Reflection

This synthesis paper is one of my best achievements in writing. I have never written too many
pages like that. It was a long process. I had to learn how to summary first. Then, with a critical
thinking I had to make a synthesis of two different articles, what was not an easy deal. Plus I had
to learn how to quote citations and how to formulate my works cited in the MLA format. In a
little time, I have learned so much of things and all that with the entire disposition of my dear
professor Caroline Schaefer. She has been very helpful to me and her relevant feedbacks made
me improve after each assignment. I am glad for being her student and I will definitely
recommend her to some friends. She a patient person knowing very well her job. The reward I
got from this assignment is intrinsic and meaningful to me. To refer to my essay this was surely
not a brain filling class, but rather a considerable improvement in my writing skills.

Anon Ahui
Professor Caroline Schaefer

Anon 2
ENGL-1010-005-Sp16
20 April 2016
Should knowledge be directed?
Human control on everything seems to be a second nature. Even thing as abstract as the
nothingness attracts his curiosity. In the conquer of the universe, human had to use his faculty to
think for discovering the nature. Thus, every new discovery sparks his envy to know more and
break the secret of the nature. Thenceforth, he will start using methods and strategies in order to
coordinate his knowledge and make the process of discovery easier. It is from this point, school
takes its origin. However, this principal purpose for facilitating the process of discovery has been
misunderstood and today, knowledge is being too much manipulated so that people are not free
to think for themselves. That is, I will argue that knowledge is being too much specialized and
not widely applicable and liberal education should be encouraged.
In his article Are Too Many People Going to College? from The American journal, Murray
reassesses the question of going to college. Should people go to school in order to get a good
degree? Or should they rather follow the laissez-faire conception and do what they are meant
for? Indeed, facing a system in which college education is becoming obligated, Murray argues
that people should acquire liberal education at the college level depending to the work they want.
For him, college is not always the best option as it is usually viewed. It is all about what we are
passionate in. The skill required for some positions can be found in our daily activities. The
degree obtained for certain jobs sometimes does not mean anything, especially when the
interested does not like the job. There are some blue-collar jobs which are more practical than
theoretical. It is only by experience people get better and become professional. For those ones,

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there is no real need to attend college for four long years of our life just in order to get some
skills not even guaranteed.
While Murray is demonstrating how useless college could be sometimes, Rose, in an article
issued from the magazine American Scholar, emphasizes the diverse and variable skills
developed by a physical worker in his routine. She shows how multi-task they are and how much
they learn from dealing daily with people behaviors and solving problems. Contrary to the underestimation people usually have of blue-collar workers, those ones actually develop many sort of
intelligences while working every day. So the assumption that works requiring less schooling
requires less intelligence makes no sense since intelligence is diverse and undefined. For that,
Rose advances that when we devalue the full range of everyday cognition, we offer limited
educational opportunities and fail to make fresh and meaningful instructional connection among
disparate kinds of skills and knowledge. Like Murray, Rose argues that for some people, college
is not the best path.
Both authors in their essay raise the question concerning how knowledge should be acquired
and managed. They both agree with the management of knowledge but at a comprehensive level.
For referring to that statement, another author OGrady discusses in Journal Of Evaluation In
Clinical Practice, how knowledge should be managed and implemented. She argues that the
purpose of achieving new knowledge includes the notions of evidence-based medicine, decision
aids, shared decision making, measurement and evaluation. She says, We have debated the
meaning of evidence and how to implement it. However, we have yet to consider how to include
in our study findings other types of information such as tacit and experiential knowledge. For
her, a framework has to be done before implementing research findings into practice.

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I think OGradys approach of the subject is more scientific. She talks about methods to manage
knowledge by experimentation and the sort. She somewhat defines the application of knowledge
as a power. However, power can be misdirected. I mean by that, knowledge can be applied
negatively and our humanity has been sometimes victim of bad application. For example, the
formula of Albert Einstein E=MC has somehow responsible for the bombing of the cities
Hiroshima and Nagazaki during the World War II. Therefore, the application of knowledge can
be also evil, contrary to what OGrady insinuates. I think her use of logos is not that relevant
when defining the application of knowledge as a power.
Besides, since school has been created for the purpose of canalizing knowledge, it sounds
more accurate to go to school for getting a certification of mastering a subject. Therefore
depending to how is the system operated, we will go to school and continue in college in order to
somewhat pursue our career. Then, once we graduate we are now apt to work and apply our
knowledge in order to get our money back. Thenceforth, it seems like going to college is a longterm investment we make for profitable returns. If so, education itself could be defined as a sort
of lifetime business. The system instills us that the only way to be successful is to be in their
business, which is going to college. Any knowledge acquired besides their mode of evaluation,
will not be recognized as proper knowledge, what is totally absurd.
While I understand getting an education is an investment in your future earning power, it
is important not to forget that knowledge for the pure sake of knowledge is essential.
Knowledge itself should not be guided. History shows that humans learn new things
depending to their interest and needs. The first scholars were not going to any school when they
made some crucial discovers which are still valuable in our time. They were guided by their
passion and their hunger of learning new things. They were not looking for knowledge in order

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to make money; rather they wanted just to know and perhaps apply the knowledge to their daily
life. The need to satisfy their curiosity to know was their motto. And this should be the real
purpose of knowledge. As soon as, knowledge becomes a source of business, it loses its principal
sense and its development therefore slow down. The role of education should be to inspire
people towards their ultimate aspiration, so that they can enjoy researching about their own
interests rather than forcing them to follow the common and manipulated system.
In his book Dynamics of learning, Cantor criticizes the gap between knowledge and learning. He
starts by questioning the liaison between those two entities, before breaking down the problem.
His point about the matter was that knowledge must not be merely transmitted. Rather, it must be
translated so that it becomes meaningful in the lives of students. For that he says, The position
taken in this study, however, is that education must give the life of the student new meaning, new
significance, and greater control of his conduct--so that he may be helped to discover his
capacities and enjoy increased self-determination and self-realization.
I think cantor use of logos in the structure of his arguments makes his logical appeal more
creditable. He approaches the problem with delicacy, before sating his point of view. He starts by
pointing out the relevant questions generally asked like, Just what kind of knowledge do our
college graduates possess? What is the connection between having this knowledge and
possessing a liberal education? What do the "facts" mean to the student? What is the connection
between this knowledge and a liberal education? What is the significance of this knowledge in
the life of the student? What do the facts in a given course mean to him? What real needs are
they satisfying? Does the knowledge acquired in a liberal arts college fundamentally influence
the subsequent lives of a majority of students? Is the student really motivated in directions other
than those which were followed when he entered college? Those questions faced here

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emphasize the relationship between individual and society. Instead of being objective,
knowledge should be more subjective so that individuals would perform at their best from what
they are passionate for and that would surely make a better society.
Knowledge is diverse and no one detains it. We discover new things everyday when we start
observing the phenomenon occurring around us. It definitely requires attention and also some
intelligence. Since we cannot detain it, we can contrarily develop the intelligence or the skill
required for it. The path to this discovery is not unique. Since human is a multitude of possibility,
the intelligence developed toward a knowledge is various and endless. There is no specific way
to be scholar. It is the reason why it is so complex when it comes to determine the real definition
of intelligence. Everyone is intelligent at their manner. None intelligence should be underestimated or neglected in detriment of another, because it is that variety of intelligence that
makes our world livable and special today. It is the reason why I agree with Harveys arguments
that an individual has primacy in liberal education. He believes that as with virtually all
education, liberal education conserves the society from which it emerges. He advances that
hopes and claims about the liberating power of liberal education are typically exaggerated,
nave and wrong. For him, social education, training in efficient and productive consumerist
life, domesticates any radical content liberal arts education may manage to provide. Therefore
our society could be transformed into a style of belief and belief formation. Even if I agree with
Harvey, I still think that he loses his ethical appeal in his words by being so categorical. When it
comes to talk about something as abstract as knowledge, we want to be flexible and careful.
Knowledge is very subjective, so we should not judge others because of their different thoughts
about it. Nevertheless, Harvey does and he even treats them of nave person.

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To put in a nutshell, human is a multitude of possibility. His steps toward the knowledge are
diverse and different too. Though a good canonization of the information he gets from the nature
may help him in his process of discovery, it can paradoxically alienate his advancement by
making it complicated. Knowledge should not be too controlled or directed. It should be free so
that people can follow their own passion without being influenced by the social construct or the
community. School should be a source of inspiration, not a place of brain filling.

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Works Cited

Cantor, Nathaniel. "Knowledge for What?" Dynamics of learning. 13-30. Buffalo, NY US:
Foster & Stewart, 1946. PsycINFO. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.
Harvey, Charles W. "The Conservative Limits Of Liberal Education." Philosophy In The
Contemporary World 17.2 (2010): 30-36. Philosopher's Index. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.
Murray, Charles. Are too many people going to college? They say, I say. 2nd ed. 222-242. New
York: Norton & Company, Inc. 2012. Print.
O'Grady, Laura. "What Is Knowledge And When Should It Be Implemented?" Journal Of
Evaluation In Clinical Practice 18.5 (2012): 951-953. MEDLINE. Web. 03 Apr. 2016.
Rose, Mike. Blue-Collar Brillance. They say, I say. 2nd ed. 243-255. New York: Norton &
Company, Inc. 2012. Print.

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