December 10, 2010
Dear Professor Zino,
Before coming to your class I was not really sure of what higher education was. I
had an idea of what it was, but I didn’t really understand the full concept behind it. I
always thought higher education was just going to college to be able to get a good or
decent job in the future. In your class I learned that it is more than just that. Just like E.D.
Hirsh and Macedo have emphasized in their writings we have read in class, cultural
literacy is not just being able to read and write, but being able to have an understanding
of what your reading and writing; as well being able to create a conversation with
common shared knowledge of diverse cultural groups. In sociology 101, we also talked
about this. The culture and society of the world we live in plays a big part of our future. I
was able to learn that culture and society have a huge role in our learning and shaping our
future more than I really thought it did.
Sociology 101 and English 110 came hand in hand in talking about higher
education. The looking glass theory related to Jean Twenge and her idea of “Generation
Me”. This is because the way we think people perceive us ultimately influences the way
we act according to the theory of the looking glass. In Generation Me Twenge
emphasized that as well many times because she believed that people born in the
generation me period think everything is about them and they are very conscience about
the way others see them. As well, we also did an ethnography research assignment in
Sociology 101 that helped me to better understand how to do the ethnography we have to
do for English 110.
The biggest challenge I had this semester was writing the essays. In the beginning
I was not really too sure as to how to go about writing them. I couldn’t distinguish the
difference between what was important and what wasn’t. In addition, writing all the
essays felt a little overwhelming for me. But with your guidance and the chapters in They
Say I Say, I was able to learn everything I needed to know about writing a good paper
and how to manage my time effectively.
During this semester I felt an extraordinary feeling of accomplishment as time
went by with writing the essays. As we kept on writing more and more I can honestly say
that gradually I learned plenty on how to write a great essay. The Say I say helped a great
amount and I am definitely going to keep that book for future reference to help me with
writing papers in other courses. I have taken note myself on my papers and can really say
that my writing improved a lot. I want to thank you for making class so interesting with
the reading and letting us to have been able to work together in groups. Doing group
work in class really helped because it have us the ability to share our ideas with each
other and assist each other with our writings. I am very grateful to have been able to have
been a part of your class. Your guidance everyday was greatly appreciated by me and I
can leave your class with having learned a lot of valuable things.
Sincerely,
Nicole Rizzo