Myron paper 3

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Myron Peterson II Mr. Aaron Harms English 1000 1 August 2008 College Information Is technology really a distraction in class, does it really have students not paying attention to what is being taught? Do students spend more time surfing the web than they do doing class work? Are there new problems that a student comes across while in college? Michael Wesch does a survey at Kansas State University to cover some of these problems. It covers several different arguments in different styles. It also related to cultural literacy and cultural competence throughout the movie. Wesch was also able to use some of the rhetorical styles to explain his point of view. The video was also able to let me look at a viewpoint of my school. It was able to help me make comparison to the University of Missouri Columbia and how it talks about some of the benefits that it has.

The Wesch video had a lot of different arguments to it. The video pointed out some of the difficulties of college and some of the challenges. The main problem that kept coming up in the video was about technology. When you watch the video you can tell that Wesch was trying to get the point across that technology is a very big distraction. He wasn’t saying that it's a really bad thing, but that technology throws a lot of student off task of what is being taught. That it helps students who don’t want to pay attention in class find something else to do when the professor is teaching. There were a lot of different scenes in the video that told how student use the Internet to do other things instead of work. Some of those things are "I bring my laptop to class but I'm not working on class work"(Wesch) or "I facebook through most of my classes"(Wesch). It just showed how Wesch is right and how sometimes students do fall of topic do to technology. The video also consists of the three persuasive appeals that Wesch used to explain his argument.

There are three different kinds of persuasive appeals that can be used in the rhetoric. The three are logos the appeal to reason, pathos the appeal to emotion, and ethos the appeal of one's character. All three of the appeals were used in the first Wesch video. Ethos is basically talking about the whole video. The appeal of one's character and that is the students, and what better way to get us as student to relate than have the video all about students. Wesch knew that to get his argument across he had to find someone who college students would relate to. So he knew that with having the Kansas state students do the study then it was helpful to him. Pathos was used throughout the movie also. There were parts of the movie were the viewer would have a little sympathy because of what was being said. For example "18% of my teachers know my name"(Wesch) this could make one feel sorry for the student. She might not be getting the attention she needs. The last persuasive appeal is logos the appeal to reason. This is how Wesch set the whole video up it all came in sequence. He put everything in an order so others watching it would understand his argument and what he wanted change.

When watching the video you start off seeing words written on the wall that says, "if these walls could talk"(Wesch) and "what would they say"(Wesch). Then their were words written on the seat that said "if students learned what they do"(Wesch) "what are they learning sitting here"(Wesch). Then as the video progresses it starts to talk about technology. When the movie starts to get into the problems, at first it looks like Wesch is degrading technology. It looks as if Wesch had all of students do the research to show how technology is a big way for students to fall off subject. But as the video progress to the end the point of view starts to change. At the end of the video he starts to write on a chalkboard. What he writes up there is actually talking about the advantages of the Internet and the disadvantages of the chalkboard. He writes how when writing on the chalkboard it forces the teacher to move. Then in the corner he writes things that are missing when u write on the board. What he writes up there are photos, videos, and animation. You can relate this and the other things in the movie to the persuasive appeal logos because of the order that they come in. It seems that he sets it up to were he want you to think that he doesn't like technology. Then at the end he changes ideas and talks about the advantages of technology. So Wesch to me isn’t completely saying that he doesn't like technology. But that it can be a distraction when it comes to students learning. Personally I think that it had been a big help to the learning world, but it also is something that’s always has a problem.

To me technology isn’t all that bad it’s a big help sometimes. But then there are other times when I have a problem with it. With technology things are so much faster I'm able to look for research and find it within minutes. There’s no more going to the library and having to walk up and down the aisle looking for a book. You have the internet, most libraries have it set to where I can type in the author and title and it will tell me were the books are. It will give the aisle and the shelf number and I will be done in 15 minutes. The Internet is able to save me time when I need it; it’s reliable and helpful sometimes. But the Internet isn’t something I can put all of my faith in. The Internet tends to be a disappointment when I'm on it also. There’s time when I want to get on but somehow there’s a connection problem. Or when there’s an assignment due and the site that I need to log on is down. It seems like the Internet messes up whenever I'm doing something. It goes down when I'm playing games on my laptop or when I'm surfing the net on Facebook. It tends to mess up when I'm in the middle of an assignment or almost done with a problem and it doesn’t save it so I have to do it over. I had to learn to save my work in two separate places because of technology problems. I typed a full paper up and didn’t put it on word and the website that it was saved on had deleted everything. Technology has helped me do a lot of things but I have problems with it also. But technology wasn't the only problem in the Wesch video.

The video talked about some of the different distractions that are in class because of technology. There were parts in the video were a student said that she face books through most of her class. Then another student said that she brings her laptop to class but isn't working on class stuff. To me what that meant was that sometimes technology can cause a problem in class and it is making it hard for some students to pay attention to things they don't like. But you can't put everything on technology because the students are just trying to find something that interest them and the laptop is the only thing there. If a student didn't have a laptop but had a notebook they would probably make drawing or something if they weren't interested in the class. Other problems were pointed out in the video also. Another problem that was pointed out in the video was that once you're in college it seems that students have a lot more to do than they did before. In the video the 200 students took averages of everything they did in one day. Students in the Wesch film said that they get 7 hours of sleep each night, spend 1 1⁄2 watching TV each night, and spend 3 1⁄2 hours a day on line. Students also said they listen to music 2.5 hours a day, 2 hours on their cell phone, and 3 hours in class. Also they said that they spend 2 hours eating, 2 hours working and study 3 hours a day. The students averages came out to be 26.5 hours a day that they spend doing things. But that’s impossible because there are only 24 hours in a day. What this mean is once your college you have a lot on your plate. If you want to be able to do all of the extra activities that you want then you have to multi-task. That's what one student said was I multi task, but I have to. Since you have all this stuff to do you must do it all and be able to get it done because that what comes with college is a lot responsibilities.

The Persuasive appeal Ethos is the appeal of one character. Wesch used the students so that we could relate to them. He knew that if the facts, percentages, and problems came from student that other students would be able to know how one feels. Since he is an anthropology teacher he has the education to back up what he is saying also. At the begging of the video it says that 200 hundred students made 367 edits to a document, and surveyed themselves. What this is letting you know was that almost everything that was in the video came from the students surveying themselves. It was all things that a college student goes through. Wesch knew that if he tried to come up with facts of his on or tried to talk about student’s problem him self than it might not work. But if he got the students to tell about all of their problem then or students would relate better that way. Another problem that most college students face and have a hard time getting out of is money.

In the Wesch video there were a lot of students who had money problems or who talked about money. One student said that the laptop he has cost more than some people some people make in a year. Another student said that she would be 20,000 dollars in debt once she graduates. Then another student after that said I'm one of the lucky ones. What I got out of this was that on an average there are some students who get scholarships and don't have to worry about tuition. But most students aren't that lucky they have to worry about making the loans and also making the grades. I’m guessing that sometimes it’s hard to have to go to work and then go study. But if a student is one of the unlucky ones then they have to be prepared to do more stuff. The student must be able to deal with all the pressure that they have. This could be related to the persuasive appeal of pathos the appeal to emotions. It seems that Wesch might have been trying to make someone feel sad for students who don't have a scholarship. That he was trying to make the person or people watching the movie have a little sympathy for someone who has to work and worry about paying for loans and other things. But some things that were brought up in the video I wouldn't know about because I haven't been in college that long.

Most of the video was about student and their college life. But since I have only been in school for a month I wouldn't know about some of those experiences. A student in the video said that her average class size is 115. Another student said 18% of her teachers know her name. But for me in summer school classes aren't that big and since I have only two classes then it’s easy for my teachers to know my name. But a thing that I could relate to be when a student said that they pay for books that they never use and I have already ran into that problem. For example my math class we had to buy this book, but all of our homework and our test and quizzes are all on line. So we have yet to use the book to do homework or anything. The only purpose that is has served to me was to get a code out of it so I could get online and do our work. But no matter if the teacher knows your name or not you have to pay attention in class and learn something.

To me college isn't only about your professor teaching you what they know but what you can teach yourself also. Cultural literacy to me is having the knowledge and the ability to know the history of a certain subject and be able to talk about it. If you have the background of your topic then you can have a conversation with someone and express your opinion to them while they express there’s. In college you must have cultural competence, you must be able to learn about different cultures be able to interact with people of a different culture. The University I feel will do a good job at providing me with cultural literacy and cultural competence. Since I have only been here for a month and some weeks I haven't had the chance to experience the entire thing the university has to offer. But I feel it will do well since it so diverse. The courses are challenging and it's not easy. I feel like the University is a good place to learn and gain cultural literacy and cultural competence. But in general college is a good place for that because it’s so diverse that you don't know what friends you are going to make or who you’re going to meet.

For me to get information about other student’s summer class I had to go ask around my dorm. I just went to people that I knew that were in the STP program and the TAP program. I asked them question about the class about computers and that was it. After surveying students in the dorm I live in I found out that most students in the different summer program are not provided with computer in their class for their every student. That can cause a problem with some students. Both of my summer school classes have computers for every student in the class to use. I feel that for the most part that for the summer MU does a good job with giving the students technology. There is wireless Internet through out most of the campus for student to use. The University has Tiger tech for when if something happens to your computer or laptop you can go get it fixed. At tiger tech you can also go buy a laptop for yourself if you need one. There are computer labs on campus were you could go and use the computer to do your work. You can go to the library and check out a laptop for your self so you so you don't have to go to the computer lab.

Some things that the university might fall short of are providing all students with are some kind of laptop. Another thing the campus can do is a supply gadget so they are better prepared for school. After some of my research I found out that not all students came to the university with a laptop. Some students weren’t able to buy one so they have to rely of the university for computers. So in the future if students were provided with laptops that might make them feel better about attending the University. There are other issues that have come up.

Another issue that might be useful is not having the summer math course in the tap program all online. Once you start to get into the school year your advanced math classes are not going to be online. For some students making that change might be a little different because you are used to what you had been doing in the summer class. That change that you as a student have to go through might not be a good thing for some students. With having that summer class you might think that it going to always be like that. As you have to change it might make the class a little harder because what you have had in the past. It's not a bad thing that the summer class is online. But it's that it might make it a little difficult for some students. To me I feel that all of it shouldn't be online so the student want have to worry about that change. I don't mind that the University gives me or another student computers in the class for every student. But I do feel that this can be a disadvantage to some people. If in summer school I have a computer in every class then I might get too used to that. Once the fall starts I might be a little lost to begin with because I was always provided with a computer so I never brought mine. Or as a summer student I never bought one because I figured that the university was going to provide the students with computers in every class.

The Michael Wesch film was very different for me but informational also. To me it answered some question that a new student might have when entering college. It was able to show students who have never been to college how it might be at a university that they decide to go to. The film helped me also. It let me know that I wasn’t alone in some of the problems that I was having while attending summer school. To me I think that this film matters to all college students and high school students who are thinking about going to college. I don’t believe the film is a bad film it doesn’t tell teenagers who are not in college all the trouble they could have and not to come. I feel that it helps out incoming freshman, that it gives them a head up on college. If I would have watched the film before going to summer school then I would have been more aware of the situation I was getting into. I would have been more aware of the things that could and would happen to me. So overall the film was learning experience I got a lot out of it. Watching it made me think of some of the problems that might come up in the fall. How I can start thinking about how to deal with them now instead of waiting on the problem to grow.

Wesch, Michael. "A Vision of Students Today." Youtube. 12 Oct. 2007. Kansas State University. 25 July 2008 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o>.

"Cultural Competence." Wikipedia. 25 July 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_competence>.