response posts

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With your response posts, engage your classmates critically. You may disagree or agree with your classmates, but take the conversation somewhere. Do not tell your classmates how much you "loved" or "enjoyed" their posts. Definitely no empty praise like "great post!" or the like. Continue the conversation. Engage. Question. Affirm. But do so critically and thoughtfully.


initial post 1
After reading it I learned Earl Shorris, a social commentator, described how a non-vocational educational subject, the humanities, may be used to gain political power. He highlights how information gained from a liberal education can be used as a weapon in the lives of the poor. Also learning that Shorris wanted to investigate the issues of poverty in America and make a book based on his research. As a result of different talks with special people in prison, Shorris came to embrace Viniece Walker’s view that poor pupils are the ones who most need a liberal education. Also I read on how Shorris went on a mission to interview convicts at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, when he came upon someone special. Venice Walker had had a difficult past, but she was able to reclaim her education while incarcerated and receive a easy going education. Shorris immediately came up with the concept of holding courses to teach the poor how to perform proper things in the humanities. I love how all of the students were engaged and committed to the course experiment. Everyone was confused at first, unsure that they could improve their lives. Then later, the students realized they could, and they were all wondering and thinking to try.

initial post 2

Edmundson:

In this article the author explains how based off his years of observations colleges have shifted the focus of education to more of the social needs of the students. Why does Edmundson have so much concern for the way the students view him? The author has created this ideal image of himself that after numerous surveys it seems he’s reflecting and concluding that he is viewed differently than he’d liked. In the past it appears that in the past he was not as anxious to know how the students graded him. Being that he is in humanities it seems only natural for Edmundson to at some point over analyze his student’s perspective of him as a professor. Edmunds’ stance on this issue is valid because the college experience for a teacher has changed over the years, versus now a day students’ opinions and their comfortability on campus has over shadowed education.

 

Earl Shorris:

Shorris’s article forces the reader to look from his perspective regarding students’ college experience as opposed to poverty. Many of his interactions that he speaks of show support for why he believes that schools have been giving students more freedom which might be of benefit to the those that are less fortunate. I understand the authors stance on this issue, being that education is broad and attending college on campus is in some ways assisting students with preparation for the real world.