View News

Home News and Events View News

WELL SAID! (memorable moments in student writing)

From "Kindergartens in College: The Rough Transition to Higher Education" by J. Baisley

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Waking me up from my daydream, my phone vibrates in my pocket, signaling that I just received a text message. Without hesitation, I reach into my pocket, take out my phone, and answer the text. I look up from my phone to see exactly what I had missed while I was in dreamland. My chemistry professor is pointing at a slide on the projector and explaining it, very unenthusiastically. My friend, Karen, sitting next to me, is hunched over on her notes, asleep. Sitting in front of me is a guy, both head phones in his ears, bobbing his head up and down to the music on his iPod. I stop and think to myself, "Is anyone really engaged in what the professor is saying right now?" I look around for the answer and find a small fraction of the hundreds of students that appear to be paying attention. From the looks on their faces, they are not intrigued by the lecture, but attentive. Who is to blame for this lack of passion and devotion to learning? Peter Sacks, a reporter turned college teacher, would place the blame on students, whom he describes as feeling entitled to a college education, thus, finding it unnecessary to try hard. John Merrow, (who is he)[*], also blames the students, but also partially blames universities. He would describe these students as "invisible," gone astray in the mainstream of newly found freedom and independence that colleges provide. Although both of these men make very valid points,[**] most of the blame should be put on both high schools by failing to prepare their students for college adequately and colleges for failing to make an environment easier to adapt to for incomingn college students. The majority of these students are neither "entitled" nor "invisible," just "misplaced" or lost in the rough transition from high school to college.

Instructor Comment:

Great title!... Cute opening too. Reader is hooked (and surprised to learn you’re in class, not in bed!)...
[*] [John Merrow is an] educational journalist (pretty famous, actually!) Possibly you want a strategic paragraph break here [**], so your own good ideas don’t get buried.