Reflection The Lonely, Good Company of Books

A Custom that all the Resseguie children have had including me is singing. Since Both my parents are music teachers we kind of had no choice singing in the church choir or the chorales at our school. Another custom I was born to was my faith. Since my father is also the choir director at First Presbyterian we had to sing in his choir when we were old enough and attend church every sunday. Another tradition that I share with my family is sports. My father is a huge football fan and played all kinds of sports growing up. Another custom my parents and I share is loving the cold weather. My dad grew up in northern Iowa where it snows all the time starting from October all to sometimes March. So I just grew up loving the winter.

Quotes from "Where College Fails Us"

Bird states "The unhappiness and disconnect of young people is nothing new, and problems of adolescence  are always painfully intense" (196).

"If the young man went to a public college rather than Princeton the investment would be lower" (Bird 201).

Bird says "Young people cannot go to college for the good of mankind" (202).

Reflection of Task Three

For my task three essay I am using Caroline Bird's essay " Why college fails us". Although Bird makes great points in her essay, I will use quotes from her essay to mostly show how she is wrong in some cases by using facts and experiences from my life and  my family's. If there has been one thing I have learned in my education experiences from Kindergarten to now, it is that education is the most efficient tool to find a field of study you love, get paid for it, and make a career out of it. Bird is right when she talks about how college is not the right path for people especially for students just graduating high school. But I think if you take the proper steps to grow up, mature and treat college more like a job, then you will see that college is the easiest and efficient way to be successful. In a way college shows you the reality of living on your own. It gradually forces you to deal with the reality and in return you become more responsible from this. In return you grow as a person and know how to deal with real life situations when they are brought to your attention. I do understand why some people cannot attend college right out of high school whether it be because of pregnancy, family issues, or just not being able to afford it. In the long run if people start to understand the importance of college and how it really is a gateway to having a successful future, people will, more people will attend college.

Response to Task Three Question

I think our education system for the most part overall is effective. Could it be better in certain areas? absolutely. I think for the student that attends most suburban schools or huge public schools, the education will be good and will prepare you for in college. That doesn't count the poor or inner city schools who struggle to get the books they need just to teach a certain class and cover certain material. You also have to take into consideration how teachers all teach differently and schools have different expectations and different agendas. It's very important for schools to keep up with the technology so we are familiar with it and understand. This will help us be able to come up with new technology faster if no one falls behind. I don't think we should add or take away any years of schooling. It's already predicted that the older we get it will take more years of schooling just to compete for a job. taking away schooling such as middle school for example can only hurt our education system. Everybody knows how there early teen years are the worst because of hormones and kids developing at different rates and figuring out who they are. At least I know how I was in junior high and I definitely needed those years to develop and get prepared for high school. But for the most part as far as I can see at least my education has been effective for me and no huge changes should be added to our education system.

Response to Where College fails us

My experiences for the most part have been good, although there are some classes that I will have to take that I will just need to ride out or survive which i'm not looking forward to. But for the most part I can tell right away how much knowledge I am gaining rather than if I didn't attend college. Some of the important reasons why i'm attending college is for one, I didn't really have a choice considering I was pressured by my parents, two, I want to be a pharmacist, and in order to do that I have to go through college. My last reason would be to be able to make enough money to provide for my future family and I think college is the most efficient way to do that. To be honest I really wont know if all this time, effort, and expences will pay off until after I have graduated and have seen where myself has ended up. But I think I wont have any worries and me attending college will be worth it in the long run.

Self evaluation for task two

My thesis for my paper is how my father still succeeded even though he had a knee injury during his football season and how his ideal path was a football player changed to being a choir teacher. the main points I make in the paper is my dad growing up without a father, how he was a high school football player, how his knee injury effected him, how he overcame his injury and turned to choir, his success and love for choir. Good advice I recieved from my peer was to not have so many run on sentences. The most important information I received in class was to have supporting details to support my thesis. I typed my draft the day after i wrote the interview responses on paper. I wrote three drafts with an outline that Ms. Chastain helped me with. In my paper I probably added an extra main point that I didn't need that made my paper longer. I'm most pleased with my detail and description of my events about this paper.

Response to Becoming Educated

My early thoughts on what college would be like are, the classes would be a lot harder and would have to put more effort in the class to get a good grade. Another thought was that the teacher's would cover a lot more material faster. Reality was, The classes are as hard as you make them to be, and yes, they do cover a lot more material in a shortened amount of time. Chemistry for example is kind of like Jordan's law school for me. I have to read a lot more than usual and I can't bull shit my way out of any discussion we talk about because the professor and other students would know more about the subject and force you to back up your answers.

Interview Reflection

Interviewing my dad was a lot more fun and interesting than I thought it would be. I learned information about him I never knew and couldn't help but to crack a smile during his stories and experiences. I conducted my interview over the phone. The most thing I learned about my dad was that he was engaged first before he even met my mom and that he had to quit school for a couple years to raise my oldest brother while my mom was finishing up school. I intend to have a thesis and tell his story with my own words. My concern with my paper is if my thesis can make since and tie in with my story. To overcome this I plan to write my conclusion first so it will make writing my story easier.

Respond to Task Two

My top person that I would like to interview is my father. I'm interested because he had interesting events and that changed his path drastically of what he wanted to do in college. He is unique to me because he is the only one out of his family that finished college. I would ask what made him choose the career he has, how long did it take for him to graduate, did he have any other degrees, who influenced him to make him choose that career. Putting a thesis and making the paper flow would be my problems that i fear the most. I anticipate interviewing my dad because I get to listen to his stories of his education experience. I have no questions.

Self Evaluation

Self-Evaluation

What is the thesis for your paper? Answer: My thesis for my paper was who my role model was and his significance to me.

List the main points you make in your paper. Answer: A short Biography about my role model, some of the morals he lived by, what type of person he was and what i learned from him.

What was the most helpful advice you received from your peer evaluation? Answer: I didn't get a chance to have it peer edited.

What was the most helpful information you received in class for your paper? Answer: To make sure my main points backed up my thesis.

How many drafts of this paper do you think you wrote and how/when did you write them? For example, did you compose at the keyboard, did you write lots of notes to yourself, did you pre-write or outline, did you write in small chunks of time or sit down and produce an entire draft at one sitting? Answer: I wrote a total of 3 drafts and did no preparation because i knew enough about my topic.

What would you do differently with this paper to make it more effectively, or what did you try to do that you just don’t think you got a good handle on? Answer: i don't think i did a good enough job on giving good detail and elaborating on who Walter Payton was as a person.

What are most pleased with about this paper? Answer: showing how having a role model effected my life and my biography about him.

Reflection writing about How it Feels to be colored me

     It's hard to put labels on myself but, if i had to I would put an athlete as my main label considering the whole reason why I came to Missouri Western was play football besides getting an education. Another label I would put on my self is i guess a white boy. I am white and have been called that by my black friends. I can't really put anymore labels on myself because i don't lake to label people. There is no label or word to be able to describe who I am as a person or what I am into simply because there is so many.
     Hurston Mentions in the essay how sometimes her color sticks out in certain places or at certain events when she is with a white friend but, when she is back in the society around her she can't notice her color. I feel the same way in some circumstances. For example, if I were to go to a rap concert to see a famous rapper. My color would stick out because most rap comes from the african american race, therefore I would be surrounded by African americans and my "Whiteness would come out". Or it could be the other way around, such as, if an African American were to go to a Garth Brooks concert. It would be the same feeling for them as if I went to a rap concert.

Response Question to Rite of Passage

     My grandmother Loree was the greatest grandmother anyone could ever have. She had the biggest impact of my life out of all my grandparents. She was my fathers mother. My dad grew up with an older brother, sister and younger sister. my fathers dad was around to help raise him to say the least. He was an alcoholic and no one ever knew where he was when he was gone. So he put it up to my grandma to raise these four kids. And she did this and more. Working two jobs and double shifts around the little town of Spencer, Iowa, she managed to give her kids everything they needed and more while raising them to the best of her ability.
     From the moment my siblings and I were born, she was there being the best grandmother she could be. whether it be babysitting, changing dippers, telling us stories, making sure me and my brother weren't torturing our sister too much, or just being there general because she wanted to be a big part of our lives growing. And for that I will always cherish and hold close to my heart. One of the memories I have spending time with my grandma was on a weekend. My dad had drove me down to her house because I wanted to stay with her a couple of days. We did everything and anything I wanted. She spoiled me at the very least even though she couldn't afford it. My grandmother isn't with us anymore physically but I know she is watching very closely and is very proud of her favorite grand kids.

Respond to Ideas of Task One

The first ideas that come to mind when coming up for ideas for writing task one are the following:

• My parents divorce
• My role model growing up as a kid  
• My twin brother and the effect he has on my life
• My favorite vacation( Colorado)
• My favorite dog i have ever had 

The reason why these ideas stick to me the most is because i remember them the most vividly, therefore, can elaborate the most on. Some of the problems I may encounter for this paper is peer editing and making sure all my drafts have all the corrections that need to be corrected before i turn the final copy in. The thing i anticipate the most for this assignment is just being able to go back on these and kind of relive them through my writing and being able to share that with other people.

Letter of Introduction

     My name is Kirk Resseguie. I am a student at Missouri Western and representing the Griffons by playing football. Lawrence Kansas home of the Jayhawks, is my hometown and I attended Lawrence Free State High school. I have always enjoyed living in a college town my whole life. I have always been involved in all kinds of sports since i could walk. I have a twin brother who looks nothing like me and is attending Kansas University.
     My writing experiences from when i was a little kid to now have been great. I can honestly say i really enjoy to write essays and stories for classes ( as long as it's a topic I enjoy writing about). I am passionate in the way i write things and influence a lot of emotion into into my writings. Reading is a whole different beast for me. I am not a big reader, especially for school. It's not that i don't like to read or have problems reading, but most of the time i am being forced to read something that doesn't interest me. So it is hard for me to stay engaged in the novel i am reading.