Matt Hobbs
9/6/17
English 110
Prof. Emerson
Higher Education
When most students think about education, in the moment, they wish they were done with it. I have come to realize that a lot of people take education for granted. What those people do not understand is that a solid education is a key point in today’s society. I believe that everyone should attend school and try to question everything because if you questioning everything you can’t stop learning. If you do not finish school your options are limited compared to those who finished and for the most part the “American Dream” is achieving success and prosperity through hard work and determination.
Barnett talks a lot about how a higher education needs to be unsettling. He has more of a real world take on education, for example he says, “ A higher education experience is not complete unless the student realizes that, no matter how much effort is put in, or how much library research, there are no final answers.” He is basically saying that the whole idea of getting higher education is very uncertain. No matter how much time and effort you put in things could always go wrong. He wants the student to be challenged in a way that opens his or her eyes to the real world. I agree with this quote in the sense that you should never be satisfied with any of your goals whether it be a high education or a sports team. You could work your hardest and hardest but you never know how hard your competition is working. I also got the sense that Barnett implies by having that mindset of uncertainty students would be more adapted and prepared to fail. Now of course you should never prepare to fail, but having a backup plan is ideal.
The two authors talk about challenging the student to think critically in a complex world. Nussbaum discusses how the student should not just go through and learn the facts and cultural tradition, but they should question what they learn and actually obtain real information about what they are learning. Both authors are saying they want the students to get a full education by using the material they learned in the world, not just passively obtaining facts.I for one agree with both authors. I do believe school should not just a roller coaster you ride from start to finish. You need to be active and engaged with learning. For the most part students lose sight of the big picture which is why they are getting educated in the first place, to be successful.
Having said that there are many things you can’t learn in school. There are two types of smart people, the book smart and the street smart. No matter how much you learned reading that textbook, it could mean nothing if you can’t represent yourself in a pleasant manner during an interview for your first job out of school. Don’t get me wrong, education is very important, but I also believe that students need to have real life experiences including bonds and relationships because they are very important. For example, if you are trying to get employed and you are competing with other people then you have to make a connection with your employer to beat out the other potential employees. Now of course this all would not matter if you couldn’t get that interview in the first place by not getting a high enough education.
Overall, I believe that it would be very helpful if students stopped and actually looked at the bigger picture. Too many times students get caught up in all the fun and forget about why they are actually there, for an education. I believe students should go to college because in my eyes it is the perfect place to learn about both, book smarts and personal connections. And in the long run all that education would be worth achieving your own american dream.
