Olivia Chiarolanzio

Mrs. Thomas

UWRT 1104

28 February 2017

Pursuing Dreams

Reflection 1: The beginning of this paper came easily and I was excited to

write, but then I realized that it was turning into a personal narrative. I had

to wrap up my idea and introduction, and get more into the research aspect

of this paper. I think this comes from me needing to be more aware of my

reader and WHY I am writing to them. I think I need to provide a little more

information and research into my proposal to establish that it is researchable

and I will be able to write about it in my final research paper.

Reflection 2: Through this process I think I finally grasped that the purpose

of the paper was to SELL my inquiry to my audience. To do this I needed to

understand and include the ethos, pathos, and logos aspects to better hook

in my reader. I mainly focused on pathos in this inquiry to connect with my

reader emotionally so they can better relate to my inquiry and be interested

in the idea. In my thesis paper I will be sure to include all three of these

aspects.
 All throughout my life I have been asked the question, What do you

want to be when you grow up? The earliest answer to this question that I

can remember was a marine biologist. As kids, this question was easy to

answer and often the answer related to whatever peaked our interest that

month. This would make sense as my favorite animal when I was eight was

dolphins, therefore I wanted to become a marine biologist. Once I had

learned that this field did not include training dolphins 24/7, I moved my

interests elsewhere. Now as a college student I am asked this question more

than ever and am finding myself replying Accountant. There is nothing wrong

with wanting to be an Accountant, but why the uncertainty when answering

the question versus the excitement over the aspect of a future job when I

was a kid. In my experience, I believe that there were some outside

pressures that led me to my decision and makes me curious if this situation

can be related to my generation. This brings me to my inquiry question: Does

society discourage kids from pursuing their passion and dreams?

I understand that this isnt a completely polar question that can simply

involve a yes-no answer. An initial search of the topic brought me to many

articles from concerned parents questioning how they should tell their child

that their dream is unrealistic. Looking more into the just the surface of the

big picture, societal and economic pressures began to emerge. The cost of

college, job outlook and market, and parental pressures. These factors all

push students into fields of studies that they are not interested in which

takes away from the overall learning of the material. Once students start
taking classes they are not interested in, their motivation and effort they put

into the class plummets.

With the cost of college per semester and the average student loan

balance ever increasing. With these statistics, I begin to question how a

student's home life can indicate whether they have the luxury to attend

college for a degree they enjoy. College in itself has become a full-time job in

order to get a worthwhile degree and fast.

Sources show that the organizations like the ACT, are releasing

numbers that show nearly one-third of a freshman class plans to major in

something that doesnt match their interests. The non-profit ACT

organization released a study showing that nearly one-third of a freshmen

class plans to major in something that doesn't match their interests. Out of

the more than 1.2 million high school graduates that provided data on their

interests and planned major, only 36% chose a major that was a "good" fit

based on their interests, while 32% selected a major that was a "poor" fit.

These numbers give an insight into personally how the students feel. I aim to

interview some of my fellow peers on their insight and experience into the

topic.

This is an important inquiry question to introduce to my peers because

we are currently trying to get our degrees. Some of us are still undecided,

while many of us are still undeclared. It is important to explore what society

is expecting out of us and what we can do to enjoy the rest of our life and the
career we choose to pursue in it. With this I hope to explore how society is

pressuring/facing students today.