The Evaluation of “The Argument for Tuition-Free College” By Keith Ellison

The Evaluation of

 “The Argument for Tuition-Free College”

By Keith Ellison

Being a university student, I have been experiencing its attendant considerations and difficulties for four years. However, it is significant to state that the Hungarian education system concerning higher studies is much more student-friendly than for instance the expensive college semesters which are ran in the USA.  Keith Ellison provides a strong argument against the American policy of academic tuition and reasons that it should be made available for students for free in the country.

The writer of the article firstly designates the problem and the need to solve it through organizing a system, which ensures free colleges to all. Opening with such a clear and short way, she makes it obvious how determined she is concerning this argument. Moreover, the shortness and the imperative effect of the sentences also enhance and highlight it.

In the next paragraph, the equity of the writer’s claim is supported with a historical example. The reader gets to know about the Land Grant College Act from 1862, which established the basis of a system with “publicly funded universities”. Referring back to this law, Keith Ellison improves the necessity of changing the government’s perspective in its policy; If President Abraham Lincoln was able to create and support “democracy’s colleges”, the authorities of our days do not have to turn a blind eye to it.

As she represented an existed system with historical references, the writer now sharpens the contrast between the honoured past and the criticized present. Comparing the expensive tuitions to the demonstrated publicly funded universities, she strengthens further her argument to bring reforms to the educational system.

After these introductory paragraphs, the author ensures a fortuitous solution for the disapproved issue and again she connects it to the main problem: the increasing tuitions make it impossible for American students to graduate without huge debts. Her argument and main goal is clearly stated and designated.

Using statistical data, the author makes it more concrete for the reader and even it has an appalling effect on me that the numbers evidently prove the extent of money students owe in student loans. Moreover, the consequences are also mentioned; these deepen the feeling in the reader how serious the problem is.

As for the solution to the examined issue, it is elaborated and explained in a clear-cut way. The author says that tuitions can be lowered through federal investments to states that would help to cut the cost of public universities. Furthermore, another option is suggested: reinvesting in programmes that guarantee financial aid. Adding a real organization to her reasoning makes further validity to this writing.

In order to strengthen her argument, the author forms a criticism in the following sections.  The reader has the intention that it is a strong objection against governmental support of oil and gas industry; the simple, uncomplicated sentences mirror the writer’s disapproval and belief. It is claimed that the investment in these economic areas should be decreased to support colleges instead. Using conditional structures, she simplifies her statements but we do not get further explanations about this argument.

She provides another example to justify her assertion. It is not so elaborated and explained so the reader can find it an abridged attempt to prove the issue discussed in this article. The author conjoins it with an optional claim of the opponents but it is also slightly expounded.

As a conclusion, she argues over the efficiency of universal programmes and repeats her former claim: make colleges free for Americans. Using imperatives, short sentences and modals like ‘can’ or ‘would’, the writer intentionally has an effect on the reader. We can feel that we are taken in this discourse. However, it would have been more persuasive if some of her arguments had been discussed in detail.

Works Cited

The Argument for Tuition-Free College

By Keith Ellison 14, 2016

http://prospect.org/article/argument-tuition-free-college

The American Prospect

Evaluation of James Hamblin’s Article Buy Experiences, Not Things

James Hamblin is The Atlantic magazine’s writer and senior editor. He also has a video series called If Our Bodies Could Talk and an upcoming book with the same title. Hamblin is not only a Yale University graduate in journalism, but also attended several other schools such as the Harvard Medical School. Having specialized in health care, he manages the monthly health column of the magazine. In his following article, which was published in 2014, he discusses the value of experiences over material possessions.

The title of the article immediately caught my attention making me rather enthusiastic to read Hamblin’s thoughts and research. My first impression was that the writer knows what he is talking about and convinced me of his point of view, though a few doubts had developed towards the end. Hamblin worked with several psychologists and researchers which made his work quite credible.

Right at the beginning he states by relying on experts that 47% of the time our minds wander. This refers to unhappiness in most cases, but can also mean reminiscing or anticipation of great experiences. I find this very true, since sometimes it is hard to concentrate and my mind does not always wander to pleasant places. According to Hamblin and several psychologists, it is worth spending money on experiences rather than objects, since it provides lasting happiness. Waiting for a future experience rather means anticipation and imagining possible pleasant scenarios. On the other hand, waiting for an object more likely holds impatience. He then says that it is less likely for people to compare the value of their experiences to those of others. With this I have to disagree, since I myself have friends who travel a lot and can get to places I cannot. I do not envy that from them, I just sometimes get anxious and compare my opportunities to theirs’ and wish that I could have those experiences. I believe comparing experiences instead of possessions tend to make people bitter, wishing to experience them too.

Furthermore, I do find his claim true that experiences tend to make people a lot content. Of an experience, you can talk, reminisce and laugh about even years later. Of a purchased possession you will not say a great story or long for years after. He compares people waiting in lines, for instance at a concert with people waiting in clothing stores. Those at the concert were in a better mood, since they even have the possibility to interact with other participants, than those waiting for a consumer transaction. Also, let’s consider the Black Friday insanity when people tear each other apart to obtain objects before other costumers. This idea is very relevant, since I am usually impatient at stores and cheerful at concerts. However, I do not agree of a bad experience becoming a great memory. Sometimes there are cases when you can laugh about miserable situations, but most of the time it stays bitter and makes me feel uneasy even after a long period of time.

All in all, I believe it was a great piece of article, with a few flaws. He could have listed more arguments. Though, what I particularly appreciated is that he claimed everyone can develop their own balance of experiential and material consumption. By this he admitted that everyone is different and every individual has their own kind of value system. Some appreciate objects and some value experiences more.

Works cited

Hamblin, James. “Buy Experiences, Not Things” The Atlantic, 7 October, 2014, http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/10/buy-experiences/381132/ Accessed 4 Dec., 2016.

Zsófia Ábrahám

Evaluation of Gretchen McCulloh’s Article A Linguist Explains the Grammar of Doge. Wow.

Gretchen McCulloh, as she introduces herself on her website, is an internet linguist. She published numerous articles about language usage on the internet, including essays about emojis and about the youth’s slang. Her writing style represents her attitude towards her profession, it is enjoyable, however, and as she mentioned in her website, it is written for a general audience.

In this article, McCulloh investigates the origin and the usage of the popular meme, the “doge”, and its companion the “doge” speech.

The title of the article, A Linguist Explains the Grammar of Doge.Wow., gives us an insight of the writing’s wording, and it really fits the conclusion. Speaking of conclusion, she uses a great technique of catching the reader’s attention, as the thesis statement appears in the last paragraph. By this, she builds up a tension and encourages readers to read the entire essay. Interestingly, her paragraphs are divided by titles, that are usually questions and are answered in the particular section.

            The essay is well-structured as in the beginning she gives us an explanation of the meme and what it stands for. In The introduction, pictures are provided in order to totally understand the topic of the writing. To support her idea of the doge being an online phenomenon, she shows Tumblr threads and Facebook comments, which is a validation of her claim, since it appeared only a few years ago on the internet.

            After the general introduction she raises a linguistic question, that is how come the language of the doge is so distinguishable.  She calls this set of words “doge phrases”. She investigates and gives us a list of these “doge phrases” and names the general characteristic features of such expressions. After that, she explains what makes recognizable a doge phrase. Her argument is validated with numerous examples and linguistic explanations. She does not bring her own linguistic ideas, but already existing methods.

            In the last but one paragraph, the origins of the doge phrases are under investigation.  She states that psychological factors play a big role, and mentions, for instance, babytalk. Babytalk highly correlates with the doge language, she states, and supports her claim with another article about babytalk. The other factor that is mentioned is the way people communicate via the internet, sentence structures are changing, and grammatical rules are shifting. She juxtaposes the previous online tendencies with the contemporary and states a big difference. While the previous online generation played with spelling (she mentions „C U L8R” for example), the contemporary online community plays with grammar (In the case of doge phrases, “many happy”). The conclusion repeats the idea of how the new generation of internet language has appeared, what is more, how it changed our perception of humans and in this case, animals.

            All in all, the article was enjoyable to read which can result from the fact, that it was written in a pleasant style. Nevertheless, the language of the article was informal in some instances, but since the topic is indeed about how our use of language changes, it is acceptable. All the claims she made were supported, either with links to other websites, or with inner explanations. Fitting the topic, this article is more enjoyable on a computer, as interesting websites are presented for those who seek more doge-related content.

(584 words)

Works cited

McCulloh, Gretchen. “A Linguist Explains the Grammar of Doge.Wow.” The Toast, 6 February 2014,  http://the-toast.net/2014/02/06/linguist-explains-grammar-doge-wow/ Accessed 10 Dec., 2016.

The Evaluation of "Dutch Law Would Allow Assisted Suicide for Healthy Older People"

The Evaluation of

"Dutch Law Would Allow Assisted Suicide for Healthy Older People"

 By DAN BILEFSKY and CHRISTOPHER F. SCHUETZE

 

The number of articles about euthanasia has been growing and growing as the world is becoming a more opened place for such intricate things to talk about. When I was searching for a good material, it was not a problem to find this interesting one, about how the Netherlands wants to deal with euthanasia from 2017 on.

The writers of the article make a clear starting argument, saying that in the Netherlands they want to initiate euthanasia for healthy old people, who have had enough. Making such a straightforward statement makes the reader want to continue to read.

As for the introduction of the topic, they give us a mere background of the Netherlands, which legalised euthanasia in 2001, being the very first country ever to do that.

In the next paragraph they give us an opponent and a proponent view of this issue, bringing up the opinion of some critics and some believers. This would not be enough to make us want to read on, so they have to give us some specific argumentations.

This is what happens in the next paragraph, where we can learn about what the Dutch minister of health thinks about it all, she clearly states how older people need this, since they can no longer take care of themselves and they no longer have any relatives to take care of them. The writers use a perfect method to grab our attention, which is quoting. They are quoting Edith Schippers's words and it is a good way to emphasise the importance of the issue, by copying the exact same words she had said.

They are further explaining what the letter Schippers had read says. It is about the future of this law, which may be drafted by the end of 2017. Adding such an information in the middle makes their validity even more supported.

After this segment, they introduce an opponent argument about how the law makes everything unethical and morally incorrect. The writers not only bring in one, but two opponent statements, one in general then one specifically quoted from an influential person, saying how inhumane it is to talk people into dying.

The last few paragraphs of the article clearly state the opposing attitude, since we cannot find any supporting matters. We cannot be sure, what the two writers think about the issue,  but if they were really impartial, they would have included some supporting ideas of the euthanasia.

At the end of the article, they say how unstable and uncertain the situation is, because they are having elections in 2017, which may change the whole ruling government.

Overall, I think, this is a good but very short article, which would have required more argumentations both for and against, since like this we can only see the negative side of the story. It seems to me that we, readers cannot think about the issue and make a judgement for ourselves.

(533 words)

Works Cited

Dutch Law Would Allow Assisted Suicide for Healthy Older People

By DAN BILEFSKY and CHRISTOPHER F. SCHUETZEOCT. 13, 2016

http://nyti.ms/2e18rdv

New York Times

 

Anonymous

Evaluation of Jennifer Senior’s Article Some Dark Thoughts on Happiness

            Jennifer Senior, a contributor to New York magazine often publishes critical pieces of writing; let it be politics, economics or parenting. But all of these issues are approached from a psychological viewpoint. In the article I have chosen was published in 2006 in New York Magazine. In this rather longish article the writer digs into the issue of the emerging discipline of positive psychology.

            One of the first impressions I got of the author was that she is a self-conscious journalist, living in New York with very sarcastic style and mainly pessimistic thoughts. She tries to provide a brief history of how positive psychology developed and what are its main principles and goals at present. Since it is not a theoretical paper but a newspaper article it is not surprising that it tends to be more subjective than objective. She recounts how she herself investigated the topic personally: talking to psychology professors, researchers, and even going to “therapy”. Senior used numerous direct quotations of these professionals, I think on purpose, but their informal speech which might make them less credible for the reader. Because of her personal “research” and her not so enthusiastic attitudes towards positive thinking and happiness I felt that the article in whole is very much sarcastic and significantly biased behind the surface.

            The title of the article instantly suggests that positive psychology and the main thought behind it would not be praised in this particular piece of writing. However, the first third of Some Dark Thoughts on Happiness seems to be a somewhat objective introduction of the field. However, it is clear by the end that the author’s main idea is to question the importance, use and theoretical background of positive psychology. In the first half of the article it is not even clear how she will attack this approach. She uses quotations from positive psychology books, empirical studies and famous psychologists. But after presenting various aspects of the psychology of well-being she gets to her main point: how she thinks that positive psychological consulting and coaching is ineffective and how delusional and irrational is the state of happiness itself.

            To support this idea she presents her own example. Senior does not write down explicitly her attitudes; but the language, the choice of included quotations, structure and style reveal her point of view. Her criticism is not supported enough in my opinion, as she only presents ambiguous life stories and utterances of researchers and psychologist besides her personal thoughts on the subject.  On the last pages she starts to undermine positive psychology by presenting personal flaws and bad life choices (divorce, work-centeredness, suicide) of main supporters of positive psychology. For me it is clearly an ‘Ad Hominem’ type of logical fallacy, as these are not valid arguments which could prove the theory behind positive psychology wrong. After that, she makes references to several famous critiques, who have showed opposition to the core ideas of positive psychology. The researches that show pessimistic people have better judgment does not mean that the discipline of positive psychology or the advantages of optimistic thinking are non-existent and faulty. She generalizes quickly and jumps to the conclusions without providing sufficient support for her ideas. Finally, bringing up George Bush, the target of antipathy, to whom very few people look up to or would like to resemble to, as the typical optimistic and happy person, is clearly a try to appeal to people’s prejudices and thoughts about Bush, however, this is an insufficient argument.

            To sum up, Jennifer Senior’s criticism on the discipline of personal psychology was very personal, poorly supported and biased. I read it with a big amount of interest, open-mindedly but the reasoning and the support for her viewpoint was highly disappointing. When someone can not provide clear and valid evidence it is better not to involve the personal criticism of professionals researching and working in the field.

(659 words)

Works Cited

Senior, Jennifer. “Some Dark Thoughts On Happiness.” New York Magazine, 17 July  2006,  http://nymag.com/news/features/17573/. Accessed 1 Dec., 2011.

Advantages of euthanasia in a modern society

            The issue of euthanasia has always been an immensely controversial topic in the eyes of modern society. Many take a stand against it, while others consider it to be a justifiable way of ending a human being’s sufferings. This following essay is going to discuss why method of doctor-assisted dying is an equitable way of freeing a person who is destined to remain in a lethal condition.

            Firstly, every human being has the right to die in dignity (ACLU). It is inhumane to force anybody to stay alive once they are terminally ill and would prefer to end their sufferings. For a person to experience their own decay it might be terrible to acknowledge their new incapabilities. Not to mention the fact that withstanding immense pain requires a very clear state of mind, which most ill people lack. Therefore, providing that they decide at which point they would want to pass away, it should be considered their constitutional right to have that wish granted.

            Secondly, caring for seriously ill patients is often said to place an enormous burden on the person’s caregivers. Furthermore, in most cases it is the family that is in a greater emotional need than the gravely ill people themselves. In fact, they might even subconsciously suggest „suicidal” thoughts to the sufferer (Johnston).  From that derives the fact that no longer having the duty of caring for a terminally ill relative might place a lesser burden on the family members.

            Thirdly, euthanasia pressures the national health care system of a country into providing space for patients who are terminally ill and have no chance to recover, knowing also that they are in uncontrollable pain which prevents them from rejoicing even over the basic things of human life. (Merrill Matthews) While beds are taken up by those people in hospitals, there is much less room to house temporarily ill patients. Thus, if gravely ill individuals were granted the right to decide when they are no longer capable of handling the pain, it would also relieve the burden on the health care system of the country.

            To conclude, euthanasia is a rather divisive topic, with many reasons for or against the method. It is definitely of great importance to make educated decisions in regards to the matter, considering the feelings and will of both the family and the patient.

 

(ACLU), American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU Amicus Brief in Vacco v. Quill. 1996.

Johnston, Brian. Death as a Salesman - What's Wrong with Assisted Suicide. 1994.

Merrill Matthews, Jr., PhD. Physician Assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate. 1998.