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ENGLISH 101. ACADEMIC WRITING |
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Discussion for Lessons 2
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Lessons Module 1 Module 2 3:
Euthyphro 11:
Research Project 19:
Outlines Module 5 25:
About the Exam
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The English 101 Departmental Final Exam Dr. G. What do you need to learn or practice to be ready for the final exam? Student M. Not only do I need to learn everything about the MLA in-text citation and elements of style but also reinforce my grammar. I must confess that I feel concerned and a little bit nervous about the final exam. G. Nervousness is good. It shows there's energy available to be converted into constructive uses, such as learning MLA rules and improving English grammar. We will have lots of practice before the final, and it will cure some of the worry. I show a sample exam this early in the course so that all of us can see from the beginning what our goals should be. Student V. The [MLA] format of the essay seems a little odd for me because its been 5 years since I have been out of high school, and all that has been long forgotten. G I am not aware that any high school anywhere teaches MLA form. It's absurd (to my way of thinking) that high school teachers don't teach students correct forms of documentation. Many in fact don't teach any form of documentation at all--and I suspect that some don't even know what correct form is. Studies have indicated that nearly half of US high school students simply plagiarize their papers. (With public schools malfunctioning like this, is it any wonder that our society is full of cheaters?) In my humble opinion, our secondary educational system in the US is a national disgrace. Beginning college students should not feel stupid. Nobody has properly prepared them for college. V. Actually, in my sophmore year of high school, my AP english class did go over mla.....briefly, but we learned the 3 styles of writing .however, we did not have to write any essays in the format. weird...I must have been at the only high school that did go over it! G. What school? I want to send an award! [Dr. G has since learned that Ithaca High School, for one, teaches MLA documentation in advanced English classes. Three cheers for IHS!] Student Z. I need to learn how to utilize an informational database in order to access information useful to successfully complete this course. This might involve using databases with scholarly journals, full text newpaper articles as well as periodicals. G. Research is the focus of our course. Starting in Lesson 4 we will be working the databases of journals and other library resources. Education Student J. I have never paid much thought about the role of higher education. I have to say: I've always looked at college as means of preparing me for a career. But I now believe it is much more than just career training. I will have to look into this further. Dr. G. I am sure that you can benefit from the career training that the school offers. But the concerns of many educators run deeper--we wonder if we are doing all that we can to build a good society. When we watch or read the news, we should have our doubts. Graduates of this course will know everything they need to know about academic writing. But have I done my job if that's all that is learned in this class? It seems to me that the answer is no. The reason is that writing is only a form of expression; it presupposes that there's something to express. That means we should first learn how to think. So I approach English 101 as something more fundamental than a course in the technical aspects of writing. Student A I have been guilty of looking to higher education for financial gain. I started back to school with a fear of losing my job, feeling the need to scramble to save it. After obtaining the credits to keep my job, I have looked upon higher education in a completely different light. I am here because I choose to be. It is a much better feeling to enjoy the learning experience. I believe that most high school students go off to college striving for financial success as our society has taught them from a young age. We lean to far towards finacial security and further away from persuing personal happiness. Perhaps the role of higher education should be to try and teach a balance between the two. G If you're finding enjoyment in school I'm sure that you will succeed at it. I like to think of different courses of study as various forms of exercise. Those that we find most enjoyable are likely to lead us furthest in development, simply because we'll spend more time on them. Those we don't enjoy aren't likely to help us because we won't put enough time into them to benefit. Obviously it can turn out that we like to do things that don't pay very well--like teaching English or being a street philosopher. As long as you can avoid that curse, you should do well by following your dreams :) Student C. I work with Engineers that have multiple degrees and are smart, but lack any kind of mechanically understanding of how a machine works. They design parts to be made but do not know how the machine makes them. Then when a consumer gets a product and it does not work right they complain. The schools should offer the aspect of BOTH so everybody has a understanding of the mental and physical ability of their career field. G. I agree that specialization is a growing problem. We seem to be less and less able to communicate with one another because our specializations are taking us so far off in different directions. Schools have encouraged this--because specialization gives them more to teach--but there are now some academic movements under way to provide cross-training and merge different disciplines into a single course. If you look at college catalogues you might find a course that combines, for example, environmental science and economics. Such a course would help environmentalists understand that regulations have costs, and it would help economists understand the need for environmental protection. I hope that this kind of multi-discipline course work will become more common in the future. A narrow technical training is dangerous in that the world is changing rapidly, and whole areas of technical training can become obsolete almost overnight. That's why it's important in school to to get some breadth so that you'll have more flexibility as the changes hit. Student L. More and more, we (young students) enter college without even knowing what we want. For example, many people want to study music or education, or art, subjects that are very liberating, fulfulling, and expressive, but they decide not to because they will not have enough money to survive. Also, we are sort of bulied or pushed into this commercial society that just soaks up the next best product. For this reason, we need large amounts of money to survive, or at least we think we do. So, higher education, nowadays, is not about being able to want to learn more and receive the tools needed to be a scholar. What I mean by this is that you are interested in learning more and more and try, on your own, to do this. Education is just about learning the technicalities of a specific career, becoming monotonous in its actions and after a couple of years, boring. G. For education and career guidance, I recommend that all TC3 students make use of TC3's Office of Counseling, Career and Transfer Services. They have experienced counselors and lots of materials about schools and degree programs. You can stop into the office any time to talk to a counselor. This is a free service (included in the cost of tuition, that is). Even if you cannot come to the college, you can access information and contact the center via its website http://www.sunytccc.edu/counsel/career/index.asp And even if you think that you know what you want to study, and what you want to do for a career, it doesn't hurt to find out what expert advice is available. You can almost certainly learn something that you didn't know by visiting the Office of Counseling, Career and Transfer Services. V. Part of the reason why it took me so long to go to college was observing my friends and family who went right into college after high school. Most of them were either miserable, or dropped out within the first couple semesters. In a way, I think higher education lost its purpose a long time ago. A lot of students these days who enter higher education right after high school, look at it as gaining freedom, getting away from their parents, and having fun. I think colleges and universities need to set stricter rules. Students need to know that by attending higher education, they are choosing to open their minds and learn. I am not saying that they shouldn't be aloud to have fun while they are in college, but part of the role of higher education should be getting students into the mind set of learning and teaching them about controlling their lives as adults in society. As for students in higher education going for the learning part, or the financial part, it's a catch 22. Lets face it, it's hard to survive in this economy. You need to have a good, high paying job to get by, but trying to find that job without having a degree, is not easy. And job training, or so called "technical" schools, may provide the hands on skills, but they don't create a mind set that a person will need to survive. The sample final exam was good, I think. However, I would have included more on the topic of how higher education should prepare students for the real world. So many students graduate college these days and are lost. They have no money, no job finding skills, and are clueless on how to make it in todays society. If the statistics are true, and most students enroll in higher ed to gain finacial security, what good is higher ed going to do if students aren't tought how to obtain that? G. You make a good point about students entering college directly out of high school. More than half of TC3 students who begin English 101 don't finish or don't pass, and the big majority of those who don't make it are youngsters straight from high school. I blame this failure rate on a very dangerous mix of 18 year-old body chemistry and simple lack of commitment to serious goals. Those are the two things that I most remember about myself at age 18, a time of great fun and greater catastrophe. I apparently needed to fail (I dropped out in freshman year) in order to learn how to succeed, but I admire those who don't have to learn the hard way as I did. Student R. The overall objective of higher education is to offer knowledge that enlightens ones’ self. Today students are led to think of a degree as an end result; years of training and research to obtain a career in a specific field of study when in fact the true purpose of study should include the quest for knowledge, virtue and greater self awareness. The Harper Book of Quotations is effective because the quotes leave much room for thought and personal philosophy. I particularly liked the quote, "Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper of self-confidence" (qtd. in Fitzhenry 138). Education is a broad concept but Robert Frost is specific possibly because of certain events or witness to such events where ones’ righteousness and conscience may have been overrun without the desire and practice of learning. Goals Student V. The biggest problem I find with goals, is procastonating. I find it helps that when I set a goal, (a short term goal) that I try to complete it as soon as possible. Timing is everything. The more you put a goal off, the better chance that you won't complete it. To improve on setting goals and keeping them, set a time line. I know a lot of goal getters, I myself am one of them. I find when I am around other goal getters like myself, I thrive. Being around other people who have goals is a positive experience. It helps to be around other people who have goals, then to be around people who have no goals. Those people are the ones who tend to drag you down. Dr. G. I think that you make an excellent point about the people with whom we associate. As I try to point out in my first lecture, we are social creatures who participate in mental networks. The group that any individual associates with is likely to have very strong influence over that individual, if only because all of us want to belong, to fit in, to conform. If those around you do not have the desire and determination to succeed, then it's highly likely that you are on a path toward unsuccess. If you watch a school of fish, they all swim in the same direction. It follows that you should choose your friends and associates carefully. Student F. Nowadays young adults would rather procrastinte than dedicate their time to building their future. We should learn how to balance out our time and prioritize better. We all should start thinking about our our future and make (crucial) critical choices during these years, keeping in mind that all of our actions will determine our profesional lives. If we can achieve this, we can find the time to socialize and enjoy our youth to its fullest with both studies and announcement. G. Good point. In planning your time on a weekly or short-term basis, be sure to set aside some periods for personal relaxation. Budgeting this down time can keep you from burning out with exhaustion, and it can also keep you from over-indulging yourself. It's very common to have trouble balancing work and play. |
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gutchess@englishare.net Academic writing home page Gary Gutchess © 2003 |
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