writing when we are writing since it has become such a common ting to do. This was shown with Okolloh when she said she could never write a book when a publisher asked her to because she said that is way too much writing to do, but then he printed out all of her blog posts and it was the size of two textbooks.

Internet’s Involvement In Writing

The main point Clive Thompson expresses, in Smarter than You Think Chapter Two Public Thinking, is that the Internet creating a gate way for writing as a good addition to society. His first claim is that the Internet is now making writing more of a culturally accepted pass time and opening doors for people all around the world to write frequently. His example is how before the Internet many people did not write often if at all after high school or college, because it was unnecessary. Thompson explains that leisurely writing was not common before the internet, “Personal expression outside the workplace-in the curious genres and epic volume we now see routinely online-
was exceedingly rare” (Thompson 49). Now blogging, and tweeting, and even texting requires non-students to think and write down instead of just saying out loud. Thompson also uses an example of a counter argument saying well one might disagree and say letter writing has dramatically slowed down since the 19th century, but in reality writing itself has increased. The number of emails and letter and writing in general has gone up dramatically since the use of the Internet. Thompson’s next claim is how there is now a higher demand for writing then there is reading. One of his examples is how parents focus on their kids learning to read more than they do on writing since in the work place reading is a more important skill. Now in the digital age writing emails and being able to communicate oneself through writing is just as important if not more important. Thompson then goes on to quote poets and how poets use writing as a way to express how they are feeling and to help them understand what they are thinking about into formulated sentences. How thoughts can be confusing and jumbled but on paper it is easier to understand what is going on. Thompson quotes Cecil Day-Lewis when stating a common quote among poets, “We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand” (Thompson 51). This shows that writing can be a self recognition tool.