Summary of “What is college for?”

Bowen (1986) discussed that students today are concerns more about how can they gain a degree and how much money they can make out of it. Only one quarter of them see college is a place to become a more thoughtful citizen. Carnegie President Ernest L. Boyer, (n.d. as cided in Browen), author of “The Undergraduate Experience in America”, points out that graduates in business studies are more easier to get employment than those from English and literature studies in the past decade. Some schools have dropped English and literature studies and emphasizing business specialties to attract more students and to meet the society needs. Many schools fail to provide quality education, they are becoming "trade schools; trading tuition fees with bachelor’s degree certificates". Undergraduates’ and educators’ qualities are dropping. As solution, Boyer argues that colleges should set the perquisites of the college higher and upgrade language proficiency of the students throughout the years of studies in college. Schools should emphasize on the whole development of the students especially on the mental development of students. Thus everyone will equip with essential common & professional knowledge. He also pointed out that the quality of the teachers also must be raise to bridge the gap between secondary and higher education.

Source Citation:

Bowen, E. (Nov 10, 1986). "What is college for? Careers, say students; learning, argues a major new study." Time, v128. p96(1). Retrieved Sept 21, 2007, from http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC_Documents&type=retrie
ve&tabID=T003&prodId=OVRC&docId=A4501805&source=gale&srcprod=OVRC&user
GroupName=nusself&version=1.0

Review of “Elizabethtown”

Picture form http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368709/posters

Overview

· Director, Writer, Producer - Cameron Crowe (From the director of Jerry Maguire (1996) and Almost Famous (2000))
· Producers - Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner
· Editor - David Moritz
· Original Music - Nancy Wilson
· Starring - Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon and Alec Baldwin
· Release date - November 2005

Story (from the dvd's cover)

Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom), once a rising star at a leading athletic shoe company, has just been fired due to the overwhelming failure of his design for a sneaker and $972 million loss his company suffered because of the fiasco. As if that wasn't bad enough, things get even worse: Drew receives a phone call informing him that his father has passed away--and now, he must get on a plane for Elizabethtown, Kentucky, to retrieve his father's remains.

On the plane ride, Drew meets Claire (Kirsten Dunst), a flight attendant and unstoppably positive woman who changes the course of his life. It is in Kentucky that Drew comes to learn the breadth of his father's life and his own family roots. Drew, with the help of Claire, submits to discovering the possibilities for his own destiny.

My review

This movie tells a heart-warming love story, touching father, family and relatives relationship and motivating life story. It is similar to most of the romance movies which always have happy endings, thought, it is more than that. It is about life and living it happily.

The story start form Drew Baylor’s lowest point of life; he lost his job and girlfriend. He lost his meaning of life and wanted to commit suicide to end everything. But because of the death of his father, he had to draw off the plan for a while. He met the flight attendant, Claire, on the plane, who changed his aspect of life in the following days.

One of the scenes which touches me is the time when he reached the Elizabeth town, the warm welcome from his father’s extended family and friends in the town to him. These are the things which can only be found at the small town. He saw his unfamiliar father lying in the coffin. The only memory with his father which he can recall was years ago while he was young. He remembered the cross country road trip which they planned to go together. But because of his busy schedule, the plan had been postponed year after year. He wished if only he had taken a few days leave out of his schedule back then. But it is too late now.

Another touching scene is the conversation Drew and his sister had had. He asked her if their father was a “fun guy.” She answered with tears, “Sure, he was a fun guy, especially during the past few years, when you were so busy.”

During this trip, he discovered how simple a life can be. He came to realize that his life is not that bad. And with the encouragements and consoles from Claire he started to work out from the dark.

The romantic relationship between Drew and Claire was built during his stays in town. Claire is an optimistic person. She encourages and helps Drew to go through this painful period. Finally, they found their halves in each other soul and fall for each other.

In the funeral, his mother said; she got chances to learn to do all of the house chores, to cook, to repair the furniture, repair car and even dancing after his dad passed away. Those were badly done in the end, but she is trying really hard. She is trying really hard to keep herself busy to engage all of her thought with other things.

Finally, the director wrapped up everything with a cross country road-trip which was laid down by Claire and accompanied with a mix soundtrack CD. At the end of the movie, you will wonder what an incredible effect which music can impose to one, and the magic of music is so powerful which make the movie an unforgettable experience. And that is Nancy Wilson (original music) who bring alive the “Elizabethtown”.


Moral of the film

Life is more than failures and successes in our careers. When we meet setback of our life face it and sometime you may need to slow down or take a break and view it from a different angels so you can see it more clearly and from a different perspective. That is “There is always something else”, a quote by Drew’s father in the movie.

Problem-Solution

How can NUS and/or Engineering Faculty enhance the awareness of the importance of emotional intelligence?

There are several methods to enhance and promote the awareness of the importance of emotional intelligence (EI for short). The fist step to achieve this goal is to let the students know more and understand their own feeling so they know where the problems of them are. For example, all of us know what should we do to improve our grade but we always forgot or don’t do most of those things. That is because we are so used to do things in our own ways and we unintentionally ignore or forgot to attempt the actual things which matter us. So as a solution, school may organize some seminars about EI where the attendance of the students is compulsory rather than optional. By doing this all of the students are forced to know EI and they won’t have the thought of spending extra time unwisely on the subjects which they think they understand. Alternatively, school may create a series of online quizzes about EI where the students who attended them are awarded some credits for co-curriculum activities (CCA) points. Additionally, school may set an EI related module under university requirement category where every student has to take it. This method may be bit reluctance and yet it is the most effective way of promoting EI. To conclude it, by giving students the environment, where they get more chances to get to know EI, can eventually achieve the awareness of the importance of EI in students.

EQ & Undergraduate

Daniel Goleman stated, “rational intelligence only contributes 20% to the factors that determine success in life…. and particularly the characteristics of emotional intelligence constitute the other 80%”, (as cited in “Nurturing emotional intelligence in university student” by Hang,C.C.1999.). It is true that students with high emotional intelligent (or Emotional Quotient, EQ for short) are able to achieve more in both academic and non-academic arenas.

Academically, students with high EQ are able to identify their priorities and understand their own feelings which make them flexible to work in a stressful condition. They study in a smart way by developing curiosities and interests in the subjects they study. Furthermore, they are always self-motivated and willing to travel extra miles than others.

Good interpersonal skill usually helps a person to learn more and efficiently. Outgoing personality makes them to participate in Co-curriculum activities (CCA for short) actively. They take the chances to make new friends, pick up new skills, develop leadership skill and have fun at the same time. Which will not only enhances their social life with meaningful activities but also reduce the stress of academic life at the same time. Apart from these, good communication skill helps them to learn more from other students, not just from lecturers.

Finally, I would like to conclude that with strong social network and good attitude toward the studies will eventually balance the life of undergraduates and transform them into successful men.

My life's meaning

My life’s meaning

People always say “life without ambitions is a meaningless life”. Everyone should have at least one ambition or dream to motivate him or herself. I believe that most of us would lose his or her way in this colourful world sometime. There were times I got confused and questioned myself; what I am working so hard for and what does a successful life mean to me, I then have doubts about everything.

I can still recall the conversation with my father, he told me “If you don’t work hard for yourself, then at least do it for your family and the people who care about you, they have expectations on you”. After I heard that I was too ashamed to face my parents as I didn’t even have a thought of repaying them for everything they’ve done for me. And I’ve learnt a lot from that conversation.

I started to understand that life is not just about me alone. I am living in a society which makes our life more interesting and complex. Being an engineering student, I’ve an ambition to become a successful engineer and lead a successful life. And to me the word “success” means being recognized by the society. Now if I have any doubt about my life’s meaning, I always motivate myself with my family and my ambition. As a conclusion, I strongly believe a quote by Napoleon Hill “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve”.

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