Nigro 1 Grant Nigro Professor Lucy Steele English 1102 10 February 2013

Exploratory Essay

If I were to choose from any of the pieces that we discussed in class, I would choose the piece by Mark Edmundson called On The Uses of A Liberal Education. In the article, Edmundson describes how over the years college students have become much more lax and explains how students dont work as hard as they used to. He basically states that students have become lazier and there is an obvious lack of passion from college students. After observing other college students, including myself, I would agree with what Edmundson has to say. College students have become increasingly apathetic with their work and seem to be going through the motions to get to where they want to be. Although Edmundson is quite harsh in his arguments, he does bring up valid points in the article and makes you think about how hard you are actually working. Overall, in the article, Edmundson makes a wake-up call for college students hoping to make them realize that they are not working as hard as they should be. In the article, the main theme is the lack of drive in students to work hard and how students dont work as hard as they used to. Edmundson mainly states that students in todays society are trying to conform to society and dont challenge themselves in the classroom. The multiple choices that students have today in college results in complacent students, for example, Edmundson

Nigro 2 ridicules the fact that students have the ability to withdraw from classes with a month left in the semester. Not only does he discuss a lack of passion in students, but he also brings up a lack of passion in teachers. He notes that teachers, as well as students, have become increasingly less interested in their work and have become increasingly apathetic to their work and students. I feel that part of the reason for this is mainly because they observe their students and their lack of effort and essentially rubs off on them. Edmundson writes about how teachers are struggling with making their lectures interesting in order to meet the needs of their students. Edmundson also notes that students have been to concerned with conforming to society which is leading to students essentially not doing well in school. Edmundson stresses that pop culture has created a perfect, utopian world for students, who are now so concerned with their personalities and reputations that students lack the courage to challenge conventional thought. Edmundson makes me realize that what he says is very relatable to myself. For example, last semester I breezed through most of my classes. However, INFO 2130 was a bit of a challenge for me. What was nice about it though was that I had the chance to drop the class halfway through the semester. Although I did keep my grades up, I did find myself lackadaisical towards my work and I didnt work nearly as hard as I could have. When I read the article by Edmudson it hit me that I am like this and I need to better myself as a student and stop taking advantage of the system. Another piece that caught my attention was Against School by John Gatto. In this piece, Gatto explains that how being bored can sometimes be a good thing. When you are bored, you can come up with some of your best ideas. The main idea of the article was to

Nigro 3 state that being bored isnt always a bad thing and that being bored enables you to open up your mind. He says that most of the time, you can come up with your best ideas while being bored. In Against School, he also analyzes boredom in the classroom and brings up how teaching is somewhat corrupt. I would have to agree for the most part with John Gattos argument. The boredom in school along with monotone teachings is somewhat repetitive. He also ridicules schooling and the twelve-year process and explains how it might not be necessary. He explains how individuals such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln werent products of the current twelve-year school process and how they became successful without going to school. Another point Gatto brings up is that success doesnt necessarily mean schooled. Gatto also argues that schooling wasnt created to not so much educate people but more to create good citizens and good people out of them, as well as oppress them to keep society at a safe level. He continues about how everything in todays society has become easy, and how we have become a nation of children due to how we were trained in school. Some of my best ideas come from being bored too, for example, when I was younger, I would sometimes daydream when I was bored and just think about things. Some of those things that I would daydream about turned into great ideas and showed that being bored isnt always a bad thing. Even though you have nothing else to do, thinking about things can often lead to very productive things. Even now today, when I sit down and just think, I often come up with good ideas that help me solve my problems and issues.