Summary Of David Foster Wallace's Kenyon Commencement Speech

American historian, Russell Kirk once said, “True education is meant to develop the individual human being, the person, rather than to serve the state.” A liberal arts education focuses on developing students into productive citizens by preparing them for future careers, while building their character. Seen as a new approach for further insight and critical thinking, a liberal arts education provides students with a broader worldview for general understanding and problem solving. In his article, “The New Liberal Arts,” Sanford J. Ungar combats common liberal arts misperceptions that prevent future students from attaining a liberal arts degree. Many students believe a liberal arts education is irrelevant; thus, leaving students to futilely

The world needs innovative thinkers who are risk takers. According to Ben Wielder, “... the social pressure for students to pursue ‘lower-risk trajectories’ in their career choices will lead to less innovation in the future” (Wielder). This cannot be true for college provides many risk factors; unemployment, student loans, and debt. Obtaining a degree results in an ability to focus and become flexible in a changing world. From the words of Michael Roth, these qualities “...make for intelligent, and sometimes courageous risk taking for critical assessment of those risks” (Roth).

Through his many successes and obstacles, he still manages to create a new perspective on not going to college, making it just as wise of a decision as going to college depending on the career path and scholarly education a student accumulated in prior schooling. In addition to this modern philosophy, he mends a potential gap of knowledge between college students and students that follow another route. He proposes that a liberal education, a style that can only be given in college, should be given in primary education, giving a sense of equality between grade levels from primary to secondary schooling. As an effect, the stress of needing a degree diminishes and respect for people with or without one becomes indistinguishable. Murray stresses the importance to the

A higher education pushes individuals to think, question and explore new and valuable ideas. An excellent education teaches students how to credibly think and prioritise when learning. David Wallace, who gave the Kenyon commencement speech, quoted, “[Learning how to think] means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience”. In his speech, Wallace is endorsing the idea that a higher education doesn't just throw knowledge at students, but it teaches them how to selectively compose their thoughts and construct a meaning from knowledge. Wallace also makes the point that individuals need to learn to adjust their “natural default setting” to become less self-centered.

I think Mr. steward said a lot of words that made him seem Suspicious, and also it really seemed like he was trying to Persuade Mr. and Mrs. Lewis into pressing the button like almost if he wanted them and them to be the ones to press the button. Like on pg. 104 when Norma asked, “ Whom do you represent?” Mr. steward looked embarrassed, and said, “I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to tell you that.” (Matheson 104) I think this foreshadowed that something was a little bit weird because he was embarrassed when she asked that. Now on page 105, Mr. Steward said a lot of little words to try to persuade Mrs. Lewis, he said things like, “Are you sure you wouldn 't care to think about it for a day or so?” and, “I’ll leave my card.” (Matheson 105) This is how I think Mr. steward foreshadowed the ending.

King has provided his opinion about education is building character. Dr. King uses his words to create an audience awareness to think for yourself isn’t the same as you may call it critical thinking. Against the common assumption that colleges should teach their students “critical reasoning,” Dr. King argues that critical thinking alone is insufficient and even dangerous. Teaching one to think critically is no small task. Most students learn by constructing knowledge based on an engaged learning process rather than by absorbing knowledge from passive sources.

II.Procrastination has become serious these days. People are likely to procrastinate in their daily routine. III.Procrastination is an act of needlessly putting off tasks to the point of experiencing subjective discomfort” (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984, p.503) A. According to Van Eerde, 2003 Procrastination can be defined as a person intentionally delaying completing a task due to people having differing perceptions regarding delaying work. B.

From having a long and tiring day, a person gets to be drained and rather stressed. According to Wallace, it is the point at which the brain consequently changes to its natural default setting and simply needs the day over with. In the event that a person comprehends what to think, they would know—mindful of others and that they may encounter harder times. Individuals are modified to trust that they are the focal point of the universe. I agree that as a result of the way people think, it is difficult to put that normal state of mind aside.

Helping World Majority Students In the article, helping world majority students make sense of university expectations, the author who is Helen Fox tries to prove that even though it is deemed necessary to make changes in the school education system, it is quite hard to make such adjustments, but provides better strategies on the subject. The author argues that it is highly difficult for these institutions to change their standards as well as the entire instruction framework for the purpose of making it easier for the foreign students taking courses in the institution.

My experiences growing up did not help me develop my diversity consciousness as much as I would've liked. Getting a college education and learning about diversity in this class and my human resources class have helped me develop an understanding that people and businesses must understand that the world, and specifically America, is diverse and we must learn and grow to help make it a successful achievement. The most difficult challenge for me will be stepping out of my comfort zone. I'm not exactly a hermit, but I do like to keep to myself a lot of time. I will need to put myself out there, ask questions when I don't have any clue what I'm talking about, and be more open to talking to different people.