In his short essay "Have it Your Way": Consumerism Invades Education, Benlow addresses some important concerns about education today. He became concerned with this invasion of consumerism in education when he heard students referred to as customers, as if they were people that were needing to be pleased. Consumers do not want to think, Benlow points out, they desire their needs to be met with the least amount of effort given on there part. They want the meal deal bargain, without deciding for themselves what kind of food they want. Benelow describes students as having this consumerist outlook when they approach education. They don't want to imagine, create or think about information that is presented to them. As consumers they want others to do the work for them. A true student on the other hand is encouraged to think for himself. He takes ideas and wrestles with the concepts making his own decision on what he thinks of them. Benlow ends his essay with the fear that students will start approaching college with this consumerist attitude. Where knowledge should be prepackaged so that it requires the least amount of thinking.

Writing Strategies #4

Pico Iyer relates some forgotten truths about a simple comma, that place it in a whole new light. When examining his essay it is evident that he organized the introduction to each of his paragraphs in a very deliberate way. The first sentence of every paragraph is a short sentence that sums up the point of his previous paragraph. This allows the reader to have a consice summary of one point before moving on to the next one. Iyer uses many colorful illustrations and images to help his readers better grasp the points he is trying to make. One that was particularly effective was the image of the comma giving the world "breadth and heft and depth" in a world of stark periods that have no inflections. Also his comparison of a comma to that of a lover noticing every slight detail of the one he loves gave a clear image of the accomplishments of a comma. A comma tells what the sentance implies, it may seem slight and unnoticable but with it, it communicates so much.