Reading Journal #1

For my first response one of the articles I decided to go over is “Edinburgh University to charge £36,000 a degree” from The Guardian. I really love how beautiful the language that is used in all of the articles is, but especially this one. It almost has a poetic rhythm to it and although the language is also more formal than what is seen in the U.S. I think it’s excellent journalism. I thought the way the author, Severin Carrell, incorporated dialogue and quotes, or lack there of is really interesting because it adds to the more formal element of the article. Quotes are used consistently throughout but it seems like only the most important or most substantial in length are put in quote marks and are not separated from the body paragraphs, like we see mostly in American newspapers.

For example, in the second article I read from the Washington Post, “U.S. colleges seek foreign students for intellectual stimulus, bottom line” the entire body of the article is mostly dialogue from interviewees and consists of many different mini paragraphs of individual quotes. Although the Washington Post article is easier to read than the article from The Guardian I preferred the former just because it’s just more sophisticated and the layout is more pleasing to the eye. The third article I read was a debate from the New York Times titled “College Doesn’t Create Success” which is pretty similar in structure to the Washington Post article in terms of how quotes were incorporated and the style of language.

This debate was interesting because I feel like it’s a relevant discussion today with the economic situation. I know a lot more people these days are questioning whether college experience is worth the price. I know some feel that it isn’t and that they would rather be in the job market actually making money than in tens of thousands of dollars in debt. I liked the Opinion pages of the New York Times and thought it was interesting that now that news is so much online that almost all of the discussion takes place not in the article but in the comments in the forums below.

I also thought it was very telling that there’s so much discussion about colleges lately, especially how much it is costing and whether or not it’s really worth it. I always had the impression that universities in the U.K. were much less expensive than ours in the U.S. but £36,000 is $57,366; which is less than what Forbes’ 2010 “Most Expensive Colleges in the US” list says is the most expensive college in 2010, Vanderbilt University at $53,976 a year. Both the New York Times article and The Guardian article discuss the increasing concern for the worth of education, but the Washington Times article discusses bringing in more money for the university, such as the University of Virginia’s close ties to China and the benefits of the increasing amount of international students for the university.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/sep/05/edinburgh-university-charge-36000-degree

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/us-colleges-seek-foreign-students-for-intellectual-stimulus-better-bottom-line/2011/08/22/gIQAFeVlwJ_story_1.html

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/08/23/spending-too-much-time-and-money-on-education/college-doesnt-create-success