You Are Here Readings on Higher Education for College Writers

by Durst, Russel K.

• ISBN13: 9780130277619
• ISBN10: 0130277614
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-16
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

Focusingsolelyon the topic of higher educationits opportunities, complexities, and challenges and how to make the most of themthis engaging anthology enriches users' critical thinking, communication, and research skills with reading and writing assignments that will improve one's ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate arguments; construct written arguments and interpretations; plus hone research capabilities using the library, on-line sources, interviewing, and observation.Moves from critical reading to informal journal writing to formal essay writing. Begins each unit with an introductory essay laying out the main issues to be covered; starts each reading with a short description of the author and a brief summary; and follows with a reflective writing assignment. Covers such subjects as popular culture, gender, the environment, the influence of advertising and other media on consumers, the economy, music, AIDS, and literacy, and emphasizes that college is about more than career preparation and personal advancementthat it is about self-understanding, social awareness, community development, learning for the sake of learning, and more.For instructors of college freshman orientation programs; also for those interested in critical reading and writing with a focus on higher education.

Table of Contents

Dear Student	vii
Credits	xv
UNIT ONE Education and Culture	1	(100)
How Selective Colleges Heighten Inequality	4	(8)
Robert B. Reich
Learning Silence: Scenes from the Class Struggle	12	(18)
Peggy Orenstein
Education: The Trouble with Single-Sex Schools	30	(10)
Wendy Kaminer
The War Against Boys	40	(17)
Christina Hoff Sommers
Success Against the Odds: Young Black Men Tell What It Takes	57	(13)
Benjamin P. Bowser
Herbert Perkins
Something to Push Against	70	(18)
Ron Suskind
Who Gets Called Queer in School?	88	(6)
Andi O'Conor
Why the Americans are More Addicted to Practical Than to Theoretical Science	94	(7)
Alexis de Toqueville
UNIT TWO Being in College	101	(94)
The Difference between High School and College	104	(11)
Jack Meiland
On the Uses of a Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students	115	(15)
Mark Edmundson
On the Uses of a Liberal Education: As a Weapon in the Hands of the Restless Poor	130	(15)
Earl Shorris
The Allegory of the Cave	145	(4)
Plato
Lowering the Bar	149	(13)
Stuart Rojstaczer
Too Many Students Are Holding Jobs for Too Many Hours	162	(4)
Jacqueline E. King
Introduction to Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports Are Crippling Undergraduate Education	166	(8)
Murray Sperber
The University Serving the Community	174	(14)
Thomas Ehrlich
A Guide to Good Teaching: Be Slow and Inefficient	188	(7)
Michael Randall
UNIT THREE The Purposes o f College	195	(68)
The Democratic Framework	198	(8)
Steven Cahn
The Liberal Arts; A Practical View	206	(4)
Mark Jackson
What People Learn in College: The Major	210	(7)
Jacob Neusner
Specialization: The Enriched Major	217	(10)
Ernest Boyer
Hire Education: The Secretary of Labor Tells You Where the Jobs Will Be in the New Economy	227	(6)
Robert B. Reich
Of Studies	233	(2)
Francis Bacon
The Mission of the University	235	(7)
Robert Solomon
Jon Solomon
You Make Your Own Chances: Wealth as an Educational Goal	242	(10)
Paul Rogat Loeb
The $10,000 Hoop; Has Higher Education Become an Exercise in Futility for Most Americans?	252	(5)
Zachary Karabell
The Practical Path, Too, Can Be High-Minded	257	(6)
Richard M. Freeland
UNIT FOUR Education and Assessment	263	(84)
Inventing Intelligence: The Origins of Mental Measurement	265	(20)
Peter Sacks
Those Who Can't, Test	285	(6)
Brian Doherty
The SAT: A New Defense	291	(20)
William C. Dowling
More Testing, More Learning	311	(5)
Patrick O'Malley
A Whole Lot of Cheatin' Going On	316	(5)
Mark Clayton
College Students Speak About ADD	321	(8)
Patricia O. Quinn
Sorting Out Which Students Have Learning Disabilities	329	(7)
Perry A. Zirkel
Grading Your Professors	336	(11)
Jacob Neusner
References	347

Excerpts

As a college composition teacher and administrator for two decades, I have found it especially difficult--but also especially rewarding-to teach the critical reading and writing course. This course imparts literacy and intellectual skills so crucial to a college education and to life after college. Topics I have covered include popular culture, the environment, the influence of advertising and other media on consumer attitudes, American values, and many more. Unfortunately, students often say they find the readings irrelevant and boring. I generally respond by pointing out ways in which I believe the course material really does connect with students' lives. However, I've long wanted a book for the critical reading and writing class whose relevance to students would be more immediately evident. Despite years of searching, I couldn't find such a book, so with the help of a number of excellent teachers at the University of Cincinnati, I created one. The topic is college itself, the opportunities, challenges, and complexities it offers and how to make the most of them. What topic could be more relevant to students just starting out on their journey through the often-mysterious world of higher education?Throughout the United States, more than 1 million students are currently enrolled in first-year college composition. As one of those students, perhaps planning to major in business, biology, education, architecture, engineering, music, pharmacy, or some other preprofessional subject, you may well be wondering why you need to take this composition class in the first place. After all, haven't you already taken 12 years of English? What exactly is the point of yet another? One answer is that the class in which this book is being used focuses on key literacy skills that need to be developed at a higher level than was necessary for high school. Mastering these skills will help you considerably in your work as a college student, in your public role as an educated citizen, and in your career (or careers, since most people do not stay in the same field for their entire working lives). The Book's PurposesThe goals of this course concern critical thinking, communication, and research skills, tools that are crucial no matter what field you may find yourself in. The reading and writing assignments included in this anthology will improve your ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate arguments, something you will doubtless be called on to do frequently in the years to come. The materials in this book will help you construct your own written arguments and interpretations, a process that also involves taking into consideration the views of others. In addition, the book will improve your ability to do research, using not only library and online sources but also field research techniques such as interview and field observation. Just as importantly, this book will also help you make the most of your college education by examining the following question from a variety of perspectives: What does it mean for me to be a college student? You will have the opportunity to read, write, think, and talk about this question and to do a research project investigating your intended major. Taken seriously, this book will help you gain a richer, clearer, and more complex sense of your own. goals for being in college, and this improved understanding will help you in your subsequent coursework and beyond.You are no doubt hoping to be successful in your college studies. However, as a close examination of the readings in this book will reveal, success is not simply about achieving high grades and attaining a high-paying job, important though these considerations may be. Success is also about finding satisfaction and fulfillment, about figuring out what you most want to do in life, about growing intellectually, and about making a difference in the lives of others. If this book is