From 2000 to 2008 I was eight to sixteen. Meaning, for the better part of George W Bush’s presidency, I was in too young to fully understand and appreciate everything about politics, like policies or the potential ramification of certain bills. Despite this, I remember liking President Bush. I would become annoyed when news anchors of channels like CNN would criticize him, even without completely understanding the topics. Even now that I’m more involved and have a better understanding politics, I would say I disagree with a good number of President Bush’s policies, but, I still wouldn’t say I dislike him. I still think of him as a kind and honest person. Segment 8 talks a bit about the child like nature of President…
2. In the article, “Idiot Nation” by Michael Moore states that student’s education has decreased over the last years. He believed that citizens elect idiot leaders which make us have an idiot nation. Moore dropped out of college, but his fighting for others people’s education.…
Lead me, Muse, and explain the tale of the goddess, Hillono, who undertakes the task of defeating the evil god, Grump. In the presidential election she lost to him, and Hillono wants revenge. This is not only for herself, but for the people of america. Having this evil god as their “leader” was not their choice, it was his. Hypnotizing is what Grump does best. The four simple words: “Make America Great Again” is all it took to suck the good sense out of most citizens. All who listened to his last speech before the election have been tricked into believeing its for the better - what he says and does. Only the few that know his trickery have covered their ears for long enough. Fighting for the best, Hillono and these few storm the kingdom of Trump, utililizing their powers. As the journey continues, Muse, speak of the tale in our time.…
Also media is constantly expressing how the United States in general is falling behind other nations in core subjects such as math and reading. The Forbes article "Are New York City Students Getting Smarter Or Are Regents Exams Getting Easier?" by James Marshall Crotty, expresses how accredits a confidential source saying that New York State has been steadily lowering the difficulty of its standardized testing in order for more students to receive a state-certified high school diploma. Although these statistics and speculations support the fact that the nation is becoming increasingly dumber it is not explicitly due to a lack of reading. I do not support this article because Gary Earl Ross harshly blames the nations dumbness on their laziness to not read a book as he states "Lack of time is no excuse." The mere title of the article is a harsh accusation. Personally I think that Ross is too confident in his own opinion. He says "The principal reason for our collective stupidity is that we choose not to read, especially literature---novels, poems and plays." expressing that he believes since he is a professor he can undoubtably pin point the nations increased dumbness to a laziness…
In the short story “Dave Barry Does Japan” by Dave Barry, Barry describes his experience as an American in Japan, how unprepared he was for the culture shock specifically talking about the difficulties of communicating, describing how in Japan they, “...tend to communicate via nuance and euphemism, often leaving important things unsaid; whereas Americans tend to think they are being subtle when the refrain from grabbing the listener by the shirt” (118). The experience in a foreign country is made more difficult due to the inadequate education of other cultures. As a result, Barry is unprepared when encountering this culture and ignorant. Similarly, in “An Indian Father’s Plea” by Robert Lake, his son is moved to a school not on the Native American reservation where he is labeled as a “slow learner”. Lake argues that the teacher did not do a good job in accommodating for his heritage and different background saying, “All you have to do is take advantage of [“Indian Education”] and encourage your school to make an effort to use it in the name of “equal…
“The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn,†(ThinkExist). This quote was written in 1928 by an American author of science fiction, Alvin Toffler, and that quote holds true until this day. In “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,†by Sherman Alexie, he writes about the difficulties that he experienced as a child overcoming the intellectual limit that was put upon his culture, in this case American Indians. Another writer who experienced some of the harshest moments of American history and is always mentioned when discussing overcoming illiteracy is Fredrick Douglas who wrote “Learning to Read and Write.†Both of these authors have experienced limitations in their culture and yet strived to overcome them to better themselves and break away from the norms of society. Knowing to read…
Robert MacNeil’s article, "Do You Speak American?", was first published in USA Today Magazine, which is popular within the general public. I did notice that he limits the use of terminology that only very well educated individuals would understand. Therefore, it is safe to assume that his intended audience would be the people within the general public, who have a basic understanding of the English language. Throughout the article, he uses language that is usually used to educate, rather than argue, even though at times it does seem like he agrees with one side more than the other. Robert MacNeil's purpose is to deepen this audience’s understanding of the diversity of their language, and then he starts to persuade the audience into believing that the American language is becoming less…
These days, there is an ongoing debate on the statement by, Alvin Toffler that the "illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can't read and write, but those who can't learn, unlearn, and relearn". I agree with the statement and support my point of views with reasonable examples.…
In this article Jeb Bush is saying too many regulation are hurting the US economy. He says this is due to the growth and creation of many jobs dealt to people. Bush also says that if he is elected that he plans to overhaul the country’s immigration system, and tax codes along with forging policy. Therefore if Bush is elected he would also impose to freeze on regulations appoint to a presidential task force. Concluding to this if bush is elected he would plain to overhaul the country’s immigration system, along with tax codes, and a presidential task…
English experts have tried to solve our ever declining literacy rates with different theories and years of research. Two of the front runners, Paulo Freire and E. D. Hirsch, have come up with two ideas that have caused agreement and contention between those who are trying to increase literacy rates. Freire gives us the idea that we need to expand on critical literacy and relate our words to our world and our world to our words. He wants students to have more freedom in their learning environment. On the other hand, Hirsch wants a more centralized curriculum to expand our country’s Cultural Literacy. While these two ideas might seem to be complete polar opposites of each other they actually have some similarities. Great ideas can be taken from both of these authors and applied to the reform of our education system desperately needs. There are parts that I agree and disagree with from both Hirsch and Freire, but I believe Freire makes more applicable points. While Hirsch makes the good point that cultural knowledge is required for literacy, I believe that Freire’s critical literacy and “word-world” association would provide a better foundation for pedagogical reform because it is more open for students with different learning abilities and incorporates both culture and personal experience into literacy.…
Although the United States is one nations is which people contain similar beliefs, they also have many differences in ideas. An excellent example of this was brought about by the 2000 election for president, in which the map of the United States was split into two categories: Blue America and Red America. Blue America represented the states that supported Al Gore, while Red America represented the states that supported Bush. The states obviously differed on who they thought should become president, but their differences also stood on a higher level. By presenting his arguments in the Atlantic Monthly, David Brooks is trying to make sure that his thoughts and feelings on the unity of the nation are heard by the people with power. The intellectuals who would read his article would, ironically, agree of disagree with the information presented.…
The world has been faced with many problems and pollution is one of them. Most people living on earth do not fully understand that polluting the earth comes with a lot if consequences. Imagine waking up in a world where garbage mask the streets. Imagine in a world walking out of your home into knee deep waste of old food, plastic, aluminum wrappers, old furniture, rusty metals, dirty old clothing and hazardous chemicals. As if we were pushing your way through like you are walking in knee high water. In the movie Idiocracy directed by Mike Judge, it showed how this world could possibly be in the future. The characters Joe and Rita were chosen by the military in year 2005 to do a secret military hibernation experiment.…
The long range remedy for restoring and improving American literacy must be to "institute a policy of imparting common information in our schools." In short, according to Hirsch - the answer to our problem lies within the list. Hirsch's book explains the importance of the need of a higher level of national literacy. His main argument is that cultural literacy is required for effective communication and the "cooperation of many people..." Communication is what Hirsch sees is essential for success in today's society.…
Moore uses several different and effective techniques to get his points across. The most prevalent and effective is humor. Humor is sometimes overlooked in terms of writing techniques, but is very powerful, especially among young adults. There are several different types of humor within the essay. Mr. Moore uses shock humor, a favorite among America’s youth, when he calls the former President “Our Idiot-in-Chief” (134). Even the title, “Idiot Nation” is intended to create a reaction from the reader. Sarcasm is used heavily throughout the essay, Mr. Moore pokes fun at the Corporate world’s generosity by calling them , “…..a group that cares deeply about what kinds of students with enter the adult world….”(143) Adding humor into the writing not only makes the reader chuckle and keep reading, but it also makes the reader feel more connected to the…
In the essay “Cultural Literacy,” E.D. Hirsh argues that raising our literacy levels cannot solely depend on researching new and varies “teaching techniques”, but by implementing “cultural literacy” into our school curricula. In fact, he suggests that educational institutions steer away from teaching “cultural literacy” in fear of “imposing cultures and ideologies” which is a factor in the decline of literacy. He references a couple of experiments which helped him realized that students weren’t literate in cultural aspects or “cultural literacy”. Hirsh claims by administering these cultural concepts into the classroom, literacy will increase.…