Sunday, September 6, 2015

Exploration Three: Literacy Events and Oppposing Issues - Nick Reed

 A literacy event that taught me a certain skill was when I had been first assigned to do textbook readings in the 8th grade. Reading the information and taking notes was completely up to me and how much I actually took from the readings was completely up to me as well, making it different from the usual classroom teachings and note taking. Needless to say, I didn't read the textbook at all, and failed a pop-quiz that was given to the entire class the next day. This event taught me to take textbook information seriously and was the start for me to understand how to teach myself effectively, especially from informative text.

In the reading, issues of policy were described as questions about what we should do when writing, and how we should implement our aims when writing. Should we take a moral approach? Perhaps a strict factual approach to speaking your mind on an idea. What rhetorical approach would state your opinion in the most efficient way? Argumentative? Persuasive? See that's the thing about issues of policy. There is not right way to write about them because they are all matters of opinion.


A state or issue that is becoming more and more important as I get older is the increase in needs for specialized or educated persons to pursue career paths. It makes sense if you think about it. The learned individual can theoretically be more productive and efficient than an unlearned individual, especially if the learned individual has a specialization in the field that they're employed in. However, this also means that the average individual will have to pay extra money for tuition or certain classes out of pocket, that would allow them to be a considered thought in the super competitive labor market. Those who can't afford schooling are now a step down compared to their competition in their shared field. However, the learned individual could still not obtain a job immediately. According to a study written by Newsweek, the employment rate for young graduates was the worst around the ages of 21 to 25, with the employment rate for that segment falling from 84 percent in 2000 to 72 percent in 2012”. This might not seem so bad at first, but the employment rate for these graduates is dropping drastically at 1 percent per year. If this pattern were to continue, by the time we all graduate, that percent would drop to around 65 percent. By the time we turn 25-26 and are out of graduate school (if we choose to pursue that path) then that number will drop to nearly 62-61 percent. Now that's a scary number.

2 comments:

  1. It seems like when it comes to getting a job now a days it all depends on how much money you spent on your education. If you don't go to college then it seems that you have a one in a million shot to become educated. So i guess it comes down to is the debt that you will have worth it in the long run? I personally believe it is worth it.

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  2. Your position on the employment rate really caught my attention. I plan on going to graduate school, so if your information you provided is correct and the employment rate is decreasing that quickly, I'm in trouble. 63% is a dangerous number and I don't think I'm prepared to be thrown into the country after graduating from college with an employment rate that low. That motivates me to work hard and be competitive in school because obviously people will be fighting for jobs with an employment rate that low right out of college, we all have student loans to pay!
    I think we as students, the group being most affected by the low employment rates should not ignore this problem, 63% is a REALLY low rate. I don't know how, but with guidance we should definitely do everything we can to fix this and find the jobs for us.

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