Last Blog. For Reals.

Jessica Biel Wayne's World

In the English 103 course goals, it is stated that upon completion of English 103 students will be able to take responsibility for their own progress. In the transition from high school to college, I believe responsibility is the most crucial step to success in this new world. Elbert Hubbard said, “You can lead a boy to college, but you can’t make him think.” With college comes freedom and with freedom comes responsibility. In English 103, the choice was ours. Professor McArdle was not there to spoon-feed us. We knew what was required of us and it was up to us how we would handle the situation. All the resources we needed were laid out in front of us. This class has showed me that the grade I receive is what I earned. At some point I must take credit and accept the consequences, good or bad. I am sure this value of responsibility will linger throughout my college career.

Another part of the English 103 course goals states that upon completion of English 103 students will be able to understand how persuasive visual and verbal texts are composed for different audiences and different purposes. If there is one thing I have learned from this course, it’s audience recognition. From day one McArdle stressed the importance of to whom you are speaking. The way I write is impacted enormously by the audience I am addressing. However, I am no slave to my audience. I do not let the audience control me. Also, now I feel I am better at dissembling and analyzing the arguments of others. I can look deeper into what others are saying and uncover the rhetorical and truthful meaning behind it. Being able to analyze others’ arguments helps me analyze my own. It helps me build a better argument.

One of my favorite things I learned from this course is to speak with authority. This wasn’t an official part of the course goals, but I believe it should be. The video we viewed in class really opened my eyes to how broad and unclear people speak and debate. I have learned that when I am trying to advance my argument, I need to be clear and concise. When I see something on a commercial, the Internet, in a paper, or in any other form of text, I can call their b.s. because I can analyze what they are saying. I can see past their public relations face to what they are really saying.

Throughout this course I’ve learned a lot about writing, but I’ve learned about a lot more than writing. I’ve learned a new way of thinking. This class is more what I expected of college. In my other classes I feel like I’m back in high school. College is supposed to teach us about more than facts and rules…or so I thought! I hope that more of my classes in the future are like this. I suppose that once I get out of some of these core classes and start focusing on my major college will start being more intuitive.