Campus Culture

I really agree with almost everything Lang said, college students don't spend the time that they maybe should be spending being "intellectual." During class discussions they drag on and on because no one has anything to throw into the conversation even though they did the required readings. It gets really old sitting in a classroom that is completely silent because no one feels like talking up, I'm guilty of it myself. Also when it comes to being an intellectual outside of class, I personally think that this doesn't happen often because by the time students are done with classes they are so drained that the thought of doing any extra "work" sounds completely dreadful. I think that students now still have the potential to be intellectual and many probably are but maybe its just not super public. I know that I don't rush back to my dorm and have deep conversations with my roommates on a regular basis, but that also doesn't mean that it never happens, it just means that they can't be forced.

Diversity in Language

People everywhere say certain things in different ways based on where they're from, and their backgrounds. In an English class this can cause a problem when it comes to writing essays and even engaging in conversation. I think that although everyone has the right to talk in different ways everyone should at least know how to use "proper" English and put it to use when it is required. When you're talking to your friends or just having a casual conversation it is okay to use slang, but when you are on the job, trying to get a job, or doing anything related to school you should not talk the same way. I think that everyone made valid points but regardless you need to know how to talk properly when put in certain situations or it will cause issues.

The truth behind Affirmative-action and multiculturalism

Ever since Americans  realized what a negative affect racism had on people they have been trying to correct the wrongdoing by giving them special treatment such as Affirmative-action programs. All-in-all this sounds like a fantastic idea, until you bring into account that this is only fixing the problem for the minority and making it so that white Americans don't necessarily get the same "special treatment" such as grants for furthering their education. Multiculturalism, when went about in the right manor can be a good thing. It brings awareness to people about other cultures and enables people to learn from other people which in a small sense "disables" ignorance to the world around them. Affirmative action in my opinion is a joke. All they are doing is fixing something by doing it again just to the race that did the wrong doing in the first place. If we really want to correct our wrong doing we need to get rid of Affirmative-action and give everybody an equal playing ground with no "special treatment." Instead of continuing the cycle we need to break it.

Peer Reviews

I thought that the peer review went pretty well for the most part, but I personally don't find peer reviews super helpful besides the fact that they help pick out grammatical errors. Finding grammatical errors is good but its something that you can usually pick out by yourself if you read it over a few times and look for the errors. I think the reason that peer reviews aren't as useful as they could be is because usually you're looking for helpful tips on where you should go with writing the paper and often the people you're working with aren't even positive on where their paper is going which makes it hard for them to help you. I think that voluntary peer reviews could work better because you can decide who is looking at your paper and you can decide to have multiple people look at it, giving you more advice to chose from.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

In Sedarus' "Me Talk Pretty One Day" he uses a lot of different techniques to describe how fearful he was of his French Professor. Before arriving in France he was so confident of his speaking abilities but after his first day of class the professor talked him down so much that he didn't even want to go to the grocery store for fear that he would mess up.  If I were to write a personal narrative describing my fears associated with learning something new, especially if it was in a setting like Sedaris I would have used dialogue in a similar  way because it really got his point across in showing how lost he was. Also the way that he showed how everyone else was feeling the same way that he did really helped to show just how awful his professor was. I would show where i started in my learning of the new language or subject and then where i ended and how i got there. you can't just say it was really difficult and after a little practice it got a lot easier, you have to really show how you got there which is exactly what Sedaris did, and what I would do if i had to write a personal narrative like his.