The big question is, are you living the good life? The good life can be defined all how one wants to live spiritually, emotionally, and ethically. William and Mark of bloggingheads.tv converse about whether or not institutions are creating leaders or thinkers; whether or not institutions are taking an active role in teaching their students the big questions? Large institutions such as ivy leagues are not taking an active role in preparing their students to be active members of society, where as smaller close knit campuses are a little more active but still not much as one would like to see.
Mark Deresiewicz states that there is a difference between filling a bucket and lighting a fire. I 100 percent agree that there is a difference and most schools are just there to fill one’s bucket with knowledge and facts, not to get you thinking and make one’s own decisions about the facts they receive. Many smaller private school are religiously based, making them more active in seeing students not only succeed in their major but also to succeed in all aspects of their life; teaching one more than just math or english. This was true of my high school; I went to a Catholic school all my life and I feel that no matter what class the teachers always connected to me on a deeper level to make sure the once I finished high school I could make something of myself even if i did not go to a secondary school.
This is untrue of Chapman. Chapman is all about gaining money and becoming Chapman Alumni to give back. This is proven since all of their classes focus towards ones major and not towards anything else. I am a business Major and I know that all I have learned since attending Chapman is how to succeed in Business, not the underlying issue of succeeding at life. Chapman’s new Dean is especially for a high success and a high ranking that he went as far as to fire of some of Chapman’s students most favorite teachers just because their teaching credentials are not as remarkable as he would like. These are the teachers that we as students want!
A teacher that has written many papers and cares more about his or her self than the students is not helping the students at all. I speak for many students when I say that the bond that one gains with teachers is one of the most important things in our college experience. One wants to be able to connect on a deeper level then just being recognized as a number; which many Ivy league schools only see students as a number.
Chapman would like to think they are preparing us to become global citizens. They are giving us the opportunity to become global citizens but not making us global citizens themselves. They give us the opportunity to participate in travel abroad and internships. These are the things that really teach us to live the good life. These internships teach us to become active in society and get us to focus on what our morals and ethics really are.
Chapman does give you the opportunity to takes matters into your own hands and learn by yourself. There are many activities and groups to participate in on and off campus. Activities such as Greek life, volunteer work, athletics and much more. Many of my friends are part of sororities which teach you morals and values. My roommate says, “Our Sororities teach us sisterhood and how to watch out for one another, along with being a lady and a useful member of society.”
Some people would say Chapman is taking an active role in preparing students for the good life. These people are wrong because no matter how much formal education one gets this is not the same as being prepared for the real world.
In conclusion, I believe our education system is neither taking an active role in teaching us the big questions nor taking enough time to focus on the good life. There are many amazing things taught in universities but this is not one of them. I fully believe that the big questions are a huge part in shaping who we become and how we live our life once we are out of university, but without more students speaking up or more videos such as the bloggingheads video this will never be changed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Ok, first off, no spaces at all...my eyes hurt from all the text without any breaks. The phrase after the semi-colon near the beginning shouldn't end with a question mark. I don't know if "I 100 percent agree" is a good phrase to use. I think if you're going to go into first person, all the "if one does this then I think one should be able to do that" using "one" instead of "you" sounds a little silly. You're already informal, so no need to mix super formal and formal.
Finishing with "in conclusion" is sort of bad...but overall a good paper.
Yeah, you need to make sure you break up the paragraphs and such. It was hard to read. Overall you had good ideas, the only real problem I found was all the minor grammatical and punctuation errors. For example...
"I 100 percent agree that there is a difference and most schools are just there to fill one’s bucket with knowledge and facts, not to get you thinking and make one’s own decisions about the facts they receive"
You change between writing "one's" and "you" a few times. It needs to be consistent. Otherwise, it's a good paper.
Post a Comment