Is college Education for everyone - Essay Example

?Is College Education for Everyone? A Critical Review of “In the Basement of the Ivory Tower” Introduction “In the Basement of the Ivory Tower” is a lamentation discourse of a college professor about students enrolled in the university but who are not academically prepared to take on such intellectual work. His sadness stems from his observation that most of these students who are enrolled in night school are in school not for the main purpose of achieving true academic excellence but merely to pass the course as a requirement for promotion, for salary upgrade or position reclassification. The purpose of this critical review is to analyse the author’s writing style and examine his idea development and flow as these elements impact on readers. Part of this analysis and examination is finding what the author really wants to achieve in his article and to determine whether he was successful in achieving that goal in the end. It is hoped that the critique could help enrich the literature on the subject of style and at the same time, provide some incisive commentary on the all-important substance of his article which is the relevance of college education. The Problem at the Basement Early in the article, the reader is treated to a picturesque description of the typical university campuses, where presumably the author teaches, as a way of introducing the subject matter of his discourse. It would not be too long for the reader to know that he is talking about working students in evening school. It would initially seem to this reader that all is well in the campus setting until he gets a subtle warning that “beneath the surface” is a problem that is causing “frustrations and bad feelings” about students “who are in over their heads.” At this point, the reader would seem to be cued back to the article’s title “In the Basement of the Ivory Tower” and would develop a feeling that something is wrong in the “basement.” It is of course known that the term “Ivory Tower” figuratively refers to a sheltered institution such as a university of higher education. This reader thinks that such a development in the content is brilliant as it cultivates and sustains reader interest. The author proceeds to describe what the problem is all about by using his course subjects English 101 and English 102 as anchor and the imperative need for students to pass these subject as a prerequisite for course completion. It is apparent that the requirement to successfully hurdle these two subjects is the seed of the author’s lamentations, after discovering that these students enrolled in night school are not academically prepared to pass the subjects. To prove his point, the author narrates incidents to justify his slapping of grades F (for Fail) to majority of his students. The author makes a beautiful exchange of his conversations with a specific student, Ms L, who would get an F and how and why she got it. Of course, the author is very persuasive, as he provides proof for his giving out a failing grade. At the same time, he attempts to involve his readers in his own dilemma, or even guilt, arising from his decision to fail his students who come to school in the evening because they are working during the day and are therefore physically spent and run down to do extended mental work. He then shares his ambivalent feelings of whether to be compassionate and give them all a passing mark or to keep his school’s standard of academic excellence. As if to provide a parallel ending to his opening, the author ends his discourse in the same lamenting posture, leaving the reader in an emotional suspension without seeing a resolution to the problem he has presented. As a critical commentary, this reader believes that perhaps the author should have proposed a few recommendations on what to do, given the problem he presented. Or would that have been his real intention, to put the reader in a state of search for the solution or solutions? This reader would have wanted some relief coming from the author. For example, rather than just say “they are not ready for high school, some of them, much less for college,” he could have suggested a strong curriculum on English in high school, or perhaps, a stricter screening at the admissions prior to university entry, or perhaps a more thorough monitoring of passing-failing percentages at the faculty level. The Author’s Writing Style The author has an admirable way with words, and uses figures of speech frequently (“intellectually ambitious scarecrow,” “like a modern Coriolanus,” “basement of the ivory tower”). His words are abundantly visual, very rich and descriptive (“physically lovely,” “sweeping quads,” “deficit,” “flummoxed,” “zeitgeist”). He also uses dialogue substantially, as in his conversations with Ms L. His prose is both serious and literary, as if attempting to strike a one-on-one conversation with the reader. The paragraphs are not too long nor too short, just long enough to sustain and keep the reader glued. His use of his penname Professor X adds some mystery to the work. Conclusion In the end, one gets to empathize with the author with his lamentations. This reader feels what the author feels in words, being a student in a university: the frustration in having no choice but to fail and not to compromise the standards of excellence of the school in favor of charity. The dialogue with Ms L is a very brilliant method of depicting feelings without the author describing them himself. The words assume life and take the reader to a better appreciation of the feelings generated. This reader thinks that the author’s objective is simply to make an expression known and felt, and to this reader’s mind, such an objective has been achieved with flying colors. In fact, this reader thinks that had the author called for action, he could still pull it out convincingly. But perhaps, the author truly just aimed to keep his adventure in writing up to that point, express sadness, pose rhetorical issues, and leave the audience to pick up for the rest of the journey. 30 - Read More