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A portion of Anna Marie's winning essay:
I chose Liberal Arts with a concentration in English because I
love to appreciate and learn about different acadamic areas in relation
to the world around me. As a young girl, I was always fascinated with
books. On several occassions at high school, I would ask my teachers
that instead of returning the books to them at the end of the year, if I
would be able to keep them. My preference for books wasn't specific, I
liked to read Math, Science, History and English books. When I was
employed at a Baptist church, they had free religious books that I
collected as well as read. On the weekends, I'd go to Silas Bronson
Library and gain further knowledge of subjects I had never come across.
Currently I am a student at Naugatuck Valley Community Collge and I have
collected and studied many of the books I've bought there. I don't like
the idea of majoring in a specific area, such as engineering, when I
have the option of learning multiple disciplines all at the same time
during my undergradute studies. And even though I plan on focusing on
English as a Liberal Arts major, I still will increase my understanding
of other subjects by other means. By gaining a degree in English, I will
have writing profiicency and an increased reading comprehension, skills
that apply not only to my degree program but that are valuable for
employement, working with others, and especially the certificate I hope
to gain as an English teacher. My passion for reading has allowed me to
suceed in every class at college. People tend to say that they are good
at one subject and poor at another. But I don't relate to them. The
classes I've taken in Composition, British Literature, American
literature, Technical Writing, Sociology, Courtship- Marriage and
Sexuality, Spanish, Philosophy, Music, Algebra, American and Western
History, Communications, Biology, and Health have proved to be exciting
as well as challenging. British Literature, one of my favorites, allowed
me to learn about British history and the writers during that time
period who wrote novels illustrating their historical events. Mary
Wollstonecraft was a feminist writer who protested for women's equality
in civil, domestic, and social life in the 1980's. She wanted to
eliminate women's inequality. Wollstonecraft was one of the first women
to protest these rights in her books and discussions with men who
opposed feminism. I think this is interesting considering women now have
increased their rights in those areas and are now holding positions in
government and other employement opportunities previously dominated by
men. It is very important for others and myself to learn about British
Literature so we can understand that women's liberation did not come
spontaneously. I want to continue learning British literature to be able
to teach future students about writers who played a role in the
liberation of not only women, but both men and women's increasing
privileges. Reading English or any other subject can be very rewarding.
No matter what college course I have, reading is a must for success. I
am training myself to read faster with increased comprehension so I'll
be successful at college. English especially has helped me to do this
since it requires many stories and poems to be read in a short amount of
time. I feel that if I could succeed in English and earn high grades,
which I do, I will be competent in other areas even though the subject
is different. For emample, in English I read fictional/nonfictional
stories while philosophy teaches about real life thinkers such as Plato
and Aristotle. One of the main components to success in both of these
classes would be to write good papers.
If I didn't perfect my writing skills in English it would be
impossible for me to write exemplary philosohy papers. But by having
those skills, my English course complements philosophy class. The
Sociology of the Family has been a beneficial course by teaching
different aspects of family life. One thing that I was always curious
about was the statistic, "half of all marriages end in divorce".
Marriage seems to be one of the most cherished endevours for young
adults. But what they don't know or lack to understand is that most
marriages fail due to confict that is not resolved properly due to
ineffective problem solving skills. Also, children, increasingly thought
of to bring happiness to marriage, are one of the primary reasons for a
decline in marital satisfaction. They offer challenges to parents who
have never experienced them before. As a result of time- consuming child
rearing, parents end up spending less time with each other. Spouses can
become irritated with disobedient children who want to stay up too late
at night and make messes on the kitchen floor. Suprisingly 65% of
Americans approve of spanking. And as more time is spent with child
rearing, the husband and wife become separated as their need for
intimacy is not shown. Although there are some exceptions, most spouses
divorce as a result. Marriages also end because of financial
differences, fidelity, lack of caring for one's spouse, and their
annoying habits. By learning about why marriage fails, I can make
informed choices of whether or not I want to marry. I can also tell
others, especially my friends about the common misconceptions held about
marriage. These include the myths that happily people don't have
conflict and that sex is the greatest predictor of marital satisfaction.
If I ever do find a partner, I'll be be better able to handle conflict
by the information I got from this sociology course. These tips include
effective communication, unending intimacy, honesty and remaining
faithful. Sociology taught me things I never knew, things I would
possilbly never know if I had limited my studies to a particular field.
Learning about Marriage and the family took me to a new level regarding
relationships and what love really means. Immigration is increasing in
the USA as foreigners seek to come to America for a better life. Most of
the immigrants speak a native language. Spanish is a very common one.
I've always had the desire to translate Puerto Rican peoples
conversations. An opportunity came through my exposure to two levels of
of Spanish classes. Those classes were very valuable to me not only in
taking away the curiousity of what is spoken by Spanish people, but they
would be valuable in a teaching career where many students speak a
second language. Even though I would like to teach English, Spanish
courses would be a great background to help Spanish students get further
acquainted with the English language. Knowing what Spanish people say
would give me better leverage to help them learn the English language as
opposed to someone who has no academic knowlege of spanish. Therefore I
am at more of an advantage for teaching spanish students as well as a
community of Spanish speakers how to learn English along with other
subjects I've come across. The Spanish courses I've taken have allowed
me to take part in helping Immigrants. Communication is one of the most
prevalent means for everyday interactions. I've talked with people
who've gotten fired from their jobs simply because of miscommunication
or not enough of it- either with their boss or customers. But why does
this happen, I asked myself? The world needs to learn how to communicate
effectively especially on the job where it is most crucial. In my
communications class I performed presentations on health-related
fitness, the relationship between parents and children, and study skills
to have the opportunity to practice speaking and interacting with
classmates and to get critiqued by my professor. Those presentations
were not just learning experiences for the students but practice for
real world success in my interactions with people both at home and on
the job. One of the key lessons I learned in communicaitons which was
applied to the real-world was that no matter how much you know about a
certain topic, it you're unable to communicate it to others so they can
undrestand it, it's useless. Methods I learned when doing those
presentations was to ask my classmates questions so they understood my
subject. For example, if I said basal cell carcinoma, a type of skin
cancer, was a non-melanoma skin cancer, most people wouldn't have a clue
what non-melanoma means. Asking them if they knew offers them and I a
chance for effective communication. I would tell them that that
non-melanoma means it doesn't cause tumors. This is very similar to an
employement sitiuation, specifically in my intended teaching career. I
would need to ensure that my students understand my lectures so that
they'll be able to pass the class, learn about english writers and how
to write. And by communicating English literature/writing to them in an
effective way by the skills I've gained in the Communications class, I
will equip future children with long lasting writing and reading skills
applicable to any emloyement field. I've taken Biology class in the past
semester and learning about global warming was a thought provoking and
life changing event. I was scared when my teacher said that the present
generation would have to face increased heat production onthe Earths
atmosphere due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases. It encouraged me
to become more of an informed citizen. I was able to make changes in my
lifestyle to decrease the negative effects of global warming.
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