Collegiate Life: An Obituary

Collegiate Life: An Obituary by Arthur Levine and Jeannette S. Cureton is an essay about college students. The essay tells of how colleges and their students are moving away from the original ideal. The authors state that college life has changed because the students have changed. Students now attending college are much more diverse than previous generations. Current college students don't fit in the ideal image for a few reasons. The ideal image is a students 18-22 years old living on campus attending full time and not having a job. Now-a-day the vast majority of the student population doesn't fit in that category. 

This essay compares college to a bank "We know what we want: an ATM on every corner. And when we get to the ATM, we want there to be no line. We also would like a parking spot right in front of the ATM, and to have our checks deposited the moment they arrive at the bank..." I do not agree with this statement. To me college is an experience, and a great one at that. So in my opinion if college was like this ideal image of a bank students would be missing out on a great deal of the college experience. Students aren't going to college to go to class and then back home. Students are attending to engage and get involved and enjoy the ride. 

Overall i strongly disagree with the opinions shared in this essay. Statements such as "students are coming to college overwhelmed and more damaged than in the past" really struck a cord with me. The authors are trying to sound like they know all about college students but really they can in no way relate. They are much older than the student body and in my opinion know nothing about us. Who is to say who is "damaged"?

99.9% of Proper Grammar Is Obsolete

David Wertheimer's entry on Digital Web Magazine is an eye opening essay. His essay is a light hearted and entertaining parody on how online grammar is rapidly deteriorating. "Proper sentence structure may look and work all right, since mainstream publications still use capital letters, subject-verb agreement, and full-length words on a regular basis. But outside these rigid environments, the necessity of all that hoo-hah is already starting to decay.". Wertheimer speaks about how all informal writing on the internet including im's and emails have become simplified by using u instead of you as an example. It is all about making communication as simple and short as possible. the short cuts used in im's and emails work because of the 4 or 5 years they have been in use. People all across the world have been exposed to these short cuts and they are actually encouraged because of how much time and effort they save. New users of online communication devices are being introduced to this new type of speaking and are becoming more and more accepting of it which is helping it spread further and faster than before.
I think that this essay is a great way to humorously inform readers of such a phenomenon as this "Im-Speak". Although I don't completely agree with this essay. From my experiences my peers have began to move away from this short cut type writing on the internet and in text messaging. I believe that we have realized how childish and confusing the shorthand is. I know that in my group of friends if you say something like "g2g" or "ttyl" online or in a text message you get made fun of for it, no one really types like that anymore. We have begun to write complete and proper sentences most of the time even in short text messages.
I truly enjoyed haw the author made light of the situation and kept me entertained throughout the whole essay. I must say that my overall favorite part is the ending when he is speaking about the "cure". Some examples of cures include ditch periods and kill capital letters.