englclass

2006-12-03T16:56:00.000-08:00

I would have liked to spend more time on editing my papers. When I got back my papers, I realized that if I would have spent more time on reviewing them, I would have done a better job. I suppose that I didn't review them that thouroughly because I was just glad to get the paper done. I didn't want to go back and spend more time on it.

Even though I didn't review my papers like I should have, I have felt that I have become a better writer. Besides learning techniques of writing, I have gained valuable writing experience. I believe that everytime I write a paper my writing skills increase. Because of this experience, my papers will be much better, not only for English, but in all my classes.

2006-11-27T18:58:00.000-08:00

The peer reviews have really helped me. I've been able to get goo feedback on my paper. It's helpful to get another person's point of view. Besides help with spelling and grammar, peer reviews help me with the structure of my paper. It's vital to know that my point gets across and that it flows and makes sense. It's also very helpful to know that you can get conformation that you met the papers requirments. In addition, I feel that I have helped my peers with their papers by doing the same things that they did for me. By looking at others papers, I have received great help with my papers.

2006-11-20T15:07:00.000-08:00

I believe that I've become a better writer because I've taken some actual time in preparing my papers. Some keys to a successful paper are first of all, having an intrest in the subject your writting about. You can really tell when an author has an intrest in the subject their writting about. The difference between an interseted author and an uninterested author is night and day. Not every subject your appointed to writting about is going to interest you, but as I've found out, if you put some time and effort into a seemingly dull topic, you may find a new interest. It's important not to just give up or put liitle effort into a paper that dosn't interest you. It's critical to your education that you expand your range of study to a broad range of ideas and subjects.

2006-11-16T14:45:00.000-08:00

What I've witnessed through my research of liberal education, is the fact that modern day culture has really gone contrary to the philosophy of liberal education. People seem to want what is easy, convenient, and fast. Even if they know what the best way is, they still fall victim to their idle passions. I believe people these days are too busy for their own good. Besides the fact that most people have families that keep them busy, everyone seems to have full-time jobs and a half dozen leisure activities they go to every week. People on the most part have chosen convience over quality. Everything has to be easy, or atleast, quick. Take education for instance, students attend trade schools, skipping a solid education, so they can get to their jobs faster. Even those who attend regular universities, just want to do the minimum so they can graduate and get to their jobs.

2006-11-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

I've been writing a lot about liberal education. Prior to this semester, I don't believe I thought about it at all. Reading several articles, discussing it in class, and thinking about it myself has really made me open my eyes and mind to it. I believe I've learned more this semester than just liberal education. By reading those articles, I've learned how to understand and sumarize author's works. By discussing topics in class, I've been exposed to a wide range of ideas and beliefs. Those things have made me question my beliefs. And by critically thinking about topics like liberal education, I've developed my mind into thinking for itself. I've overcome challenges and answered questions.

2006-11-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

I'm researching the uses of a liberal education. I was thinking about this topic and it dawned on me. The talk that has been going around about higher education is that education has value in and of itself, it's more than just a money making ordeal. It's good and all to expand your mind and study a wide range of topics and be enlightened but, what about the real world. The real world is a harsh place, it dosn't care about how open your mind is , it just cares about money. It"s nice to have a well rounded education , but people go to school so they can earn more money, so they can survive. I'm not saying that all we care about is money. I'm saying that we need to pay our bills, and quite frankly, a humanities degree is not going to pay those bills. And I'm not saying that we want an extravagant lifestyle. Our wants are modest. We just want enough money to take care of our families.

2006-10-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't done any real research yet, but I 've chosen to research on the uses of a liberal education. I wasn't interested in the topic when it was first introduced to me, but after reading the articles about it, I've decided I'm interested in it. I now know why a liberal education is important for eveyone. It builds character and not just your paycheck. By exploring this topic I wish to know how you can convince someone who dosn't think a liberal education is important, and what exactly can be done in the process of changing someone's mind about it.

2006-10-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Something that has intrested me is the article by Michael Berube, "Why Inefficiency is Good for Universities. He talks about how universities are being runned like corporations and bot like places of learning. He states that universities are more concerned about making mooney than actual education. I agree with his philosophy that colledges need to spend more time and money on good, solid education and less money on things such as advertisement, sports, and other leisure pursuits of the university.

Students do learn best when they are able to have one-on-one time with the professor. But, as he puts it, this is very cost ineffective. This money in which the colledge could put towards better education is wasted on other things that don't really matter.

A very important thing he fails to bring up though is that, colledges are in competition with one another just as corportations are. The colledge isn't necassarily interested in wholesome education, but in money. If colledges can put their money into things that atract people, such as sucessful sport teams, nice dorms, and other fun things, they will make more money. I admit that colledges should be more interested in the education of its students than money, but this is not the case. People, including colledge adminisrators, are just too fond of the all mighty dollar.

2006-10-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

I'd Rather Smoke than Kiss

Paragraph 1: She challenges the perceived norm of the process of people who begin smoking. She started at a later age, was not pressured into somking.

Paragraph 2: Challenges the perceived belief that all pregnant women who smoke will have unhealthy babies.

Paragraph 7: States the joy of smoking. "One of life's great pleasures is smoking".

Paragraph 7 & 8: States that "misanthropes" are people who despise her because of her smoking habit and are trying to make her quit.

Paragraph 13 & 14: Because less people are smoking and living longer, social security problems arise.

Paragraph 21: Smokers are perceived as being disgusting to non smokers. "Fear of being physically disgusting and smelling bad is the American's worst nightmare."

Paragraph 22 - 24: Mentions a deoderant ad with the Statue of Liberty, focusing on her raised arm, showing that she is "sure" that she dosn't smell. She states that this drives home to people who had ancestors who immigrated to America. One of the first things these immigrants saw was the Statue of Liberty. These immigrants were persecuted and were called names, i.e. "dirty little ..."This is why American's fear being perceived as dirty.

Paragraph 29 & 30: One target group in particular are the "Virile females." Caucasian females, 18 to 24, with no education. Cigarette companies target this group and those who oppose smoking say that these "Virile females" are victims.

Although I do not agree with her that smoking is not that bad, I agree with her that smokers are perhaps unfair targets to those who do not smoke. I do not believe that just because someone smokes makes them a bad person and an open target for critizism. She makes an arguemnet in the 13th and 14th paragraphs that its good that people smoke so Social Securtiy money will be available. I believe that this arguement is ridiculus. Its true that if people live longer problems will arise with Social Security, but what good is money if your dead. Deal with the money problem when it arises and save your health and your life. Staying on the money topic; she fails to mention how much money it will cost a smoker in health care.

2006-09-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

The article about "The uses of a liberal education" had a significant impact on me. The article made me think why I was persuing higher education and for what purposes. It made me wonder why I didn't take an active intrest in classes that didn't pertain to my major. Why did I just want the grade and why did I not care one way or the other if I learned something from that class.

I wondered upon these questions for a while, then it dawned upon me. This passive attitude that I share with my peers goes back to our previous educational expirience. For thirteen scholastic years we've sat through hundreds of hours of subjects we deemed boring and perhaps useless. We did our homework either because we were forced or we thought maybe someday this "garbage" would be useful someday. We "progressed" through the grades, even if we weren't ready for the new challenges. We learned that if we just simply attended our classes and did the least degree possible, we would still move on. We never really expirienced failure. We graduated from high school and found out that our parents wouldn't take care of us anymore, we needed a job. We didn't want to get stuck with the jobs we had in high school for the rest of our lives, so we decided to go to colledge to get a decent job. We thought, in a way, that colldge would be like our previous "education". We wanted to just slide by and do the minimum, so we could get that piece of paper, so we could get that job we wanted. We didn't want to have to actually think and go out of our comfort zone. We came to colledge and found out that there was more to an education than just hard facts.

This epiphany changed my mind on the uses of an education. It's fine to go to colledge to get a good job, but I found out that it is also good to learn something that won't necessarily make me more money. I've decided that as I'm ateending classes and doing the assignments in all of my classes, even the ones that aren't directly related to my major, I will ask, why am I doing this?

2006-09-14T17:16:00.000-07:00

I want to go into physical therapy. It dosn't have its own major. Someone who wants to go into physical therapy can major in just about anything. Though, people usually major in a scinece related subject so they do noy have to take the classes again in phyical therapy school. This schooling takes anywhere from a year to three years depending on what area of physical therapy you want to go into. Prospective physical therapists take a wide range of science classes, primarily focusing on the anatomy of the human body.

For years, I've wanted to go into physical therapy. I've been intrigued how the body works, what factors go into the injury of muscles,tendons, and bones, and also the process of recovery. I'm exicted at the fact that I someone will come to me with a physical problem, trusting me that my skill will help them recover. I will see during the recovery process, progress of the patient and finally,at the end of the treatment, see a full recovery or significant progress that has been made. I love the idea of being able to experience this and getting paid to do it. By going into physical therapy, I wish to be able to understand more fully just how the muscles, tendons, joints, and bones all work togather to produce movement. I wish to bew able to understand,and perhaps think of new ways, the recovery process. Just why do these treaments help a person recover from an injury?

Those that are all ready in the field of physical therapy ask similiar questions. They all ready have a strong grasp of human anatomy and ways too recover from injury, but the body is an extremely complex thing. We may never know everything about the body, so scientists are constantly studying the body. More so than the later, physical therapists are studying new and more effective ways of treating the body. Probably more important, physical therapists are investigating better ways to take care of our bodies, so to prevent injury to them. One question that is being asked is, "What is the effect of elevation on the body?" More specificaly, what is the relationship between elevation and the oxygen intake of the person under strenuous conditons. The oxygen intake wil affect the person's muscles, and in turn, affect the person's bones, tendons and the entire body itself.

All these questions and oppurtunities make me eager to go into physical therapy as quickly as possible. I'm excited about learning something useful, applying that knowledge to help people, and last but not least, getting paid to do it all. I wish to contribute my skills to benefit the community I live in.

2006-09-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

My older brother recently returned from Iraq, serving fifteen months in the Army National Gaurd over there. He is twenty-eight years old and married. He wants to go to law school. To become a lawyer, he will need to complete seven years of school, including three years at law school. Since he joined the National Gaurd, (six years ago), he has been able to complete just three semesters of school, the reason being his activity in the Gaurd. On top of all of this, he may have to go back on another tour of duty. The problem is, how can he support his wife, go to school, and honor his duty in the National Gaurd?

I understand that my brother voluntarily joined the National Gaurd and that through the National Gaurd, he is able to pay for school. I suppose the thing that bothers me is, he has responsibilites in the Gaurd, but he also has responsibilites here at home too. He is in the Army, and those who are in the Army should be prepared to go to war, that is what they are there for. But, when should the Army say that he has served his country enough and honor his responsibilites for his family. I don't know if they have or not, but shouldn't the Army find someone to put on active duty who dosn't have as many resposibilites as my brother? This may sound selfish, but I believe it is an honest concern of not only my self and family, but the concern of other families in this same exact posistion.

We all need to make sacrifies, it is good to do so. But, it is not good for the soldier and especially harmful to their families when they cannot be there, supporting one another, like most families have the priveldge of doing. Should a soldier have to stay indefinitly in a conflict. If yes, then why aren't more people invloved in this conflict. I mean if Iraq is such a big problem that they have to send my brother and others over there for an undetermined amount of time, why dosn't the government institute a draft to get more soldiers over there to resolve this conflict?

2006-08-31T20:08:00.000-07:00

Something that has caught my intrest recently, is the issue of global warming. This has been a widely talked about issue for some time now, but is has been give special attention recently. It seems every time I read the newspaper or watch the news, there is something about global warming; even my english textbook mentions it. I've had an intrest on this subject for some time now, but with all of this coverage of it, my curiosity grew. The more I was exposed to global warming, the more questions I had. I know that global warming is an effect of- the increase in the world's temperature by the burning of fossil fuels. I understand that the world's population is heavily dependant on fossil fuel, and that just cutting off our use of them will present more challenges than it solves. My question is, how can we, as a world, either cut back our use of fossil fuels or find an alternative fuel source so the effect of global warming can be slowed or even stopped.

Though the theory of global warming is debatable, there is no question that fossil fuel damages the earth's ozone layer that protects us all. The earth's reserves of fossil fuel is dwindling. There have been voices who call for drilling in new places. Alaska, the Rocky Mountains and the gulf coast are sites that have been mentioned. My concern, is that all though we may solve the issue temporarily by doing this, we do not solve the biiger issue of an alternative fuel that is less damaging to the earth. I understand that finding this alternaitve fuel will take time, that drilling in these places will buy us some time. The other issue that comes up by drilling in new places, is the damage it does to the environment there. As you can see, one has to weigh the pros and cons of this situation.

My other concern is, just about how are we supposed to start slowing the effects of global warming. We all have personal choices to make. I can do something in my life, but i can't change or force others into doing something. As I mentoned before, we just can't stop using fossil fuels by tomorrow. If we couldn't drive to work, to school, to the grocery store. If planes and trucks stopped delivering products the world would solve it's global warming issue but would present itself with a slew of other problems. What can be done so that we will be able to continue our lives while being more friendly to the environment.

The list of problems seems endless. We have a list of things we could do, but, each action has its benifits and drawbacks. This issue will not be an easy one to solve. I fear because of the complexity of global warming, it may never be solved or it may be too late until we do something significant. Each person has too think of this problem with concern and logic if it is to be fixed.

2006-08-31T20:02:00.000-07:00

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