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).

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 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.

Central Idea : Reasons why people procrastinate and therefore, we must cure it or we will encounter with negative impact. Introduction I.Procrastinate, have you ever delaying your work and feel more stress is added to yourself and not realizing it happen? Now that’s what we called procrastination. II.Procrastination has become serious these days.

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.

But sometime when you gain perspective too quickly you can find yourself in a “fog ....” and feel nothing but “overwhelming ambiguity” (78). This is where most people feel falsely think they 've lost perspective because in these moments everything you know is challenged and your perspective must adapt for the new experiences you 've just encountered. When this happens it’s easier in the moment to believe you 're just confused and jumbled by your physical and mental chaos but infact what’s really happening is you are gaining knowledge and connecting parts of the world and ideas that really make no sense but with time will. THe stress of war makes it seem as though everything is changing like “love into hate,” and “ ugliness into beauty” (78). But what is important to note is that your connections and what you know to be “truth” is just disord but your perspective is not lost it 's just adding another dimension that your mind needs time to

Although being extremely intelligent suggests that an individual knows how to think doesn’t mean that they know how to choose what to think about. In David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech to college graduates, he explains to them that they must become aware of others and by doing so must learn how to think. Receiving an education doesn’t only include learning subjects such as science or math, but also controlling what and how you think about your everyday life and surroundings. Changing the way you think influences how you view others and the way you experience life. By changing their thoughts to take account of others each individual must go against how they have been thinking their entire lives, only about themselves.

This is completely different from what Delbanco liberal education promotes. Yet, it could be similar to the part that Mr. MacFarland challenged him to think for himself and opened his world to new and better possibilities. These three authors expose their experience with education at three different levels: high school, college and self-education. At the end, it does not matter how people get it, but it does make a different in their lives.

Jack Ma once said, “The world needs new leadership, but the new leadership is about working together.” This could not be more true at Boston University through its Kilachand Honors College. I believe it is because their approach of interdisciplinary problem-solving, is about expanding students’ world-views. In this program you are learning with different individuals who have different interest and fields of study. According to Pew Research Center, “Political polarization is the defining feature of early 21st century American politics...”.

Though many try to obtain free will, this difficult task often results in defeat. In the novels, Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the characters’ lives are predetermined; thus, driving them into mental instability. A predetermined life acts as a catalyst for mental deterioration. The protagonists suffer from depression as a result of their predetermined lives, as well as, the characters blindly obey their controllers, and have a longing to break free from being controlled. A study was conducted and determined that, “feeling trapped is a direct experience and symptom of inner passivity.