Monday, January 10, 2011
Using kairos as a means of invention
Now that we've generated a list of possible communities that might be interested in our debate, I'd like you to use kairos as a means of invention to help you start writing. Pick one of the communities that you think is the most interesting, compelling, or important one to address as you begin writing about this issue. Write a paragraph in which you introduce this issue to them and make a case for this issue’s urgency, in any way that makes sense given this community. How or why could this issue matter for them, right now? What’s the most effective and appropriate way to appeal to them using kairos?
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My audience: Family
ReplyDeleteFrom my own experiences and crossroads, I believe the importance of education is built within the culture of our environment. I believe that a family’s cultural roots and motivations, not exclusively, are key determinates of how we’re brought up to deal with the importance of education. These elements can lead to what motivates and influences our own decisions as children, teens and young adult, in a time when discovery and aspirations develop. This is an important topic for families on both sides of the spectrum, families in well-developed environments and those of less ideal environments.
Dear parents,
ReplyDeleteThe situation that your children are involved right now is a peculiar one. Our high schools are pressing students to do better and better on standardized tests and be prepared in the increasingly competitive job market. With the growing international competition, how are your children going to win positions over international students who are going to school six days a week and maintain straight A’s across those classes. Are your children’s moral beliefs and personality going to outweigh the more prepared and devoted students from other countries? In my personal experience my senior year of high school I finished each day of class at noon and was able to maintain thirty plus hours a week working at a local carwash. Is my work experience going to be more deserving of recognition than the intellectual experience that these students bring to the table? I appreciate the importance of a close knit family, but I question whether or not these international students missing out on family bonds when family first has been a pillar of their culture for decades.
Parents remember times in school when they were able to spend more time outside and interacting with friends and enjoying their childhood. This may not be the reality for your children. In the increasingly competitive world that we are living in, enjoying the “Best time of your life,” maybe the same as going into the real world unprepared and set up for failure.
Dear Kai,
ReplyDeleteIn three months you will be a new father and with this comes many new decisions and responsibilities that you will be responsible for your child. A major topic is one of schooling and the idea of what the consequences are of stresses placed on kids to succeed in the classroom and how they react to these stresses. You have multiple options in which you can place your kid. The options you need to take into consider is the type of school that you will place your kid and understand the pros and cons of each environment. Personally I would categorize your options for schools into three groups: public school, private school or boarding school, and home schooling. They all have their pluses and minuses but, this is a topic that will take some serious contemplating because the academic environment and type of institution that your kid grows up in can greatly affect the type of person they will become. These expected outcomes from each type of schooling are not set in stone but, potential downsides of each need to be considered in order to make the decision that you feel is most promising and beneficial. Your kid will be part of a new generation which will shape the world and determine the continued survival of humanity and the quality of life in the future.
Dear Jimmy,
ReplyDeleteI am so proud of you for graduating college and getting hired to teach at our old high school! I think that because you are bringing a fresh mind to the teaching staff, I should bring forth the increasingly important issue of high school students and stress. Each new class is entering high school already stressed from the CSAP’s and burned out from the useless amounts of information our old elementary and middle school throws at students for the tests. Because so much pressure is put on the young students to do well on the standardized tests, you are the lucky teacher who has to try and keep these kids motivated to learn through graduation. I hope that you will spark their interest by teaching fun facts about your favorite people: the Ancient Romans. I just learned that the percentage of kids graduating from high school that later go on to do drugs and alcohol has increased significantly. I know that you would not want our fellow Palmer Terrors to throw away their lives like that. You are terrible at speaking French, maybe you could throw in a few of your worst phrases to make the kids laugh. Honestly, any little thing you do to restore the fun atmosphere to Palmer will help these kids.
Also, did you know that many schools are cutting out their arts and music programs? With your degree in music, you have to fight to keep the music program strong! You and I both know Palmer could use some more musicians to head-bang to Beethoven’s 5th.
As the problems and arguments about global warming and social outbreaks unfold, there is now a new view forced upon us about how these events can be prevented and who will make this happen. As we look to our future and see so many possible problems, we must look to the future decision makers of the world, the children. I am writing to you today to ask for help. The fate of tomorrow rests in the students of today. These students are not receiving the type of education needed to assist us in fighting for this world we live in. So many of them are being bogged down by tests and unneeded material that their minds are not allowed to wander and explore. This is needed in order to come up with solutions for the problems we are facing now and the many problems we will face in the future. I propose that the education system be changed so that more emphasis is on exploration and social learning and less on individualistic learning and statistical cramming.
ReplyDeleteThere has been recent debate over the issue of high school students becoming over-stressed as a result of education. High school students are constantly stressed out over how well they do in school as it pertains to applying to colleges or post high school careers. Much of this stress is due not only to teachers, but to the pressures that parents put on their children. The often compelling motive of economic failure is one, which, although persuasive to a few students, is often perceived in a negative way by high school students and is the source of stress. It is shown that the reinforcement of positive ideals are more effective than that of negative ideals. Therefore it is urgent that high school students be motivated by positive ideals presented by their parents as opposed to negative ideals, such as the fear of not being accepted into a "good" college, for example. A reinforcement of positive ideals by the parents of high school students may very well improve students motivation in high school as well as reduce the every day stress that often overwhelms so many.
ReplyDeleteFor upper classmen students in high schools all around the nation, the New Year brings new stress. For the college bound seniors, the deadline to hit the send button on the applications to the Ivy League Universities of their dreams is rapidly approaching. For honor roll juniors, this time of year marks the beginning of the college search, trying to impress administrators, SATs and ACTs while simultaneously taking seven Advanced Placement courses. But for other students, who for whatever reasons, have fallen between the cracks of the education system, this is a time to confront the stress and reality of not graduating or dropping out. While countless books, articles and debate surround the issue of stress of overachievement on college bound students in America, the students struggling to even make it to school in the morning are forgotten. These students face a different stress in the education system without the support of college counselors. How does the American education system serve these students.
ReplyDeleteTo Denver Public School’s Board of Education:
ReplyDeleteHigh school students today are working under extreme amounts of pressure and stress from standardized testing, gratuitous amounts of work, and academic pressure from parents, teachers, and administrators. This stress impacts the productivity of students and their abilities to learn- instead of becoming inspired and capable scholars, students are becoming information machines that are only capable of repeating back answers. Education has become a numbers game in which students must be able to spit back answers on a test for school funding and ranking purposes.
I believe that now is the time to reevaluate what a good education is. We as citizens and former students of the district know that it is essential to have inspiration for students to learn. If this undue stress is continued, students will continue to learn less and memorize more facts just to pass tests. This implication will impact all our markets, including business, government, and education. If we are able to reevaluate the students’ needs for education, we would have a better learning environment that would create knowledge and promote productivity.
Dear Middle and Upper Class High School Student,
ReplyDeleteThere is currently a raging debate on the perils of the stress on the high school student. Many feel that the pressure put on middle and upper class students to attend Ivy League universities is overwhelming and causing students to burn out. The New York Times article “Stress and the High School Student” goes to the extreme claiming that this pressure leads to drug and alcohol abuse. This flaw in this debate is that high school will be the least stressful part of a middle-to-upper class person’s life. You’re being completely taken care of. It is simply ridiculous to place such importance on the struggles of attending a top Ivy League school. Sit down, relax, and understand how made your life is and realize how lucky you are to be in your situation.
Dear Student,
ReplyDeleteAs you begin your freshman year of high school, you will soon become acquainted with the stressful reality that your future may be determined by a set of quantitative measurements that have little to do with who you are as a person or even your academic merit. You will face hours of arbitrary work primarily designed to ensure success on the state’s standardized tests but not necessarily to grow or gauge your true intellect. By the end of your high school career, you will have undertaken enough of these tests to effectively rank your personal success and the success of your high school vs. that of the school a few blocks away. All this will inevitably subject you to undue stress, especially given the fact that many colleges and universities now place such high emphasis on test scores and not who you are as a person or even your ability to learn. Alarmingly, this problem continues to magnify as college admittance becomes even more competitive. However, you must remember that your interests should come before the desires of the all too quantitative college admissions process. Pursue your interests and follow the path of your curiosity and creativity, even if it means not fully conforming to society’s urge to see you as a set of numbers and not a well-rounded person.
Josh. You are now moving beyond your educational experience and heading out into the real world making a career for yourself. As you fulfill your dream of becoming an educator, I challenge you to examine the current education system. I want you to take advantage of this perfect opportunity to make a difference and fix the flaws that are hindering students in America. With your passion for education, leadership, and enthusiasm for change, I know that you will be able to make a difference in the future lives of students.
ReplyDeleteAs you head into high school you will be faced with the overwhelming issue of stress. Life for this moment on is not going to get any easier, it will only get harder. In fact as you move up grades the pressure will keep building. You will be faced with Ap classes, CSAP tests and eventually tests to get into college. However, I have the solution to surviving high school stress.
ReplyDeleteTo Mr. Ben Bernanke,
ReplyDeleteAs we all know, in October 2008 our entire financial system came close to a complete collapse. Everywhere you look now, you hear rants about big business and Wall Street and banks deemed “Too Big To Fail” (TBTF). And while, Mr. Bernanke, the United States as a whole does not blame you (they stupidly think Obama made the decision to bail out the banks), you probably feel a bit of a sting from it. You were the advisor to former president George W. Bush, and it was from your recommendation that this decision was rendered. While it probably was the best possible decision in that moment, no one can dey the destruction it left.
So how can a financial collapse have anything to do with education and stress of the high school student? Well, it is easily explained by two basic terms: ethics and moral hazard. Moral hazard is the creation of a situation in which a party might act in a way that it would not otherwise act if it was susceptible to risk. TBTF is the perfect example of moral hazard. Banks now know that there is a point at which the Fed will always bail them out. Ethics is the entire reason why we are in this current financial situation.
Students in high school, and to a large extent, college, are stressed to wits end. This creates a student body of cheaters; anything to make the grade, anything to be on the right track to a job. This creates an ethics problem: if companies hire cheaters, then the cheaters will think “Well, I cheated to get here, I can cheat to stay, I can cheat to advance.” With the amount of stress we put on high school students we are creating an entire generation of unethical people (at least in terms of business ethics).
If you want to prevent another crash, it would be wise to begin investing in the alleviation of stress in high school. If companies begin to hire those who are not only intelligent on paper, but intelligent in actuality, and if companies hire people who are ethical, it is more likely for that company to avoid cutting corners in order to make a profit.
Sincerely,
Liam Flannagan
Sorry for it being so late, Geoffrey, I have had very little internet access lately.