"Too Much Pressure"
In her essay "Too Much Pressure", Colleen Wenke discusses the topic of cheating in public school systems. While she believes it is wrong, Wenke does except the fact that cheating is present, confessed or not. Wenke explains that teachers are well aware of cheating. However, none of them see it appropriate to take action against it. Wenke uses loaded language to support this claim, for the teachers aware of cheating refer to the cheating students as "cafeteria scholars", students that received answers during the lunch period on the day of a test. This term reveals the knowledge of teachers about the cheating problem to the extent that they know the location of the most common cheating area, but no action is taken.
Wenke also goes on to discuss the motivation change behind cheaters. She compares the cheaters of her class and the class of her parents. The cheaters of her parents time where the typical lazy student who did not care for grades. The student cheats to avoid putting forth effort. Contrasting, Wenke discusses her cheating class as very successful, overachievers. "Cheaters do prosper." The cheating is focus on the actual grade itself. The cheaters are described as being overwhelmed with their activities and resort to cheat as a result of the lack of time.
Considering all of Wenke's essay, I believe that the paper was very well written indeed. Wenke uses both personal and statistical examples of cheating that could relate to many different kinds of readers. The vocabulary of the writing is not overly formal, almost conversational, which gives the essay a very natural flow when reading. All in all, the writer achieves her goal of developing a different view of cheating in the minds of people.
"Indian Education"
"Indian Education" is a heartbreaking true story written by an Indian man, Sherman Alexie, where he describes details from his childhood school life. Where it may seem as though he is writing in order to receive sympathy for his past, Alexie writes his story in order to share a story from the side of a victim of bullying in school by both students and teachers. Alexie discusses an example of him being bullied by his fellow students in only first grade. The other kids bullied him due to his hair and glasses. The teachers at his school had short tempers with him specifically. Alexie explains one example from second grade of when he drew his teacher riding a broom, much like a witch. The teacher demanded an apology from him and states that "God will never forgive [him] for that."
This writing is very powerful. The examples used by Alexie breaks hearts as he explains memories of enduring bullying throughout his school life. Alexie writes this essay in order to open eyes to the topic of bullying against different groups of people, like Indians. Enduring bullying himself, Alexie hopes to show the thoughts behind the mask of a bully victim and hopefully create a different view on bullying amongst children.
"Allegory of the Cave"
Plato believes he lives in a society that is comfortable with blissful ignorance, a society that is fearful to exit its comfort zone to discover the truth. Plato hope to display this belief in his "Allegory of the Cave" to hopefully make a change in his society. In order to show the containment of the society, Plato puts chains around the necks of the victims trapped in the cave. This assists in driving in the believe that the society needs to escape from the stage in which it is in.
Also, the cave contains shadows that are displayed on the wall and are projected by something behind the chained victims. The shadows are lies, stories, that the victims have no other choice but to believe. Plato uses parallel structure to convey society's ignorance to believing everything it hears just as the victims believe everything they see. However, when one of the victims escapes from the cave and discovers the light, the truth, and attempts to tell the victims remaining in the cave, they see him as nothing more than another shadow story. The chained victims are immune to hearing anything they see as untrue.
Plato is absolutely brilliant with his allegory. The accurate representation of how society seems is uncanny. Both the imagery and the hidden meanings of this writing create a very interesting representation in his piece. The picture painted by Plato's Allegory is amazing in its ability to display such an important matter in such a simple way.
"Me Talk Pretty One Day"
David Sedaris displays his return to school in order to learn the romantic French language. The typical first-day-of-school attitude is evident in the writing. Sedaris begins with the classmates; he discusses their names and claims how they are more sophisticated than his. Also, Sedaris begins to question his ability to speak French as he hears his classmates speak "excellent French". The act of performance also fears Sedaris. Sedaris uses a very convincing when he says "it's everyone into the language pool, sink or swim." This device give the class the appearance of being very difficult and a survival match between the students that Sedaris wishes to portray. The teacher of the French class is drawn as this very cruel being who wishes to torture her students with extremely difficult work and unflattering manners. Within the first day of class, the teacher correct every student as they attempted to speak to the whole class; the teacher also uses French words throughout her dialogue in order to intimidate her students. Sedaris explains his teachers apparent dislike for him in particular with his quote: "I hate you". These words dig into Sedaris and grow his dislike for both the class and the teacher.
Overall, the essay is very appropriate for a student. The descriptions of the first day of class in unbelievably accurate to how many feel in school. Sedaris' use of metaphors and illusions draw very vivid picture of his school experience that truly persuade some of the exaggerated feeling of the class. However, the random uses of French vocabulary creates difficulty for those who do not speak the slightest bit of French. The surrounding sentences of the French term make it challenging to depict a definition of the unknown words. The excerpt does leave with a wanting to continue in the school story and Sedaris' want to learn which gives an appropriate personal tone to the story.
In her essay "Too Much Pressure", Colleen Wenke discusses the topic of cheating in public school systems. While she believes it is wrong, Wenke does except the fact that cheating is present, confessed or not. Wenke explains that teachers are well aware of cheating. However, none of them see it appropriate to take action against it. Wenke uses loaded language to support this claim, for the teachers aware of cheating refer to the cheating students as "cafeteria scholars", students that received answers during the lunch period on the day of a test. This term reveals the knowledge of teachers about the cheating problem to the extent that they know the location of the most common cheating area, but no action is taken.
Wenke also goes on to discuss the motivation change behind cheaters. She compares the cheaters of her class and the class of her parents. The cheaters of her parents time where the typical lazy student who did not care for grades. The student cheats to avoid putting forth effort. Contrasting, Wenke discusses her cheating class as very successful, overachievers. "Cheaters do prosper." The cheating is focus on the actual grade itself. The cheaters are described as being overwhelmed with their activities and resort to cheat as a result of the lack of time.
Considering all of Wenke's essay, I believe that the paper was very well written indeed. Wenke uses both personal and statistical examples of cheating that could relate to many different kinds of readers. The vocabulary of the writing is not overly formal, almost conversational, which gives the essay a very natural flow when reading. All in all, the writer achieves her goal of developing a different view of cheating in the minds of people.
"Indian Education"
"Indian Education" is a heartbreaking true story written by an Indian man, Sherman Alexie, where he describes details from his childhood school life. Where it may seem as though he is writing in order to receive sympathy for his past, Alexie writes his story in order to share a story from the side of a victim of bullying in school by both students and teachers. Alexie discusses an example of him being bullied by his fellow students in only first grade. The other kids bullied him due to his hair and glasses. The teachers at his school had short tempers with him specifically. Alexie explains one example from second grade of when he drew his teacher riding a broom, much like a witch. The teacher demanded an apology from him and states that "God will never forgive [him] for that."
This writing is very powerful. The examples used by Alexie breaks hearts as he explains memories of enduring bullying throughout his school life. Alexie writes this essay in order to open eyes to the topic of bullying against different groups of people, like Indians. Enduring bullying himself, Alexie hopes to show the thoughts behind the mask of a bully victim and hopefully create a different view on bullying amongst children.
"Allegory of the Cave"
Plato believes he lives in a society that is comfortable with blissful ignorance, a society that is fearful to exit its comfort zone to discover the truth. Plato hope to display this belief in his "Allegory of the Cave" to hopefully make a change in his society. In order to show the containment of the society, Plato puts chains around the necks of the victims trapped in the cave. This assists in driving in the believe that the society needs to escape from the stage in which it is in.
Also, the cave contains shadows that are displayed on the wall and are projected by something behind the chained victims. The shadows are lies, stories, that the victims have no other choice but to believe. Plato uses parallel structure to convey society's ignorance to believing everything it hears just as the victims believe everything they see. However, when one of the victims escapes from the cave and discovers the light, the truth, and attempts to tell the victims remaining in the cave, they see him as nothing more than another shadow story. The chained victims are immune to hearing anything they see as untrue.
Plato is absolutely brilliant with his allegory. The accurate representation of how society seems is uncanny. Both the imagery and the hidden meanings of this writing create a very interesting representation in his piece. The picture painted by Plato's Allegory is amazing in its ability to display such an important matter in such a simple way.
"Me Talk Pretty One Day"
David Sedaris displays his return to school in order to learn the romantic French language. The typical first-day-of-school attitude is evident in the writing. Sedaris begins with the classmates; he discusses their names and claims how they are more sophisticated than his. Also, Sedaris begins to question his ability to speak French as he hears his classmates speak "excellent French". The act of performance also fears Sedaris. Sedaris uses a very convincing when he says "it's everyone into the language pool, sink or swim." This device give the class the appearance of being very difficult and a survival match between the students that Sedaris wishes to portray. The teacher of the French class is drawn as this very cruel being who wishes to torture her students with extremely difficult work and unflattering manners. Within the first day of class, the teacher correct every student as they attempted to speak to the whole class; the teacher also uses French words throughout her dialogue in order to intimidate her students. Sedaris explains his teachers apparent dislike for him in particular with his quote: "I hate you". These words dig into Sedaris and grow his dislike for both the class and the teacher.
Overall, the essay is very appropriate for a student. The descriptions of the first day of class in unbelievably accurate to how many feel in school. Sedaris' use of metaphors and illusions draw very vivid picture of his school experience that truly persuade some of the exaggerated feeling of the class. However, the random uses of French vocabulary creates difficulty for those who do not speak the slightest bit of French. The surrounding sentences of the French term make it challenging to depict a definition of the unknown words. The excerpt does leave with a wanting to continue in the school story and Sedaris' want to learn which gives an appropriate personal tone to the story.