Article Summary: The End Of The College By Rebecca Schuman

Improved Essays
The End of the College Essay Summary
This humorous and honest article The End of the College Essay was written for Slate by columnist and author Rebecca Schuman. In this candid article she discusses what many college students and instructors have in common, their loathing for essays. She presents and supports many points for her belief that college essays are possibly not even necessary especially considering that the instructor hates grading the essays just as much as the student hates writing them.
After spending twelve years of your life in grade school you must then go on to obtain a college level education if you want to get a job making a decent wage. Many people see this as a dreadful but required phase of life to obtain a degree so that maybe they will move on to something better. Student’s view some classes as forced labor and don’t see why they should have to waste their precious time on such class when it could be used doing other far more enjoyable things.
Often times they get through these classes they detest with as minimal effort as possible. They pay
…show more content…
However this would require more of an in class setting, which for some may not be possible. For those that are in class cheating and minimum effort would not be as easily gotten by with. A more exam like approach with direct right or wrong answers could help better test the students knowledge.
It is my opinion that Schumans article was written to express not only her opinions but her true concern for our societies lack of will to learn. She not only made many valid points but also proposed alternative options that could be better for both students and instructors. This article was both an enjoyable and informing read. While I admit I don’t always enjoy writing multiple page essays I do see every essay as a chance to learn and better

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    When did college begin to become a way of life, a necessity in most households? Most parents encourage their children to go to college from a very young age. For a lot, it’s simply a way of life. You grow up, leave high school, and then go straight into college. In Frank Bruni’s, “The Imperiled Promise of College,” he speaks about how numerous people are going to college, yet a lot of them don’t have jobs after they receive their diploma, or that their job has nothing to do with what they have studied.…

    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He tells them it won’t be easy, but if they work hard and put their heart into their education, then they will receive fully what college has to offer. Through this essay Edmundson covers the issues with the average college classroom, problems with college administrators, and doing what…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Since our first attempt at writing an essay in elementary to middle school, we are told the main components to writing an essay is the ‘beginning’, ‘middle’, and ‘end.’ All of which holds true today, but as we move from one grade to the next, the standards for a ‘good’ essay changes for the better. Rhetorical strategies, devices, and appeals also known as rhetoric, is what we learn in high school (Stotsky 10). The continuation of the expanding knowledge is what makes us alter our writing strategies, from the material taught to us in our adolescent years of elementary school and every year thereafter. It is in high school that we are taught to analyze and dissect the author, as well as the author’s work ceaselessly.…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Many adults today are exhilarated when their child graduates from high school and gets accepted into college. Former reporter and critic, William A. Henry III, has a very different outlook on colleges. William A. Henry III argues that within the concept of egalitarianism, we as The United States of America, have lowered the standards and have accepted too many “mediocres” into college. From Henry’s knowledge not everyone is ready for college. William Henry believes that if we cut the amount of students that get into college in half then it would be even harder for students to be accepted to college, decreasing the amount of colleges throughout the world.…

    • 1541 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Trade School Throughout middle school, I remember my teachers telling the me, “If you study hard and go to college you’ll have a nice, well paid, job waiting for you after you graduate.” This was not taught as a suggestion or an option, but as a fact. As if this was the only way to be successful in life. Up until my senior year in high school, every teacher I had supported that idea.…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hannah Adams Dr. Herman Prager TX Government 14 November, 2017 College, What It Was, Is, And Should Be In Andrew Delbanco’s book, College, What It Was, Is, And Should Be, the author explains that students are no longer going to colleges to explore and discover their passions, but instead are attending just to gain an undergraduate degree. He argues that a true education helps students discover themselves. He expresses his concern that many colleges are losing their passion to help students discover themselves and their values, and those that keep up these traditions are becoming a privilege that many cannot afford.…

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    • According to Carolyn Birds, writer of College is a Waste of Time and Money, Bird’s presents the idea that adolescents that recently finished their high school education automatically go to college “because it has become the thing to do or because college is a pleasant place to be” (Lines 5-7). Too many, the previous statement that Bird presents can be seen as valid; socialization has become a key component as to why many individuals go to college directly after finishing high school. From movies to personal experiences, people see that from high school the norm is to attend college. That while in college you will find yourself and it will become the best four years of your life.…

    • 119 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Caroline Bird’s “College in America”, she describes the belief that college is the key to success for all high school graduates as a “noble American ideal” (336). Bird portrays the United States as the first nation to influence everyone to pursue a higher education. However, Bird asserts that striving for a college education is not the best option for every high school graduate, due to the money being invested and the lack of jobs being offered for college graduates. I endorse Bird’s argument that “it [the assumption that college is indispensable to succeed] violates the fundamental principle of respect” (336) because college only comes naturally to a few, not everyone is fit for the challenges that come along. College is not the perfect…

    • 1194 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    College Students Need to Toughen Up Essay College Students Need to Toughen Up, Quit Their Grade Whining, is an essay written by Robert Schlesinger that critiques the grading system many college students expect. Robert states that when he was in college, “Do an adequate job, get a c,” was the standard. Schlesinger shows frustration to current college students that expect high grade for doing mediocre jobs. He disagrees with students that believe that their grades should show the amount of effort they put into their work.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Part of the American dream, at least as it applies to young people, generally involves four years at a respectable institution followed by a “real”’ job, preferably in the same field one studies in college. However, according to the author Linda Lee in “The Case Against College” not everyone needs higher education, she explains why a college education is unnecessary in terms of a good career and financial stability. She adds that there are some people who are simply more academically-minded, while others are not meant for college “on average the brightest and the hardest working kids in school go to college” (Lee ). Also there are many majors that require a four-year degree but that do not pay off in the end. As the author notes, “plumbers make more than philosophy majors” (Lee ).…

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The author states that most of the students do not desire to get a strong academic formation. When the essay states that “ In college, life is elsewhere”, Edmonson relates how students are more concerned about passing courses in college instead of learning important theory associated with their fields. I believe that this is a commonly seen event in colleges and as students we must be worried about working hard in our studies. Being lethargic throughout University results in cheating. The author claims how some students look for getting answers of an exam in a different way than learning from classes and lectures.…

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Like many students, college students always want the easiest way to attain a good grade. That was what I experienced in high school. Teachers give credit for work completed rather than the accuracy of the work and students would receive credit for things that had nothing to do with materials being taught in class. For example, my teacher would give extra credit on essays for bringing tissue boxes to class. In high school, students get used to slacking off and procrastinating however teachers seemed like they did not care to help discourage these bad habits.…

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Reflection Of My Writing

    • 1448 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Like I previously stated I learned how to do many things with my writing this semester. The first essay we wrote, a narrative, was probably my favorite essay to write. Although it was my favorite, it was definitely not my best. I wrote my essay and felt like it was complete and worthy to turn in. Little did I know that was not the case.…

    • 1448 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    5 Paragraph Misconceptions

    • 1484 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Five-Paragraph Construct To strengthen my misconception of the five paragraph format, I have researched information from articles and books. These sites have been an incredible way of seeing my construct in different points of views. Although I will be including an article that expresses a good feedback of this construct, I have found various facts and opinions that strongly support my misconception. Nonetheless, just because you were taught this inferior format does not mean you will show up to college and be doomed for your English class. The five paragraph construct can help you to be aware of keeping your essay well organized.…

    • 1484 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The fear of writing a college level essay always crept in the back of my mind. Formatting, wording, and my professor’s expectations concerned me. The first essay I wrote for English 102 class, “ The…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays