Tuesday, September 30, 2014
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.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
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.
Friday, September 5, 2014
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.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
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.
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.
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