Zijun Zhou (Lesley)

ESL 33B
March 13
Project 2 Final Drafts
Economics is the choice for my future major and career. My parents started their
own business when I was young and I always like to hang out at their workplace and
watch them doing business. Ive always liked to deal with numbers and money since I
was a little girl. My parents have always encouraged me and supported me in doing
my own business too. When I was fourteen, I started up a small business of selling
contact lenses. I bought a number of contact lenses at a much lower price from a
wholesaler and sold them to my classmates and friends at a reasonable price. I made
almost 200 dollars every month then, it was not a small number at that time and age. I
like selling things to people and I am a good sales person. Now, I have a small
successful business of selling beauty tools online. Thanks to the development of the
Internet, information on the social media broadcasts particularly fast. I use the Internet
to promote my products through social media celebrities profiles, and they get
noticed from people/potential clients all over the world. My small business is going
really well now and it brings me about two thousand dollars easily each month. My
parents are so proud of me and support me in every possible way. Another big reason
for me to choose this major is that my parents want me to go back to China and help
them manage family business when I graduate from college. In addition, I also did
some research and the statistics show Economics graduates have a higher salary than

others. There are many work opportunities in the related fields for economics
graduates too. Therefore, I made this decision and I believe the knowledge and
theories I will learn from this major will help me a lot on my life path later.
No matter what discipline you go for, knowing and getting involved in the target
discourse community is very important. The discourse community refers to a group
of people who share common language norms characteristics, patterns, or practices as
a consequence of their ongoing communications and identification with each other
(Bazerman). In order to better understand the discourse community of Economics and
our future career life, my partner and I did an interview with our professor from
Economics 1A. She highlighted three important areas that will help us understand the
discourse community and succeed in the field. First, we need to get a degree in
Economics. A degree is a very important thing for us. When we look for a job in the
filed, a degree can prove our level of education and show the employers our learning
abilities. Higher education not only provides us opportunities to learn knowledge and
theories in the Economics but also prepares us adequate English language skills in the
discourse community. She explained to us the importance of English language skills
in the profession, especially the reading and writing skills. It is important for
economics majors to know how to read the economics reports and articles efficiently
since our future jobs always require us to gather requested information fast. The
reading materials in our field usually contain a lot of charts, tables, patterns, and
graphs. Knowing how to access the data quickly will make a huge difference when it
comes to millions dollars business. Besides, professional business writing skills such

as how to write business letters, resumes, memos, emails, and reports is also crucial
for people work in our fields. For example, you need to know the specific email
etiquettes when you communicate with other professionals, colleges, employers, and
clients in our fields or others will probably think you are not professional and just
ignore you. Also, she mentioned the differences between the ways western and eastern
companies do business and how businessmen from different cultural backgrounds
communicate are extremely important to consider in the global market right now.
Second, we also need to be good at math (Torres). Economics has great
relevance with Math since Math is the most important tool for doing business. For my
parents business and even my own one, we deal with math everyday. Mastering math
in areas of understanding statistics, interpreting data, and analyzing information can
prepare us for the future professional life and career challenges well.
Last but not least, she suggested us to gain as much research experience as
possible (Torres). Economy is changing whenever and wherever possible. It is very
important for people in our community to come up with new questions and discover
the answers to them by ourselves. Sometimes, research means something really
simple such as reading newspapers and economical magazines since we need to
gather latest information and news to help us make decisions in stock markets
(Torres). Sometimes, research requires us to use multiple skills of analyzing data,
comparing and interpreting information, problem solving, etc. to assist us in more
complicated tasks (Torres).
What is more, she told us finance is more important than accounting in

Economics. Finance is closer to the economics because they both focus on the concept
while accounting is a more specific business skill (Torres). Then, running a small
business will also help us al lot in understanding Economics because you will know
how to deal with some problems and it will improve and practice your
problem-solving skills (Torres). Moreover, she told us the employment situation in
economics now. A lot of economics graduates dont work as economists and
economics major does not relate to a specific job. We can work at a lot of different
places: we can be bankers; we can go for government; or we can even start our own
business (Torres). Overall, employers prefer to find employees with economics degree
since they can work at anywhere. A degree in Economics prepares students for careers
in public policy, consulting, and a wide variety of business organizations (Torres). The
other important things that will be helpful for us to be successful in Economics is
logical thinking and good communication skills.
The most valuable thing I could learn from her is the different skills that we need
to develop from now. She summarized it in a very easy way Get a degree, be good at
math, and have some research experience is necessary. Also, do not forget to develop
your language skills like reading and writing in a professional way (Torres). I
understand what she said and realize how important the college education is for us
now.
Businessmen or people who work in the fields of Economics need to become
familiar with their own discourse community, develop their cultural awareness, and
train their critical thinking skills through research and other projects. A college

education should prepare students succeed in all of these areas for their future career.
First, college education can help students get familiar with their discourse
community and communicate with their colleagues, boss, and clients professionally.
For Economics majors, it is very important to master the economics and business
discourse since the characteristics of this major differ from others dramatically.
Reading, writing, listening, and speaking are all part of the training. In our future
career life, we need to collect data so we have to read a lot too. Reading efficiently is
really important. Learning how to read efficiently in college will help us save much
time for collecting data in the future, which is a skill you cannot gained without
training and practice. We can also improve our reading skills through getting familiar
with the discourse vocabulary, using strategies while reading business reports and
articles by searching the key points and statistics; or simply read a lot for class
projects. If we can develop good reading habits in college and we will know how to
catch the key points of articles or reports after training. Moreover, we can learn how
to communicate professionally in college through academic writing. Professors will
teach us how to write professional business letters, emails, reports, and memos
accurately and precisely to prepare us for our real world economics and business jobs.
In our future career life, it is necessary to use the professional language to contact or
communicate with our boss, colleagues or clients. Good business writing skills make
us look professional and bring us more opportunities and business. Apart from written
communication, having good verbal communication with people is necessary too.
The starting point of Economics is the study of human nature, and it is the object

of study human behavior and social activities, so good communication and great
cultural awareness with others can really help us in Economics and business. We can
develop good cultural awareness through college classes and communicating with
students from different cultures. In many American universities, the finest teachers
should teach freshmen, and that undergraduate classes should be small enough for
students to have lively intellectual interaction with teachers and fellow students
(Boyer, 85). Thus, small classes are preferred by undergraduates because the class size
is small enough to lively engage students communicate intellectually. In American
universities and college, students get to meet a lot of international students with
different social and cultural backgrounds, which offers college students opportunities
to learn a lot of business etiquettes and work habits of other parts of the world. If I
understand different culture backgrounds and I work with students from different
backgrounds on my group projects, I can learn how to work with them and
communicate with them in their preferred ways. In group-projects, we need to share
diverse perspectives, and combine them together to make our projects better, which
can be invaluable asset for my future career. We also will have access to attending
different activities in the community, which would help us learn how to form a good
interpersonal relationship with people no matter you are a banker or business owner.
For international students like myself, American college education not only provides
me opportunities to learn knowledge from the textbooks but also numerous chances to
communicate with people in my future discourse community in English.
Last but not least, college education provides students chances to learn how to

ask questions, develop critical thinking skills through research. Economy is changing
whenever and wherever possible, learning how to research is crucial since teachers or
professors will not always be there to answer students questions.Theres no doubt
that American education does not meet high standards in such basic skills as
mathematics and language.Disgruntled American parents forget that in this country
their children are able to experiment freely with ideas; without this they will not really
be able to think or to believe in themselves (Ho, 113). Ho advocated that the biggest
advantage about American education system is not basic skills such as mathematics
and language but the freedom of exploring new ideas (113). And that is what exactly
professors teach you in college guiding students to grasp the research skills through
many different tasks and projects and preparing them for all kinds of career challenges.
During the research process, critical thinking skills will be developed and employed
too. Working in economics needs three essential critical thinking skills: collecting,
analyzing, and interpreting information. Companies will value their employees
abilities and combined skills through different tasks. Many employees may gain
valuable research experience or critical thinking skills through years of working;
however, they might not be as up to date as what learned from the college professors.
The abilities to analyze and interpret data are valued as well. Economic analysis is
directed at the problems such as inflation and recession, taxation decisions,
environmental problems, and managerial decision-making. In college, the English and
Economics classes will teach us how to analyze and interpret the data in a correct way.
Research can really help us gather the latest information and answer the newest

questions in the field in order to help us make critical decisions.

I admit that many invaluable skills and first-hand experience can be developed
and gained through years of working in the related fields; however, real-life
workplace is not a school for you to learn all kinds of knowledge and experience.
Many employers do not have time to train their employees from the beginning and
they do expect them start working professionally on the first day of their employment.
On the contrary, going to college provides economics graduates more opportunities to
learn the most updated theories, receive accurate feedback towards their language
skills in their discourse community, develop critical thinking and research skills
through designated tasks. For young people, especially for those who do not speak
English as their first language like myself, I prefer going to college and receive
step-by-step training without any setbacks. In conclusion, college education prepares
students for their future career success in a more smooth and profound way, which
can be very important in their career path later.
After interviewing my professor, I realized that I am far from ready to be an
insider in the discourse community of Business and Economics. English is not my
first language and I am still taking ESL classes right now to get myself ready for my
future academic studies. Therefore, I need to improve my language skills in the
discourse community of Economics intentionally. I will form a habit of reading
economical magazine and newspaper daily to improve my reading skills and prepare
myself for my future major and career life. Also, I will try to write more in English
and ask my tutor or teachers give me feedback before turning in the essays or papers.

My short-term goal is to graduate ESL class with a good grade. In addition, I need to
be more communicative in class because communication with my classmates from
other countries can help me in doing international business in the future too. However,
I feel the most difficult skill for me to acquire is: critical thinking skills since the
education I received for more than ten years does not encourage creativity and critical
thinking. I am more used to receive knowledge passively and take exams. Unlike the
teachers in China, many professors in our college actually welcome us giving
different answers in class, so I will research more and learn to analyze and interpret
information on my own. In addition, running our own small business is also important.
I can gain a lot of experience from this and it will also help with my problem-solving
skills. Lastly, I will look back and reflect on what I need to improve every month.
Only constant reflection and continuous improvement will I become more successful.
In conclusion, not only the general economics information but also the useful skills
above I need to learn and develop in my college life will make me succeed in my
future discourse community of Economics and Business.

Works Cited
Bazerman, Charles. Issue Brief: Discourse Communities Web. 10 Mar 2015.
Boyer, Ernest. Creativity in the Classroom. From College: The Undergraduate
Experience in America. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching. 2005. Print.
Ho, Kie. We Should Cherish Our Childrens Freedom to Think. 1993. Print.
Torres, Sarey. Personal Interview. 17 Feb. 2015.