“Who Are You And What Are You Doing Here?” Article Review

Introduction

The central idea presented in the article Who Are You And What Are You Doing Here? By Mark Edmundson is the life in college from the first day of it to the struggle throughout the period. The article contains all the aspects of college and people who will influence the students. Those people will be teachers, administration and peers with whom the student will interact during his or her time in the college. The author emphasized the value of college by giving the argument that college has become a part of our lives, and this was done due to the influence of society. Using the knowledge that students will get from the college will help students meet ends. There are several points which have presented throughout the article with the prospect of teachers, students, family, influential people and friends. On the other hand, some of the points contain the outside forces that will influence the students, and those are market conditions and the political demands that are now part of the education system. Furthermore, the dominant theme of this article is student struggle and the need to understand those struggles, which will be discussed further in this essay by highlighting what students need to know.

Discussion

There are significant circumstances pointed out by the author that should always be under the consideration of students, and the understanding of those circumstances can be obtained from the teacher. First of all, the colleges used to be strict about the performance of the students who no longer live in the college system, and this lacking greatly influenced the grades of students. Eventually, those low grades have influenced the respect of the students in front of the teachers. When imposing strictness, the administration has to deal with problems arising as a result of the strictness, and that is the sole reason for no restriction to avoid the possibility of any problems.

The learning outcomes of the students are quite low because teachers have lost the important of the work they are doing. The learning outcomes can only be raised with the help of teachers, but the focus of teachers has shifted to other things instead of student performance. The reason behind those strict rules, which were once part of the college system, is to prepare the student for the real world, but now, how will those students compete in the world if students are free to ignore their studies and can take any day off? At the start of the article, the author stated his own story when he asked for advice from his father regarding which courses he should pick, and his father replied that a student should only go for those courses in which they are interested rather than those which are known for the excessive earnings. The failure of a career is always because of wrong decisions students make while selecting the fields because those fields that are not according to the taste of students will soon make them exhausted, and they will get bored with their jobs.

Moreover, the writing style of the author succeeded in catching the attention of his readers, especially the attention of students, which is much needed because they are the ones who will have to face all the ups and downs in college. The fight is not limited when it comes to admission to college, but it’s only the start of the struggle that will continue happening to the administration and, after that, with the outside world. The example at the end of the article given by the author can help the readers understand fully the concept of this article is that becoming a doctor will not only please society but choosing the field with the student’s own desire will make him/her happy.

Conclusions

The author indeed achieved the purpose of his article by presenting the understanding of the struggle students have to face from college life to the practical world. However, by using his personal life experience and hypothetical examples related to his career, he supported all the claims that he had presented in the article.

Works Cited

Edmundson, Mark, and Mark Edmundson. “Who Are You And What Are You Doing Here?.” Oxfordamerican.org. N.p., 2018. Web. 14 Feb. 2018.