Essay, Research Paper: SOCKO

In "On the Uses of a Liberal Education: As Lite Enterainment for Bored College Students", Mark Edmundson argues that college students do not take humanity classes seriously. Rather, they see these classes as a form of entertainment, when they should see the classes as a challenge. Edmundson also suggests that students lack motivation and seem to "sleep walk" through classes. The two main reasons for this lack of respect for the humanities according to Edmundson, are the consumer culture in which we live and the colleges themselves.
Colleges play a big role in this problem, according to Edmundson. Rather than focusing on improving the educational sections of a college, colleges now seem to spend a great deal of money and time on the living conditions of the college. Edmundson suggests that in order to attract future students they have to have many activities and functions to do while not in class such as fraternities, sororities, sports, clubs, and recreation activities. According to Edmundson, too much money is going into these activities and most colleges are turning into country clubs rather than a place of higher education.
Due to a decline in the interest in the humanities, many college humanities classes have eased up on students. This angers Edmundson because he believes humanities are just as important as the sciences. Humanities have softened their grading scale and have relaxed major requirements. Now a student is total control of his or class. If a student does not like a class he or she can drop it or take it pass/fail or even withdrawal and pretend they never took it to begin with. Edmundson believes that colleges cater to students too much. A college student is no longer thought of as a student anymore by colleges but rather a consumer. Colleges no longer give a students what they need but rather than what they want.
The biggest reason for the lack of respect toward humanities according to Edmundson is the student's environment in which they grew up. In such a consumer culture, it seems to be more important to blend in then to express your own views and thoughts. Edmundson says that most of his students are low key, melancholy, and very unenthusiastic. Through out his classes, Edmundson observes his students to be "sleep walking" through classes, unable to take criticism and to have very little passion to learn. However, Edmundson does not blame the students themselves for their current state; the blame should be put on our culture itself according to Edmundson. Television, political correctness, and advertising have made students the way they are.
In this essay, Edmundson is trying to make his readers realize that colleges are no longer just a place of learning, but rather a business and somewhat a country club to students. Edmundson points out from personal experience that he is also seeing a decrease in the quality of students. He suggests that colleges should get rid of sports and fraternities and go back to the times when it was a place of higher learning and when colleges were not as commercialized as they are now.
This essay was not intended to be read by the average Joe. I myself had to read it a couple of times to fully understand what Edmundson was trying to say. In fact after the first time I read it, I felt that Edmundson was full of himself and could not come to such a conclusion, but after reading it again I realized that I agreed with him somewhat. One problem was the use of unfamiliar words such as progeny or exigencies. Also, he tended to use terms and quotes I was unfamiliar with and did not give much explanation to them such as, "dreary Sargasso Sea" and a quote from Oscar Wilde. Also, I don't think he had enough personal experiences in his essay, and some of the experiences he did use were useless. For example, the time when he asked his class who their heroes were, and he became upset because very few of them mentioned philosophers or authors. I did not see how that tied into his theme. If he could have had more personal experiences that had to do with his theme, then his paper would have been much stronger. One good aspect of his article was that he gave solutions to correct the problem. It is one thing to complain about something, but it is another to have ideas and thoughts on how to fix it. I think that this is a good paper if the person reading it has a strong educational background and can interpret what Edmundson is trying to say, which is most likely, because this essay was published in Harper's Magazine. Harper's Magazine has an audience mostly comprised of upper middle class and upper class readers most of which, have had a great deal of education. However, if Edmundson's target audience was anyone else then this becomes a weak paper because his writing style is better suited to people with a good amount of eduction.