Read the following passage carefully and summarize the writer’s concerns in just one paragraph. The current college behavioural standard is a cool, calm, and copacetic attitude, and this does not help to interest the students in their studies. Mark Edmundson points out in his essay a lack of passion for learning in today‘s students. A show of emotion is strictly forbidden, and to get excited is seen as unfashionable. He blames contemporary society and our consumer mentality for this: You‘re inhibited, except on ordained occasions, from showing emotion, stifled from trying to achieve anything original. You‘re made to feel that even the slightest departure from the reigning code will get you genially ostracized.‘ The image that is portrayed by television and the media in general
Read the following passage carefully and summarize the writer’s concerns in just
one paragraph.
The current college behavioural standard is a cool, calm, and copacetic attitude, and this does not help to interest the students in their studies. Mark Edmundson points out in his essay a lack of passion for learning in today‘s students. A show of emotion is strictly forbidden, and to get excited is seen as unfashionable. He blames contemporary society and our consumer mentality for this: You‘re inhibited, except on ordained occasions, from showing emotion, stifled from trying to achieve anything original. You‘re made to feel that even the slightest departure from the reigning code will get you genially ostracized.‘ The image that is portrayed by television and the media in general is a cool, detached look. Students do not display a joy of learning or for expressing oneself. The personal creativity in today‘s academic environment has been severely stifled. There are many causes of this change. A major factor is the lack of passion, Edmundson points out. Students are so concerned with the norm, that to fall out of line and be seen as different would be a fate worse than death. With this fear of being different, expressing oneself becomes a huge risk instead of a joy.
Most students enrolling in college today are professional arts majors, and this is also a cause of the fading creative fire. In these types of curriculum, the answers are predetermined. When the answer is already known with no room for variation, where can personal style and expression be found? Students learn to expect a single, correct answer in their courses and work.
These students are concerned with the grade they will receive rather than expressing their own views and thoughts. The classroom environment has produced this mentality of one correct answer, with its Scan Tron sheets and percentage grades. When developing my idea for this essay, I asked myself the question of what the professor would think of my idea and the grade I might receive, and then I realized that this is the exact problem that Edmundson depicts. I was worrying about my grade rather than creating my personal view on the subject. This mentality is fostered within professional arts curriculums, and is responsible for the fading of the expressing and creativity in today‘s college culture.
The current college environment has stifled personal creativity and expression in many ways. Consumerism has dictated that everybody conforms to a norm that does not allow for personal expression, and to not fall in line with this standard is seen as the end of the world. Another important factor in this problem is the way that a majority of curriculums offered are presented by the college itself. The professional curriculums are presented in a way that does not allow for expression or creativity, because the answers are predetermined and there is only one correct choice. The attitude regarding this type of education also hinders creativity because it is seen as a prelude to a job, not learning for the sake of learning. All of this adds up to a very bland environment in today‘s classes, and this is very unfortunate indeed.
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