SWA 1

I feel that there are multiple things about today’s college students that concern journalism professor Michael Skube. I believe that one concern he has with college students is that he feels that they do not read enough for choice and the only reading that they do is required. I think Michael Skube is not satisfied with the education that high school students are receiving. I think Michael Skube feels that because of the lack of choice reading in high school students that they have a less developed vocabulary. With a less developed vocabulary I think he feels that students are at a disadvantage, and at times have trouble understanding important things. I think Michael Skube also feels that current high school students GPAs are not a valid indicator of intelligence. He believes that students are not taking challenging enough classes and therefore they are getting better grades in easier classes. Also because students are able to select which classes they take that they will not take a challenging English class if they do not have to. From my experience in the classroom I feel that his claims are somewhat accurate. I will admit that I do not read as many choice books as I should. Reading more choice books would be a benefit to me, although it is tough to find time in a student’s life right now to sit and read a choice book for fun. I also agree that current students GPAs are not as accurate as they should be because students are not all taking the same classes and because they are all not taking challenging classes. This will cause students, at times, to appear more intelligent then they actually are. Students who take more challenging classes might not have as high of a GPA, which might cause them to appear less intelligent on paper.
Todd Hagstette’s “aggressive reading” might help some of the students described by Michael Skube. If students were to read more actively instead of passively, as he describes, then they would learn more from reading and they would most likely enjoy reading more. This would probably help students because they would read more actively, expand their vocabulary, and give them more confidence to take a challenging class. With more aggressive reading, comprehension of the material would increase, and students would be more involved in discussions about the text. I feel that Todd Hagstette’s “aggressive reading” would inspired students by making them more confident with themselves.