Life is journey

As someone born and raised in Vietnam, my parents have always pushed me to attend university. Having attended university is considered a necessary prestige according to eastern societies.

The common misconception is that an education in a university grants a person a higher educational value. While this idea may be true to some extent when it comes to certain specific disciplines like medicine, law, chemistry and others which require extended amount of knowledge and skills to be built over a large period of time. However, nowadays, university offers so many degree and fields that don’t actually merit a 4 years education. The main reason for pursuing higher education for most people is to get a job. However, an university main duty is the development of academia, meaning that university students are taught theories to help them conduct researches. Its original goal isn’t to help place students in jobs but rather to expand knowledge through studies and research. University plays an important role in our society because that is where most scientific advancements are created, through extensive studies and research. Nevertheless, the reality is that at its core, university is specifically designed to foster researchers by focusing on the teaching of theories and large concepts. It is completely unsuitable for those who seek specific skills and education that can prepare them for a particular job. In a sense, there shouldn’t even be a comparison between colleges and universities in the first place because an university is built for research and a college is for job placement (excluding research jobs). However, universities are now marketed as a place to help students secure employments because that is what the general populace looks for and where there is more money to make. I have studied for 4 years in university and is currently attending college, and I can clearly see the difference in the education that I have received. College offers industry specific knowledges and skills that are directly applicable to the job, while in university, most of the courses that are taught are hardly used in the job.

As such, I can confidently recommend that if you are look to be proficient in a specific job, then college is a much better choice than university, both in term of tuition level and quality of education.

I have chosen the above topic for my essay because as a student, I can deeply relate with the subject and present more comprehensive arguments. First off, I must declare that I am a firm believer of free education. It is not because I would financially beneficial for me. I look at this proposal solely from an ethical, economical and societal point of view. Before having a discussion about the ethic of free education, we must first be able to agree on the ethicality of equity. Equity means to have equal amount of opportunity, which people sometime purposefully or accidentally confuse with equality of outcome.

For me, giving everyone to have the same chances is the right thing to do, since it allows for actual people with merits and skills to contribute to society. Free education is the foundation of equity, because depriving people of education based on their parents’ financial capability and not their academic achievements is both illogical and immoral in a modern society. Since everyone are born equal than at the very least, education should be a right and not a privilege. From an economic and social view, free education is undoubtedly a boon to the development of society. We can consider free educational system to be a wider net to catch talented individual than our current tuition-based system.

Theoretically speaking, free education will generate the most skilled workers and increase the probability of exceptional individual appearing in our world. People like Einstein, Steven Hawking or Thomas Edison are all rarities that fundamentally drive the progress of our world. However, they can only do so because they have education as their base and they were able to build on it to achieve incredible achievements later on in life. One can imagine the detrimental impacts to our society if anyone of them didn’t receive an education and go unnoticed and unrecognized.

Among those who are currently deprived of education due to financial limits, there are bound to be those with as much if not greater capabilities and potentials than the previously mentioned figures, but never got the chance to unlock them with education. Free education will at least allow us as a society to not miss out on these individuals and the economical benefits and societal gains that they could bring.

My profile is based on an interview about the life of my boss and his journey as a cook in Canada. When i wrote my first draft, I was pretty satisfied with its quality. There is a clear and coherent flow to the story and I express the key points of the interview as concrete as possible. Nevertheless, since it is still just a first draft, there is bound to be few errors and inconsistences in it. First off, i started with a grammar check, where I found just shy of a dozen error. To improve my profile’s impact and better retain the reader’s attention, I have replace all repeated terms with their synonymes and remove all redundant ideas. To make it easier to read, i have also slightly rearranged my profile to make seperate paragraphs that would give it more structure. I have also further developed my introduction and add a sentimental conclusion that can provide a personal lesson for me and my reader. I am happy with the progress of my profile and for my final draft, I only need to add some more personal commentaries and reflections. The core of my profile is already present and all the information about the subject of my profile has already been delivered. The personal opinions will only be there to add more substance to my writing.

In my opinion, my biggest are of strength in writing is my ability to clearly and fully convey an idea that is can be easily digested by the reader. No matter how complicated a story or a topic is, I can usually find a way to capture its essence and present it in a short and logical flow that can be easily understood by any audience. I think that this ability come from the fact that I always assume an objective view of my literature, to always write while keeping in mind the fact that the reader doesn’t have the information that I have. It is a skill that I have honed over the years working in a business environment, where pitching ideas in meetings is a common occurrence and being able to present a complicated idea in a short, understandable yet alluring manner is a job requirement. While most of my writing process is instinctive, I still follow a few basic guidelines to ensure that my writing remain comprehensible but not dull. For starter, I often open with the bottom line or the conclusion that I want my readers to reach. Having see the goal right out of the gate allows them to better follow my arguments without being lost. On other occasion I don’t reveal the whole ending but would still highlight the main theme. Secondly, I tend to avoid writing long sentences that can confuse the reader. While it is a simple rule to follow, I have to also be aware that although shorter sentences are simpler to grasp, it is also very bland and dull. A longer sentence can add depth and richness that gets the reader interested. As a compromise, I would alternate between long and short sentences to keep the readers on track while still keeping them hooked. Finding the write balance every time can be a major challenge, and it is what I have the most trouble with. I sometime slip and write overly complicated and long sentences stuffed with too many arguments. This is something that I want to improve for my TIB. To do so, I try to imitate some of the writing styles that I read on the opinion piece of the news. They often paint a vivid picture with their story but the reader can always keep track of the facts and arguments presented. If I keep doing so, I feel that my writing can be further developed

I have write countless essays and stories throughout my life and they have help to shape me into a methodical writer. While i don’t believe that every writer has the same approach to writing and rewriting, in my own case, my particular style is closer to the “the builder” who make overdecorated and clustered unfinished houses. For me who rely on flashes of inspirations when writing, i put everything even remotely relevant or interesting that could contribute to my essay and then take some out and reshape them when rewriting. As Beth Shope described:”consider what you have just written as something to be played with, a lump of clay to be molded into a pleasing shape. View every word with suspicion–it looks right, but is it? Rearrange sentences and paragraphs to try out different effects. Give yourself permission to experiment, to make mistakes, to scratch out, to start over, to write yourself into a corner and then backtrack to paint in a door.” I have a similar view of my draft but use a more focused approach. Whenever I come up interesting paragraphs and ideas in my draft, i would choose to rewrite a couple of time for those particular pieces. The final result is a passable essay with some paragraphs that stand out. If there is anything that I can learn and use afterward from this reading, it is this advice from Beth Shope: “So revise whenever you like–and take your time about it. Novel-writing is not something that should be hurried. I once heard a prolific author (who publishes several novels a year) tell a workshop full of novice writers the only way to write well is to write very fast and never stop to look back, getting it all down in one sustained effort, somewhat like laying asphalt. The idea behind that, I believe, is to short-circuit the internal editor so you can write more creatively. That’s fine, if it works for you and if you’re then willing to make revisions with more finesse. For myself, if I write fast, I get pond scum, and I’m not willing to revise an entire novel’s worth of pond scum. Easier for me to do it as I go, immersing myself in the words, stretching, prodding, and rearranging them. Good novels are carefully shaped, like clay on a potter’s wheel. Unlike laying asphalt, this is time-consuming, but it gets far more artistic results.” I have tendency to be impatient and used to believe that when i can come up at the moment when i begin writing is the best that can come up with because the ideas and inspiration would still be fresh. However, in the future, i will try a different approach and contemplate on the topic a bit longer before putting down my draft, take the time to shape and reshape my writing and giving a more careful reading. Shope, B. (2002). True writing is rewriting. In G. Lazette, (Ed.) Vision: A Resource for Writers. Retrieved from Vision@sff.net

“I found the funeral director in the main lobby, adjacent to the reception room. Like most people, I had preconceptions about what an undertaker looked like. Mr. Deaver fulfilled my expectations, entirely. Tall and thin, he even had beady eyes and a bony face. A low, slanted forehead gave way to a beaked nose. His skin, scrubbed of all colour, contrasted sharply with his jet-black hair. He was wearing a starched white shirt, grey pants, and black shoes. Indeed, he looked like death on two leg”, describe Brian Cable. The author was giving the reader a clear mental picture of the funeral director through this passage. The description wasn’t meant to help us picture the appearance of the director, but rather to set the mood and narrative for the rest of the journal. Brian Cable chose to put emphasis on the darker side of the outward appearance and compare him an undertaker and death. Since the profile in question is about a mortuary, the overall tone of the entire piece should be dark and depressing. It is only befitting that the one to lead such a place should be an ominous character, much like a grim reaper. The author, through this descriptive paragraph, was able to further highlight the nature of a mortuary. With the funeral director being linked to death itself, we can assume that the image that the author wants us to have in the back of our mind for the mortuary, is of the underworld.

Cable, B. (2002). The Last Stop. In R. B. Axelrod, & C. R. Cooper, The Concise Guide to Writing (3rd ed., pp. 57-60). New York, NY: Bedford/St. Martin’

80% of communication is non-verbal, which means that a great interviewer needs to be able to extract information from non-verbal elements to be able to grasp the full essence of the interview. With that being said, what kind of information can we get from things that aren’t being said. For starter, non-verbal communication is really abstract, meaning that there isn’t a clear rule on how to fully understand non-verbal signals. In fact, the amount of non-verbal information one can perceive depend mostly on how well-informed the interviewer is about the interviewee. As such, the most important thing to do before an interview is research. As Jory Mackay said, “there a saying in news room that good interviews follow the two P’s: Persistence and Preparation”. For non-verbal communication, the second P is no doubt the more important element. By doing background research about the interviewee, the interviewer can better translate each movement and behavior and derive meanings from them. For example, if a question touches on a sensitive issue or a personal trauma of the interviewee, then this person will act in a perticular manner without actually saying it outloud. A good interviewer can pick up on these non-verbal cues and act accordingly. Each person will have a different reaction depending on his personnality. Learning about it before the interview can help the interviewer anticipate the type of non-verbal communication generated by the interviewee. Another good source of information for the interview comes from the work environment of the interviewee. The work space reflect the personnality and the type of work of a person. Photos and other items which directly tell a story about the interviewees are the most obviouse information source in a work space. However, more subtle details of the work environment can also tell quite a bit about a person. For example, an organized work space is a sign that a person is disciplined and rational. An empty work environment where you can find only the essential things for work can mean that the person is an introvert and reserved individual. By reading the personnality of the interviewee, the interviewer can modify the question in a way that is more well-received, since the way to ask questions change with each type of personnality.

As a student, I am well-familiar with the use of Wikipedia as a source for research. It is a convenient website that encompass a large range of topics. While it is a reliable tool for research, the fact remains that since the content in Wikipedia can be freely altered by anyone at any moment, there is an underlined risk that the information can be distorted and inaccurate. As such, from an academic point of view, professors shouldn’t accept Wikipedia as a reference. However, as I mentionned previously, while Wikipedia shouldn’t be used as a reference, it is still a great source of information despite its glaring flaw of being freely modifiable. Most of the time, the content on the website is correct, since it is regularly updated. There are very few instances where you can catch false information. From a pratical point of view, an individual should he able to trust the information found on this website. Moreover, the content on Wikipedia often comes with its own set of references, that a student can use to fact-check or to use as references for an assignment. From my own experience of using Wikipedia, the principle that “everybody want to do good” when sharing knowledge, according to Sue Gardner is accurate, since I very seldom catch vandals who delibirately spread false information on the website. In conclusion, I believe that since Wikipedia don’t have any hardline system to reinforce the accuracy of its content, it should’nt have any place in an academic paper. Nevertheless, much like capitalism, Wikipedians was able maintain the integrity of Wikpedia contents without the need for heavy regulations or surveillances. Students can still trust Wikipedia to increase their knowledge, so long as they don’t cite Wikipedia in their assignments.

Shitty First Drafts

When writing any essay, I always start by estimating its lengths, in other word, the number of page that I have to reach for it to be consider satisfactory. While quantity doesn’t necessary correlates with quality, this first thought helps me to visualize my writing goal. Having a clear and concrete goal allows me to better persevere when doing such an assignment. After I have an estimate of the number of pages that I need to write by doing a brief research on the topic, I move on to the content of the essay. My standard format for an essay usually consists of 3 sections First off, I start with an introduction to the subject. My first instinct when writing an introduction is to insert a relevant event, either current or historical, to properly show the significance of the essay topic. Afterward, there is the body of the essay, where I write the interesting facts and arguments about the subject. When I write this part, I always divide it into differents sub-paragraphs, each containing an unique idea, fact or argument. While they won’t have the same degree of relevance to the topic, meaning that some will be very significant to the subject while others will only have a slight connection, I always make sure that each sub-paragraph has more or less the same length and have any repetition. Writing this way create an overal balance that makes the reading experience much more pleasant. Finally, I finish with a conclusion that summarizes the main points of the essay and my own personal opinion about the subject, if I haven’t already done so. This 3-steps approach to writing an essay is how I normally do it. I rarely do a draft of the essay either since I feel that it is much easier to go with my creative flow and write as the ideas come. However, I only start writing once I have a plan ready.