Total Pageviews

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

BAGLES!


           By Ashley Burger
           As I was returning to my dorm room for the night, I was greeted at the entrance of the building by students trying to convince me to buy bagel for a fundraiser they were doing. I halfway thought about it when I looked at the sign in front of their table that read “BAGLES.” Upon seeing this, I had to get to my room immediately to let my laughter out. Now, I understand accidents and of course I occasionally misspell words too, but when four people are sitting there, someone has to catch it! 
          Although funny at the time, there rings a certain truth to it that Christopher Lasch points out in The Culture of Narcissism. Chapter Six, entitled Schooling and the New Illiteracy, focuses on the decline and watering down of our education system and the decreasing standards. It is more important how many kids get educated rather than how good the education is. There are lazy teachers who do not care, as well as children who slip through the cracks of the system.
            Wagner College, which is supposed to be a high-ranking liberal arts school, has students who cannot even spell ‘bagel.’ Besides looking at how they got into college, we can also look at their high school and middle school and how they got through that and received a diploma. This proves firsthand that we are watering down our education systems. There was a student in my freshman class who had never written a full paper. I do not want to look down on students, but look at the education systems as a whole. If they keep supporting this, it will not end and may get worse with college students who cannot read. Which will further support Lasch’s findings in that our society will become “a stupefied population, resigned to work that is trivial and shoddily performed” (126).

No comments:

Post a Comment