Aaron's Paper 3
From Mizzou Wiki
Times have changed and students have changed along with them. How can people illustrate their student lives to the world? Wesch's video, Life of a college student, which was created at Kansas State university, is a prime example of how higher education may ask a little much of a person. The present student may go through more than expected behind classes and in their real life. Wesch brought up many great issues that all affect the average student. People fail to see the issues that a young student has in his or her life. Maybe class and technology asks much, maybe not. The issues that were illustrated in the video are the connection between money and the education span of a student, the loss of interpersonal connection, and lastly the issue of the school's expectations of the student. Wesch hit hard on these issues so people can finally realize what's going on. This video actually depicts the student of today, but how are they connected.
--shouldn't your thesis and introduction address something about the 3rd assignment?--
The average college student pays 9,000 dollars at a four year college annually. The average household income is no more than 48,000 dollars. Though 13% fall below poverty level and over 20% of the house holds make under 20,000 dollars a year(U.S. Census Bureau, www.census.gov) . Once again as Wesch was trying to prove, college has forgotten the life behind the curtains. There are expenses, bills, food, and luxury that all must be paid and many can't afford, not just in the U.S., but all around the world. And it has been like this for many decades. In the video Wesch used the statistic that the price of a laptop costs more than many make in a year. The video also uses the statistic that many kids are greatly in debt after their degree is obtained. Why does college tuition cost so much for an education? This is one of the big issue of today in our schools, but many can't answer this question, the only known fact is that tuition is increasing at a fast rate. And now as expenses go up, the supplies necessary for school also goes up. You almost have to have a laptop to go to college now due to the requirements for classes such as constant emails, daily online assignments, and constant access, and this only spends more of my money. Which leads to the second big issue in school now.
The "distant" education, where students barely interact with their teacher, is what separates students from their classrooms. The statistics used by Wesch were by average, only 18% of students' teachers know their name and one has even had an average class of 128 people. There are many factors that help a student become successful and one of them is a relationship to ones teacher. A more personal environment in class is a great way for students to exceed, but that connection has been lost over the years. The computer has been the basis for all types of education and work and the running of general classes now. During the video it shows by average, one student had to write over 500 emails pertaining to class. This shows how it is hard for a student to speak to their teacher for help on a more personal basis. How far has technology gone in school, and how far will we let it take us? We do gain much from technology, though we lose in some cases, much more.
The expectations of classes has also increased. The simple planning or daily scheduling may not cut it any more. There is sleep, eating, jobs, relaxing, studying, and class that must be taken care of all in one day. It showed in the video that many of these day to day errands and duties add up to be more that just 24 hours, but actually over 26 hours necessary in our day to keep up. That is impossible to accomplish, thus leading to time cuts to certain duties and obligations that would have helped, but now can only hurt a student if were cut. Every change can be displayed as a double edged sword. If I get less hours of sleep, I'll be less motivated or energetic in class, if I cut work hours down to get studying in, I lose money, and vice versa. There just isn't the time of day to do many of the things required in my day. It's as if teachers want their student to be totally class based which can be possible, but definitely not logical. Wesch's video is determined to make a change to this issue.
These issues definitely can relate to any student, but these issues relate to me very much. Me, coming from a single parent family and seeing how hard it can be to deal with college, work, and simply life in general. I see what people take for granted everyday and that is why i know people have failed or have forgotten to see the problems of students. These problems are not new, they always have been here and it's surprising that only in the past years have they surfaced for people to understand. I'm not going to say that all of these problems pertain to me, but a little of each does effect me and every student, if they realize it or not. This leads to how the understanding of these issues is based off the cultural competency of each and every person.
Some say that cultural literacy helps you understand or comprehend each culture, which means it must be cultural competency that means more than just understanding. I believe cultural literacy only helps a person with comprehending the actual means of conversation of a culture. It's cultural competency that makes a more round person and this is the focus of the video. If someone has cultural competency than they do more than just understand a culture, but actually appreciate the culture.If the audience was more cultural competent, they would feel more obligated to make a change because they can feel for the student. Someone who has lived in our shoes or has lived in our culture is a step ahead of the next man, which is what makes one cultural competent. This video was directed at a culturally competent audience and also aimed towards those who aren't culturally competent, to enlighten them.
Many of the problems of school were pin pointed in Wesch's video and were displayed in a strong unique way that was interesting to the audience. The video very abrupt,by mentioning problems straight forward, though subtle, by not overwhelming the audience with too many problems at once, created a sign to all. Though the video had a preferred audience, Wesch's video was directed to all. Anyone can make a change. This video really opened the eyes of many and showed us things that we wouldn't even believe. This video was a signal to not just an audience outside of the students, but pointed towards them also. All can learn from this video and Wesch chose a great way to illustrate his thoughts.
The message of Wesch's video was displayed to his audience greatly for one main reason. It was able to be easily analyzed. His argument connected to the audience. He delivered for us watchers, and we were able to understand his tone and style. His deliverance and argument matched and balanced each other out. For example, he was able to put all the points in his video in less than a minute. There was no confusion nor clutter within his video. He put his points out on the table, than delivered it plain and simple without any extras that can trouble the reader.
Wesch's video on college issues have reached many people. Though, it was not by chance or luck that his video has gotten so far. The way Wesch created the video was well planned and arranged to get to the people in a certain manner. It was easy to analyze and describe Wesh's video because it was a well structured piece. We are able to see that the video seems to fit rhetorical stance which is based upon the audience that his argument was directed to, the actual argument itself, and the tone and style he displayed his message in. This type of rhetoric must be well thought out. As an audience sees the video, we are able to understand each point of his statement and accurately categorize his video into the rhetorical stance subject. And rhetoric is what makes the video more clear or cohesive. What rhetorical stance does, is narrow the broad idea of his message, and easily transforms it to be expressed to our particular audience clearly. With all of Rhetorical Stance factors, we know exactly how he expressed his thoughts. And the finest part is how the viewers can follow Wesch's message the whole way.
What Wesch seemed to have done was finding out exactly what he wanted be known to those who watched the video. He had all the problems in the video displayed, but only the ones that worked best. He chose stats that show how students need financial help and how we may be overwhelmed with school work. He carefully chose this argument because these are the most important and the most relevant to talk about. Wesch's argument is well supported because he chose serious issues that many can easily relate to. The points express meaning and so they will be able to make a change to the ways our schools are now. Mainly he chose the argument to be displayed to his audience. So as we analyze his video, he had a direct argument and we are able to understand the problems clearly. He kept it simple and understandable. The argument part of Rhetorical Stance was clear, thus meaning successful.
A writer speaker, producer, anyone with a message, can never forget who they're doing it for. The audience is who determines the success of what Wesch was trying to convey. Every move that Wesch took, he probably had his audience in mind. In Rhetorical Stance, the audience needs to be always kept in mind. In this quote it explains how the motive of your point is based upon the importance of your audience. "Because he has not led to see a question which he considers worth answering, or an audience that could possibly care on way or the other, the paper is worst than no paper at all."(Wayne C. Booth) This can be easily transitioned to Wesch's video. He must have looked at the questions and displayed as many of them as possible. Wesch answered these questions in his video, which led to more questions by the audience. Though these questions were different, such as what can we do? and how can we change this? An audience left with these questions in mind, means Wesch has successfully mastered the audience section of his rhetorical method. Wayne C. Booth later says, "unless the student discovers a desire to say something to somebody and learns to control his diction for a purpose, we've gained very little." This is exactly what Wesch has done, he had a specific purpose to the audience and a great delivery. As we analyze this section of his video again, his audience was easily able to determine. Thus meaning his motive to his viewers was also successful.
The last factor of a statement is the tone or style of the argument. When one speaks to the audience and tries to convey a point, the point is only as strong as your argument, and your argument is only as strong as your style you choose to deliver it in. Anyone can display a message in any way, but if they don't say it in a manner for it to be actually heard and acknowledged, than there was no point at all. An argument can only go so far, the points you chose to support are by material and the points you chose, but how do you expect your audience to really appreciate your argument if you don't display it in a style that hits home with your argument. The style you chose must relate to your argument so the style must change for every argument which is why this must be the most important part of your whole purpose. As Wayne C. Booth said,"Well, Rhetoric is the art of persuading." Which leads how does a speaker persuade his listeners without a tone that touches them? As you can see Wesch chose his style carefully because he knew it would would be the prime persuasion in his video. The shaking camera, the jumping from sign to sign, all put a different effect on us viewers. To make the most effective argument would be master the style and tone that you speak to the audience in. "Our mandate would seem to be, then, to lead more of our students that were now do to care about and practice the true arts of persuasion. Again Booth stressing how important persuasion is in the tone of a project. And once again, this section fitting perfectly into Rhetorical stance, the style Wesch used was perfect to his video.
Wesch was able to display all of his problems to the viewers. He wanted to make a change to the society and he did. As a viewer I was able to know exactly what he wanted us to know. I understood all of the problems in our educational system. Finally, Rhetorical stance is truly perfected if it is balanced. Balancing your statement with all of these points may be the most difficult part of all. So Wesch has had a great video. He was able to break his work up and than put it back together as a masterpiece by balancing all of the points that makes a cohesive piece of work. According to Rhetorical Stance he has triumphed in obtaining all of the factors of a great project. So as long as Wesch displays his issues in a way they can relate to us, I believe we will always be here to view his statements. And as long as we are here to support Wesch's movements, hopefully he will accomplish the changes that are necessary.
Though Wesch's video was produced at Kansas State, it can be related to our school here at MU. But how much do these problems relate to the ones at MU. And man of these issues do teh ones at MU. And many of these issues do relate to MU and many colleges across the U.S., at that.So the problems on these two major campus connect by a cultural level, simple problems or issues and finally the changes wanted by the students. These are the factors that connect the campuses for each enrolled student.
--I think you're making connections between the level of the institutions, but the writing here is unclear--
First, one of the main connections is the cultural level. At MU I believe so far it does connect students to many cultures. MU with a total of forty thousand students is bound to be multi?cultural. For classes, there are many teachers who teach their students about cultural literacy and how to relate by conversation. And many teachers who teach their students about cultural competency. But is up to the students to take this knowledge and learn. And MU gives the perfect environment for that. People here are very diverse and there are plenty of opportunities to have cultural connections. MU has academic clubs, minority help, a large campus and many cultures all integrated on one campus. So I would say MU is a pretty cultural university.
"cultural" is a giant-sized word. Do you mean "multicultural"?--
And one main issue is the problems that occur on both campuses. MU does have many of the problems represented in Wesch's video "a vision of students today". At MU there are many students who complain about the tuition issues. And there are connection to teacher issues. Many believe that the tuition has gone up incredibly for uneccessary reasons. We have many new recreation centers with plenty of luxuries. And also there is the connection issue with technology. Many teachers now use their computers to view their students work more than they see their student. If a teacher only knew a student by his work, not his character, and if a student knew his teacher only by his assignments and lectures, not his personality, than they go nowhere. From poor relationships like this, a students grade will most likely go down or not be as good as it can be. These issues where MU falls short. The idea is great, but there must be some type of median to balance it out.
One of the greatest parts of MU is how the classes seem unrestricted. Any course you are interested in, you can take. It also does not treat kids with bias, but only knowledge. What this does is leave students with an open mind. An open mind leaves students with ideas of changes. What they can do for not just the school, but our society we live in. And this is what many should cherish about Mizzou. Wesch's video in Kansas State was just the beginning, but it spreads throughout every campus. MU being just like Kansas State with almost all the same problems means our students here are also determined to make a change as Wesch was.
--whoa. I don't think you can say that because ONE teacher is determined to make a change, and he works at a similar institution, that all the students are determined to do so...that's a BIG leap in logic...with no support.--
It's amazing to see how to opposite campuses can be so much alike. This means that all these issues that Wesch spoke about are closely connected to many of the campuses around the U.S. And this is what finalizes the vision of Wesch. He didn't just want to make a change in Kansas State, but make a change to the actual education system everywhere. And it was clever that he used issues that pertained to many schools. This making it easier for a change to actually happen from any side of the U.S. And I believe that he is making a change slowly, but surely. A change is bound to come soon and if it doesn't, Wesch already made a change by opening the eyes of the ones who forgot to notice.
--who are these last people?--
