Which form of English is correct?

by amclaughlin5202

A very important problem facing our nation today is the crisis of education standards in public schools. More specifically, in the case of Ashanti Young’s article entitled “Should Writers Use They Own English?”, it can be viewed as a question of what makes the standard form of English “proper” as opposed to other types of “slang” that can be heard in cities across the country. It raises the issue of whether it is discriminatory for schools to not allow students to write in their own form of English, forcing them to learn and use “standard white English” instead. So who decides what is the proper form? And why can’t other colloquialisms be included in some parts of schooling? Mr. Young has a valid argument that should be further discussed by teachers and students, alike.

This issue is relevant to us especially now, as college English students, where every paper we turn in must first be edited and revised multiple times in order to eliminate errors, strengthen arguments, and improve word usage. Stanley Fish argued in his essay “What Should Schools Teach? Part 3”, which Young’s article resulted from in rebuttal, proper English rules should be taught in high school, so that students can arrive at college already knowing how to correctly write sentences. Although there is also the issue of possible discrimination which should be discussed, we as a class should challenge ourselves to come up with some practical way of incorporating students’ own forms of the English language into schools, and if we cannot decide on any, let us challenge ourselves to come up with a reasonable explanation as to why this variation of English would not work in schools. If we gave students the chance to express themselves and use their own “voice”, we can open up their minds to the diversity of their language, but what are the drawbacks? I know that these questions would be thought-provoking enough to keep our interest over the course of the semester. This is a discussion that has so many different parts, all equally important, and now is the time to start talking about it.

A Little Character Can Go a Long Way

by Thomas Madden

Our society now faces a growing problem.  School systems have always seemed to stress the massive importance of intellect in one’s success.  In doing so, they often overlook the large role character plays in achievement.  Students have become accustomed to this notion that intellect is the sole definition of how successful one will be, failing to realize their true potential goes beyond this factor.  Paul Tough, a Canadian-American writer who has written extensively on how to improve student development and education, suggests that they key to success could actually be failure.  In his article, “What if the Secret to Success is Failure?,” Tough claims that today’s children are not developing the character necessary to thrive dependently in life.  He believes that schools must take greater steps toward fostering positive character in students.  While discussing important values, Tough refers to The Character Education Partnership, a national, nonprofit organization devoted to engaging students to develop strong character that will help them succeed in and out of the classroom.  The CEP supports Tough’s ideas from an educational standpoint in “Performance Values: Why They Matter and What Schools Can Do to Foster Their Development,” in which it advocates an academic environment with lessons that challenge students to strive for excellence and develop what it calls “performance character.”  Though the two address this issue from different perspectives, Tough and the Character Education Partnership share a similar goal: to foster success in all students through the development of character.

As a society, we must pay closer attention to the immense impact of character in children’s development and stress this importance in schooling.  However, this is not just the responsibility of teachers, as parents must also encourage positive values in children.  Overindulging parents are one of the root causes of this contemporary challenge, as they have created a generation of children that lack the character necessary to be self-sufficient in life.  Parents must assume this burden as well by allowing their children to experience failure that occurs in the real world.  Only then, Tough states, can they truly develop the characteristics that promote success.  By instilling such traits in our children now, they can possess both the intellect and character that together effectively measure success.  This is an intellectual conversation that our class should appreciate and explore as this idea can have a profound influence on future generations.  Students must understand that their success is not simply tested by their intellect, as they are much more complex, gifted individuals who can all achieve great things.

Selecting sides or sensing sentiments?

by rcofsky9904

As said by Steven Pinker, “In any dispute, each side thinks it’s in the right and the other side is demons.” Very similarly, here we all are expressing our beliefs on which article to pursue in this semesters English 110 course. To save you all the trouble, I can assure you that the conversation we should invest our time and efforts into should most definitely be Steven Pinker’s idea of “The Moral Instinct”. Pinker speaks about the various morals and ethics that have transformed from being unacceptable and seem as failures into quite common lifestyle choices. Things such as marijuana usage, homosexuality, and divorce are all fine examples of morals that have been amoralized over time. While they used to be seen to be horrible things, they are widely accepted as normal by many people now. However, there is always going to be someone who feels differently than you. But that doesn’t always have to be a bad thing! We can expand upon the way we think by engaging in conversations about what we do or don’t believe in.

For me, the most intriguing aspect of this argument is the feeling of, “I don’t know why I feel like this, I just do.” It interests me to look into the morals of people around the world and how they are both alike and different. Is there ever truly a “right” way of thinking, or is it just a matter of opinion? Are there Universal morals that everyone sees to be true, or is there always going to be someone out there who disagrees, for whatever reason? I’d like to pursue the things that we as Americans may consider normality but could be looked down upon in other places. A related and ongoing problem that this ties into very closely to every human is war. War is waged over differences, whether it is morals about freedom, women’s rights, or slavery, there is simply a strong difference in opinion that ignites the fire. Everyone has some sort of opinion on war, and what better way to learn and grow than to compare and contrast your ideas with peers. By pursuing this conversation on morals we as students will have the opportunity to write about things that we feel passionately about and we’ll be able to take a better look at if we’re simply selecting a side or diving in and sensing sentiments.

Getting Gritty for Grit

by etarjick1775

There is no doubt in my mind that our class should pursue Paul Tough’s article, What if the Secret to Success is Failure? as it holds in it the key to a successful future, not only for us, but for everyone. Knowing many people in this class, I am aware that there are a good amount of us who were not accepted into colleges, or even the honors program due to things like SAT scores and other standardized tests. Colleges are underestimating the importance of grit, and are therefore relying heavily on standardized testing that is affecting, and will continue to affect, all of us if we don’t at least look for ways to educate people about its power. Parents are sheltering their children, not understanding that building character and grit involves struggling and failure. I think its crucial that we explore this problem so we can, if anything, spread the word about grit, and maybe even change some things ourselves.

Tough is not the only person in this conversation on character. He incorporates many different established people into his article that I think would be very interesting and worthwhile to read. One of the people Tough enters the conversation with is Angela Duckworth, a Psychology professor, and creator of the grit calculator. In her article, “True Grit”, Duckworth gives examples of how important grit is by explaining experiments she has done, showing how lack of character affects us in school and the workplace. She also makes it clear that character qualities should matter more than they do because of their serious importance and affect. A supplementary article one of my peers found from Latino News first handedly discusses this controversy relating to the idea of grit. It focuses on the idea of test scores and how they are not the only things that should be taken into account when looking at graduation rates. I think looking into character and the controversy that surrounds it will really open our eyes too what is important to succeed, and there is no doubt we will find great amounts of information on this controversy.

Counting Character

by astack01

            There are many people who believe that the children are our future. Children are the ones that are going to be leading the country when we are older, and it is crucial that we raise them so they are efficient leaders. This is why I think that our class should focus on conversations from the article, “What if the Secret to Success is Failure?” by Tough. This article brings up many good debates about our current education system. Should grades solely be based on intelligence? Should we incorporate character into our current education systems? If so, what constitutes as good character? These are important questions that are worth discussing because the answers will affect the way we bring up and teach our children. As an education major, it is very interesting to me that a “character scale” is something that I may have to use in the classroom. I think this topic is perfect for our class because it affects everyone, whether you are an education major who can directly be affected by this or another classmate who will rely on the children of today and the values they have to lead us in the future.  

            There are many articles that we should read in order to go in depth within these intellectual conversations associated with Tough’s article. One includes “Performance Values: Why They Matter and What Schools Can Do to Foster Their Development” which goes into detail about developing character education within schools today. The article answers questions of how to teach good character. Another article we can pursue is “True Grit” in which the discussion of the importance of character and grit is incorporated. This article tells us that grit affects children positively and is a key to success. Intelligence is not the only characteristic that make our children capable of leading the future, and that is why it is so important to learn and discuss other ways we should be grading our children and what values we should be instilling in them.

4.0 Character Point Average

by mstaffieri7805

This semester, I believe it would be most beneficial for us if we focused on Tough’s “What If the Secret to Success is Failure?” and other texts that relate to this topic. As well- rounded honors students, we can all understand that excellent grades will only get us so far. We knew that in order to get into Westfield State, we not only had to be diligent students, but we had to prove that we had some moral fiber and a strong character by being involved in sports, clubs, volunteering, etc. In Tough’s article, he stresses that character traits such as the ability to pull oneself out of a bad situation is lacking in students that are academically elite. He also says that parents are overindulging their children and that prevents them from experiencing any hardships that would help them in the long run. This worries me not just for our generation but younger ones as well.

One article that one of my peers found was “Implementing Character Education into School Curriculum” by Alicia M. Chapman of the College of DuPage. One of the first things that Chapman mentioned was that the debate on teaching character in schools would not even be an issue if the students showed some compassion and reliability. But unfortunately, the truth is that some of today’s students are disrespectful, judgmental and unsympathetic. These particular students tend to bully others which can lead to unsafe learning environments, low self-esteem for the victims and possibly the worst outcome, suicide. According to the Center for Disease Control, the third leading cause of death for adolescents in the U.S. is suicide. This creates a major sense of urgency for me because I have experienced bullying first hand it I know how much of a mental tax it has on an individual. There are many different ideas to explore within the topic of character education and I believe that studying it in depth this semester would enable us to go out into the world and help others as well as engage in some self-reflection.  

The Gritty Future

by lmerlo5098

Our class should pursue Paul Tough’s article “What if the secret to success is failure?” because it addresses the issue of character development, which is crucial because it can help everyone be more successful in every aspect of their lives. There are a wide variety of methods and venues for implementing character development programs in schools, parenting, camps, workplaces, sports, and other activities. This issue is urgent and relevant to study now because today’s children are tomorrow’s adults and leaders. We need leaders with “grit” who can deal well with problems. Today it seems like many children are being too sheltered; everything they need is provided for them so they don’t need to suffer, work, or experience failure, and they are praised for everything they do. These difficult experiences that are excluded from childhood today are what builds character and grit. That is why it is so crucial to address character development in multiple venues for children, such as at home, in school, and on sports teams. Strong character and grit help people succeed in numerous ways, including socially, academically, and professionally.

This “grit,” which is central to the understanding of character, is explored and defined by Duckworth’s article “True Grit,” which would be an insightful article to read should we pursue the issue of character development. While Tough’s article describes two different school systems’ approaches to character development programs, there are limitless other ways to implement such programs in schools. The article, “Implementing Character Education into School Curriculum” addresses the benefits and doubts of character development programs in schools. Another article, “Should Character be Taught?” offers students’ perspectives on the implementation of character education programs, including criticisms and praises of students who have experienced such programs as well as the opinions of those who have not experienced these programs. The supplementary article that I found, “New coach brings philosophy for success,” addresses character development through sports. As an athlete and athletic training major, I see great opportunities to teach and practice strong character in athletics.