Post by oliviamoler on Aug 9, 2011 22:04:12 GMT -5
The article called “The Organization Kid” was definitely a lot to take in and at times, if I am being honest, very confusing to understand. Personally I found the writer, David Brooks, while being very organized with his information, to be too wordy and would sometimes unnecessarily repeat his information to the reader.
My understanding of his article was that after interviewing several young men and women from various colleges around the nation, he found that while they are very bright, hopeful, and confident, they lack the enthusiasm and spark that their college predecessors had when they were in school. According to the article students today feel that “sometimes we feel like we're just tools for processing information. That's what we call ourselves—power tools.” Everyday is planned out to the minute and every event, meeting, or activity that they are a part of helps to enrich and develop some kind of skill that will help them in their future goals. These students’ have become so busy that they have gone so far as to have to schedule time to simply talk to their friends! "I just had an appointment with my best friend at seven this morning," one woman said. "Or else you lose touch." Wow! As college is creeping closer and closer for all of us in the senior class, that certain aspect scares me! I hope that I never become so busy that I’ll have to “schedule” times to make and keep friends!
Another thought that came to mind when I was reading this article was the word “American dream robots”. All of the interviews that Brooks had with the students’ and the observations that he made all pointed to a mass production of people that will do everything they can to become another person living the “American dream” unfortunately along the way, they have also lost that zeal and sense of risk by thinking outside of the lines and perhaps even at times, ruffling some feathers. “They're not trying to buck the system; they're trying to climb it, and they are streamlined for ascent. Hence they are not a disputatious group.”
In my opinion, these college students’ are becoming so busy with the ways of achieving in the academic sense that they are slowly neglecting their emotional and social interaction needs. Like the article “The End of Solitude” the technology age has definitely brought its benefits as well as its pit-falls, that being the diminishment of person-to-person social interaction. With the technology available today, combined with the incredibly hectic schedules students’ face, the importance of interacting with others in a relaxed, fun environment has fallen to the wayside and has been replaced with scheduled hangouts, text messages, and “liked” statuses. "People don't have time or energy to put into real relationships." Personally, if you are only striving for that “American dream” and will sacrifice anything or anyone to get to where you are trying to go, in the end if you don’t have anyone to share or celebrate it with, is it really worth it?
My understanding of his article was that after interviewing several young men and women from various colleges around the nation, he found that while they are very bright, hopeful, and confident, they lack the enthusiasm and spark that their college predecessors had when they were in school. According to the article students today feel that “sometimes we feel like we're just tools for processing information. That's what we call ourselves—power tools.” Everyday is planned out to the minute and every event, meeting, or activity that they are a part of helps to enrich and develop some kind of skill that will help them in their future goals. These students’ have become so busy that they have gone so far as to have to schedule time to simply talk to their friends! "I just had an appointment with my best friend at seven this morning," one woman said. "Or else you lose touch." Wow! As college is creeping closer and closer for all of us in the senior class, that certain aspect scares me! I hope that I never become so busy that I’ll have to “schedule” times to make and keep friends!
Another thought that came to mind when I was reading this article was the word “American dream robots”. All of the interviews that Brooks had with the students’ and the observations that he made all pointed to a mass production of people that will do everything they can to become another person living the “American dream” unfortunately along the way, they have also lost that zeal and sense of risk by thinking outside of the lines and perhaps even at times, ruffling some feathers. “They're not trying to buck the system; they're trying to climb it, and they are streamlined for ascent. Hence they are not a disputatious group.”
In my opinion, these college students’ are becoming so busy with the ways of achieving in the academic sense that they are slowly neglecting their emotional and social interaction needs. Like the article “The End of Solitude” the technology age has definitely brought its benefits as well as its pit-falls, that being the diminishment of person-to-person social interaction. With the technology available today, combined with the incredibly hectic schedules students’ face, the importance of interacting with others in a relaxed, fun environment has fallen to the wayside and has been replaced with scheduled hangouts, text messages, and “liked” statuses. "People don't have time or energy to put into real relationships." Personally, if you are only striving for that “American dream” and will sacrifice anything or anyone to get to where you are trying to go, in the end if you don’t have anyone to share or celebrate it with, is it really worth it?