User:TinaZ

=Analytical Writing=

Bio
Trying to get my BFA in Fashion Design. (One day I hope)

Group Name
Plastic: Recycle or Reduce?...(I thought we should be called Plastic: What a waste;)

Personal Essay
Topic: Rising Education Costs:

A successful career. That’s what we strive for with all of the years of education we undertake. Twenty or thirty years ago you could get a well-paying job without having a college education. Now, especially with the economic recession, a bachelor’s degree is a must. With your high school diploma you can get a wonderful position at a fast food joint or a sales clerk position at a local department store. To work nearly anywhere nowadays, one must have the golden ticket, a bachelor’s degree. Even our President agrees with this. “Post-secondary education is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity in a 21st century business environment,” U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday (upi.com, p. 1)

Does that bachelor’s degree mean you’ll be happy in what you’re doing or that you’ll be working at your dream job. No. The bachelor’s degree is just the requirement for most positions not given to a teenager.

Of course, you could always join the military. But do you want to possibly risk your life so that you don’t have to pay for the education to get that coveted degree? (We are at war you know).

So off to college we go. Now going to college we have costs. Tuition, room and board (or rent), books, supplies, transportation, food, etc. All these costs add up to a lot. I initially went to the University of Washington and, with financial aid, the tuition was reasonable (a couple of grand a year). Now I’m going to the Art Institute of Seattle and I’m paying (grimace) over $25,000 a year. This seems like a lot (it is), but I could be paying more attending a better known design school in New York, L.A., or abroad. (Higher cost of living and out of state tuition cost) And tuition costs are rising with the recession.

So why is the federal government giving us such little aid and why are tuition costs astronomical, unreasonable... (I could go on) when, in this country, most jobs require post-secondary education and a bachelor’s degree to attain the position? Most people are in debt when they graduate college, tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and it takes them years to pay them off if they are even able to. I know that after I graduate from the Art Institute that I will probably be at least $50,000 in debt. Is it really a necessary evil?

Maybe we should look to Denmark. Denmark was rated the happiest country in the world by a global survey. We didn’t even rank in the top ten. Several factors were taken into account, education being a noted one.

“They have no student loans hanging over their heads. All education is free in Denmark, right on through university. And students can take as long as they like to complete their studies.

"And we get paid to go to school actually. Instead of in the U.S. you pay to go to school, we get paid to go to school if we pass our exams," a student explains. (Naphin, p.3)

This school structure is found not only in Denmark but also in other European countries as well as Cuba and Australia. If we wanted to base our educational system on one like Denmark’s, the percentage of taxes must be raised considerably. But Americans are cheap. We are materialistic. We want it all with giving very little and still we are unhappy. We whine about the taxes we are paying now and yet we also complain about high tuition costs and other important things (healthcare: cough, cough). So what are we willing to give up and what do we want to gain? What’s more important: material wealth or happiness?

I view school as duty. An institution I must attend so that I can have a higher quality of life. Material wealth and happiness (hopefully). I’d like to get paid for it; wouldn’t you?

President Obama is trying to reform our education system and yet there are still critics. How can we improve education if the environment is hostile? And obviously changes need to be made because it is evident that test scores are worsening, children are not being educated and our citizens are not becoming happy, productive, and successful adults. Helping to educate our children helps the economy, because children are our future and knowledge is power.

Self Assessment
I learned things that I didn’t expect to in this class. I thought that analytical writing would be a writing-intensive class, but I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of writing and the emphasis of flowing ideas and the different topics discussed in class. I learned a lot from watching the videos; things such as what happens in the product life cycle and the waste that is created, the rap persona and personal beliefs about women and what makes a man, and the consequences of PVC.

I thought that my writing was concise and interesting (I am not one for the multiple-paged essay). I think that I could have perhaps contributed more.

I feel that I will think more consciously about certain things. All of the topics that were written in class, added insight and new information about topics that I was not that well-versed on. I especially learned much about my topic, plastic, and its effects on the environment.

I believe that I helped with improvements, grammatical or otherwise.

I think that although this was a group project, we didn’t really get together as much as we could have and I think our essay will reflect that. I think my portion of the essay would have felt more integrated had we been able to meet, (reasons include: due to lack of time, schedule coordination, too much work) but I am happy with the work I produced.