William Cronon's Only Connect

What a Feeling to be in First-Year Composition: A Writing Analysis on the Important Qualities First-Year Composition Instills in Sacramento State Students for Future Success in Academic Writing

To begin with, it is extremely important that our educational system stops promoting false confidence and allowing students to unlearn their current outlook on life. Both Davidson and Twenge touch upon the flaws in the current education system. As Davidson describes, “Confidence in your ability to learn is confidence in your ability to unlearn, to switch assumptions or methods or partnerships in order to do better. This is true not only for you, as an individual, but for whole institutions” (Davidson 67). Davidson believes true confidence, allows one to not only learn important ideas, but also forsake the ideas that may harm him or her from reaching a goal; she also mentions that this notion does not apply just to an individual person, but also applies

The essay “Proficiency” by Shannon Nichols is very effective. In this essay, Nichols provokes the reader to think about how this “proficiency” test may affect students by giving the example of how it affected her while she was in high school. She not only expresses the way the score made her feel and the negative effect it had on her attitude towards writing, but also points out how the score contrasted with that of her high school English classes.

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

Clear, concise, and cohesive: all necessities of an argument. Matthew Sanders, a college professor at the University of Utah, writes in his online bio that he enjoys analyzing the ways of teaching and learning, which is exactly what Sanders does in his book. In Matthew L, Sanders’ book Becoming a Learner: Realizing the Opportunity of Education he argues that college is meant to develop a person into a greater being not to teach them job skills. To develop Sanders’ claim, learning is more than just retaining facts, he correctly aligns his rhetorical situation and uses elements of generative and persuasive arguments. These techniques can include new angles, appeals, storytelling, and many other strategies to influence its readers

Ever wanted to throw down that textbook and read something enjoyable for once? Well, go ahead! Chunk that dull textbook out a window and pick up a comic; it will be more beneficial to your education than you think. The skills and values that liberally educated people should posses can vary from different views, yet the list of ten qualities that William Cronon created in his article, “’Only Connect…’ The Goals of a Liberal Education”(1998), is an inspirational goal for the liberally educated. Cronon’s list of qualities includes solving problems and puzzles, empowering others, and understanding how to get stuff done in the world. However, as I read through Cronon’s list, I could not come up with one person who had all ten qualities of a liberally

Students enroll in college every year confused on how to go about the whole college thing. They’re not sure what major to choose, what classes they should take, and how to get their money’s worth. Mark Edmundson’s article “Who are You and What are you doing here” is an article meant for incoming freshmen college students who still haven’t figured out who they are yet and what they want to do. Throughout his article Edmundson is questioning what college is all about. He persuades us that college is about fulfilling yourself. Learning what you want to learn, getting the education you want and to follow your interests.

Over the course of the semester, my main goal was to become a more precise writer and develop my identity as a writer. According too, the Portfolio Letter assignment sheet, becoming a better writer consists of precise planning, draft and revising. It also includes understanding a variety of academic genres by examining the basic characteristics that defines each type. In order too efficiently meet my goal of becoming a better writer, it was very important to have my work evaluated by others and myself as well. The use of rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking, reading and writing all are the important aspects in this course. All of which helped tremendously with becoming a more precise writer and developing my identity as a writer.

High school seniors are faced with a wide variety of decisions as they approach graduation. They must decide whether or not they are going to attend college, begin working, or do something else. If they do decide to attend college, they also must decide whether to pursue a liberal arts education or a vocational one. A liberal arts education primarily includes a collection of different classes and topics students can choose to take and study. A vocational route will mainly educate students on their specific intended career. Each method of education can be argued for and against.

My quality world entails several aspects of what I dream of. College being the first step into the real world is a crucial necessity for my success. In order to have a successful life in my book, I need to acquire the education I want for my careers. It’s important that I learn study skills in college that I will use in real life, such as: organization, time management, networking, asking the right questions and empathy.

By tackling the five assignments of English 1010, I learned several important concepts. From the Literacy Narrative assignment, I learned how to use the Show, Don't Tell principle. The Rhetorical Analysis assignment enabled me to learn how to evaluate content for the ethos, pathos and logos components. Thanks to the Non-Academic Discourse assignment, I learned how to treasure non-academic discourse. From the Genre Experiment 1 (blog post) assignment, I learned how to create a blog post. The Genre Experiment 1 also enabled me to obtain useful skills about conducting research. Through the Genre experiment 2 (movie review) assignment, I learned how to author a film review write-up. The knowledge I obtained through these writing exercises constitutes the information that I want to remember from the English 1010 course. In this essay, I will outline the specific knowledge that I obtained by tackling the five English 1010 assignments of Literacy Narrative, Rhetorical Analysis, Non-Academic Discourse, Genre Experiment 1 and Genre Experiment 2. I also delineate my writing strengths and weaknesses that played out as I tackled these assignments.

Begin by reading about Rhetorical Analysis (41-54). Then, read Gary Steiner 's "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral" (769-773) and write three paragraphs. This will be your first online activity.

When William Cronon, a renowned environmental historian, penned Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, he wanted to bring awareness to the ecological effects of the European’s arrival to New England. Many history books focus exclusively on the people, towns, governments, religions, and so on in pre-Colonial New England; however, the thesis of Cronon’s book, which was originally published in 1983, was to show that we can analyze what changes happened to the plants and animals of New England as the settlers gained power and supremacy over the area once occupied by none other than the Native Americans. As stated in the beginning of the book, “the shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes—well known to historians—in the ways these

My leadership philosophy has been developed through my upbringing, personal values, and experiences. Each one of these has been an influential part in building my leadership skills and has guided me as an NCO. I believe that having core values and experiences are necessary for being a successful leader.

Picture this: you get home from school after two one hour-long clubs and after sports. You rush home, devour dinner, and it’s about 6:30. You still have two or three hours of homework to do. You finish your homework at around 8:30, and then play on their phone until midnight and fall asleep. Then you wake up the next morning, still very tired, and do it all over again. Sounds familiar, right? But, what would happen if the school day was longer, and there was less homework? Students need a longer school day with less homework because it reduces stress in students and adults, provides better ways to learn, and homework provides little benefit.