So in my English 101 class, we read a letter from a man named ___ Adams. Adams wanted to omit his algebra class because it was a useless course for the career he wants to pursue- a lawyer fighting for Native American rights. We had an assignment after we read the letter and class discussion, to write out some of our thoughts and feelings on this whole letter. And, to give our opinion on if we would let this man get out of taking his algebra class or make him take it. This is my response. And may I say... I'm kind of impressed. I had a sort of fire burning in me to express my views and say all my points. Most of it probably doesn't make sense because it was very quickly typed out thoughts (And considering that it's my thoughts, they're not going to make much sense). So anyways, here's my response. Sorry it's so long. Hehehe :D
I had already read the letter previously, but when it was read out loud and I heard it for the second time, I caught a lot of stuff that I had previously missed. It surprised me that the decision to exempt the student was split half-and-half throughout the class. I agreed with the classmates that believed the student should not be exempt. A lot of good points were made including that if Adams was so intent and fired up to be a lawyer for his tribe, attending an algebra class shouldn't get in his way. It should have been a minor speed bump in his road. Him not being able to achieve this challenge shows me doubt that he has enough passion, integrity, determination, or stubbornness that it takes a person to achieve their dream of being a lawyer. It was also said that this probably isn't the first case brought to the dean's attention where a student didn't want to complete a class because it wouldn't "help them in their career field". In Adam's letter, he even quoted another teacher saying that he needed to take algebra to become more educationally rounded. Adam's response was that he already knew enough in that subject and that he already knows what his future will hold for him. This just shows that he's not well rounded and lacks the quality of being able to see things from every possible point of view possible; a trait essential to an aspiring lawyer. Nobody can know exactly what can happen in their future, we're humans. there's no possible way to know exactly what will happen. And as for him being well rounded, knowledge isn't the only thing gained through attending a class; You also gain skills. Even if the skills aren't essential to your field, it never hurts to know a little bit about everything and some good old common sense. In the future, your job may not even work out. You can get fired, you can find out that that job is not the one for you. You may take the next step of trying to find a new job, and what use would a college degree be if you don't have the required math course as part of your transcript? You'd have to go back to college, waste time, just to be able to find another job. And as we all know, time is money and sometimes in our lives, we quite frankly don't have any time to waste.
I had already read the letter previously, but when it was read out loud and I heard it for the second time, I caught a lot of stuff that I had previously missed. It surprised me that the decision to exempt the student was split half-and-half throughout the class. I agreed with the classmates that believed the student should not be exempt. A lot of good points were made including that if Adams was so intent and fired up to be a lawyer for his tribe, attending an algebra class shouldn't get in his way. It should have been a minor speed bump in his road. Him not being able to achieve this challenge shows me doubt that he has enough passion, integrity, determination, or stubbornness that it takes a person to achieve their dream of being a lawyer. It was also said that this probably isn't the first case brought to the dean's attention where a student didn't want to complete a class because it wouldn't "help them in their career field". In Adam's letter, he even quoted another teacher saying that he needed to take algebra to become more educationally rounded. Adam's response was that he already knew enough in that subject and that he already knows what his future will hold for him. This just shows that he's not well rounded and lacks the quality of being able to see things from every possible point of view possible; a trait essential to an aspiring lawyer. Nobody can know exactly what can happen in their future, we're humans. there's no possible way to know exactly what will happen. And as for him being well rounded, knowledge isn't the only thing gained through attending a class; You also gain skills. Even if the skills aren't essential to your field, it never hurts to know a little bit about everything and some good old common sense. In the future, your job may not even work out. You can get fired, you can find out that that job is not the one for you. You may take the next step of trying to find a new job, and what use would a college degree be if you don't have the required math course as part of your transcript? You'd have to go back to college, waste time, just to be able to find another job. And as we all know, time is money and sometimes in our lives, we quite frankly don't have any time to waste.
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