Reflection ((Summary Essay))

In my summary essay, I noticed some problems in US that I did not see or hear like them in my country. One of the major problems that people should have a bachelor degree in order to get a well-paid job. I think problems like these would not be found if there are no high taxes and strict job requirements. My summary essay made me a careful decision maker and very thankful to my country which do not have such problems. I feel so happy that I am studying this course with a teacher who is giving me useful information which will help me in my career.

Reflection ((Journal))

In Journal 2 (Critical response to Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”), I learned many things about the English language while I was writing. I discovered that there are many ways to learn English and I do not have to be a native speaker to take English as major in college. International students may not be perfect in speaking English, yet they are usually much better in grammar than native speakers.

Critical Response to Mother Tongue

In the beginning Amy shows her daily life and what she loves. Starting with the sentence, "I am not a scholar of English or literature. I cannot give you much more than personal opinion…." is just to illustrate an image about herself and what is she is thinking about. The experience she had and the way she grew up made her re-think about how her mother talks. She felt there was something missing or needed to be corrected.

Then, Amy sees that her mother English is perfect while her friends and others seemed to find difficulties to understand her mother’s English. Feeling ashamed about her mother's limited English made me think and remember about my childhood when I could not speak English very well. Also, I remembered my teacher when he used to say, " if you faced a wall, go around it to continue you way".

When Amy saw her mother’s achievements, many questions were asked. Comparing Chinese people's English and math grades made Amy challenge the people who thought that the Chinese or any other foreigners who don't speak English very well can't take English as a major in college.

Thinking that the people who speak English at homes would have some effects on their exams might be true, but it is actually depends on the structures, pronunciation, and many other English skills.

The summary of “Should the Obama Generation Drop Out?“

"Should the Obama Generation Drop Out?" written by Charles Murray, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, states that bachelor degree must not be a job condition and Obama should use his authority to change that condition.


Murray talks about Barack Obama's authority, which can change job requirements. Students should study for four years in college to get a bachelor degree and usually those students come from wealthy families and they are well educated. However, most students come from low class families which do not have enough money to cover the cost of their studies, whereas they are looking for well-paid jobs after graduating from high school. Nowadays, most jobs ask for a bachelor degree when students apply for it. Murray's view is that the bachelor degree is good for those who want to continue their higher education, yet it should not be vital for all kinds of jobs. He says that when many companies hire their employee, they just measure the bachelor degree as the job preparedness, which is not relevant.


Also, the author illustrates in his article that most colleges requires some difficult standards from the students which are beyond their abilities such as the high-levels of verbal skills and logic-mathematical capability. In order to discard the bachelor’s degree as a job qualification, Murray suggests replacing the college degree as a job requirement with the certificate tests which can prove a person skill for the job he applied. Not only that, but also he cites that Obama should repeat his words continuously “It’s what you can do that should count when you apply for a job, not where you learned to do it" which means that employers should look at a person skills and ability, without being concern about where the degree is came from or where that person learned how to work.


In a nutshell, Charles Murray believes that employing should be based on person ability in a job. Bachelor degree should not be a reason for not hiring someone or to judge person skills.



Reference: Charles Murray, "Should The Obama Generation Drop Out?" P99-P101