To help you practice generating an effective appeal to pathos, I’d like you to use the technique of enargeia in the following situation: Imagine that DU’s student paper, the Clarion, is sponsoring a debate within its editorial pages on our university’s requirement that second-year students live on campus, and you’ve been invited to submit a piece. In the next 15-20 minutes, I’d like you to compose an introduction (a few paragraphs or so) in which you vividly narrate or describe an experience you’ve had living in the residence halls that helps your readers see what’s at stake in this issue. Remember that one of the things you can accomplish by using an appeal like enargeia is that you can stimulate emotions in your reader by representing events so vividly that they recreate the experience for your audience. As you craft this opening narrative, try to invoke your readers' senses—sight, sound, smell, feeling, even taste—and place them in immediate proximity to your past experience as a way to predispose them to accept your position. For an extra challenge, you should imagine your readers to be either hostile (perhaps university administrators?) or indifferent (faculty or students who don’t really care either way) to your position, whichever one you adopt for this exercise.
Post your response here as a comment, and we will review them together as a class.
The freshman experience is different then any other. College is a huge change for most students. Most students have never lived away from or with another person. These changes can be really hard for some people and for some it drives them completely insane. This change is something that should be experienced your freshman year but after that people shouldn’t have to live on campus anymore. Honestly living with another person is something that is hard for me. This isn’t because I dislike the person or anything but at times I just get annoyed if I am with one person for too long. It happens with everyone I am close to, even my family. Dorm life just is not for everyone and so those who do not fit into the dorm mold should not be forced to do so. Sharing common spaces like bathrooms and rooms is something that many people cannot adjust to and so people should not be required to live in them if they are just going to make the lives of others miserable. The different experiences that people have growing up help to shape how they are going to succeed or fail in dorm life. Your freshman year you should undergo these challenges to help build character but after that many people just get annoyed by the two year live in policy.
ReplyDeleteI can admit that I have been lucky with my living situation this year. My roommate and I get along very well and my hall often runs around from room to room hanging out and watching movies. This is a great environment to live in, but we also have to go to school. As much fun as we have, on a Tuesday afternoon, I would rather not have my neighbor blasting mediocre techno next door while I try to get my work done. One might argue that I could always go to the library to do work, but when temperatures hit below zero and people don’t want to make the walk with me, I’d rather stay put. We have an open door policy, but to try and keep my room quieter, I close my door, therefore reducing my social interactions with my hall and isolating myself. I often have to get up from my work to tell my neighbor to turn his music down, to which he politely obliges to for about a minute, and then slowly turns it back up, thinking that I might not notice. The walls in these dorms are paper thin, and I would rather not have my computer shaking because of the bass coming through the wall. I hate being the girl who tries to ruin their fun by asking them to turn their music down, but I have to get my work done because that is what I am here for. I should not have to risk the quality of my schoolwork so my neighbor can play his music loudly and not do his homework. The University requires first year students to live on campus for obvious reasons like building relationships and getting used to the community, but by sophomore year, when the work gets more intense and the stress builds up, it seems a little bit overkill. Living off campus gives people more flexibility and privacy. They get to choose who they live with, almost guaranteeing little conflict with housemates. Considering everyone is friends, they might all have similar educational goals and be more understanding about noise and when distractions can be a problem. As much fun as we have in the dorms, when the educational circumstances get more serious, it may be time to give students an off campus option, rather than a requirement. The University obviously wants their students to succeed, and by letting them live off campus, they are encouraging independence and slowly transitioning them into the “real world”, or the one they have to face after college comes to an end.
ReplyDeleteIt is Monday morning; I am waking up at 7 for my 8am class. The room is a complete disaster clothes everywhere both clean and dirty, my roommate is still asleep because her first class is not until 10am and I am searching through clothes, shoes, bags, and winter jackets to find something to put on without waking her. I walk out of my room making sure the massive door doesn’t slam shut so I can make my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth attempting to find a clean sink that isn’t covered in other peoples things. Night comes around and still clothes everywhere, leaping up onto my bed only to have missed the bed completely the two tries before and attempting to sleep while doors are slamming and the girl next to us is burping so loud I can hear it through the walls. Okay sure this is a good experience living in close quarters with a roommate, but only for a year. During the sophomore year we should have the choice whether to live on campus or off campus. By living off campus you may have the opportunity to have your own space, certainly larger than the dorm room, a space where you can get some quiet time every once in awhile while still having a good time living with your friends. There are no worries about noise or killing yourself climbing into bed.
ReplyDeleteIt’s 9 pm and you’re still practicing classical marimba in the dank, lonely practice room. You have class the next morning at 8 in the morning, and you still have to learn the remaining four pages of music. Your drive back home takes half an hour on a good day. On top of that, a detour is placed on the highway after 9 pm, adding a nice chunk of time to your trek back to your abode. If you left the school now, you’d be home by 9:45, still have to do the hour or so of homework for tomorrow’s classes, then be up by 6:30 am to get ready on time.
ReplyDeleteThis would be so much easier if it only took five minutes to get home.
I thoroughly enjoy living in the dorms and completely support the two year living requirement. Personally, from my experience thus far, my floor mates have become my best friends and a close knit group of people that I can rely on all of the time. We do everything together from eating, working out, homework, and trips on the weekends. I'm in the Creativity and Entrepreneurship LLC and from participating in the program, adjusting to college was much easier. The past three weeks, a group of eight of us has gone to the mountains to ski and literally three-fourths of our time together has been spent in tears from laughing so hard. Specifically, my best friend, who lives two doors down has had some very unfortunate car issues. The day we got her car off the eighteen-wheeler that shipped it to Colorado, the back window exploded in our faces when we shut the trunk. After bringing it to the shop and spending 2 weeks in suspense of when we would could the car back, we found out there was a national shortage of back windows. What were the chances? The day after we get the car back, in the parking lot at Breckenridge, a teenage girl rear-ends us in a snowstorm. Back to the shop we went. The series of unfortunate events was only bearable because of the support she received from people in our hall. We were able to make light of the situation because after spending months living together we can pretty much read each other inside out. I lived alone for four months, taking care of every household core, as an 18 year old girl, and it wasn't exactly a walk through the park. I believe most college kids are irresponsible and living off-campus isn't necessarily conducive to their learning experience. I consider myself mature for my age too which goes to say how would these irresponsible kids react to such a freedom?
ReplyDeleteYou would think that after transferring after a full year of college into a new school, living in the dorm would be incredibly beneficial. It would help you learn the campus, meet a bunch of new people, and give you a bit of a safe house to return to. Well let me tell you this, that concept is way off base.
ReplyDeleteFor my first year of college, I eagerly packed my bags with snow jackets that made me look like the little brother from A Christmas Story and hopped on a plane to Chicago. As it turns out, I hated the school and, again, eagerly packed my bags with the yeti jackets and came to the University of Denver. I immediately started looking for a house or an apartment to rent with some friends who stayed in town to live in while I was in school. We all plopped down on the couch and stared at the one tiny laptop screen on my lap. We sifted through the really expensive houses in Observatory Park (a dream) and the crappy $80 a month rentals in the slums (just to see…). We found some great places that were affordable and safe, and then by some sadistic miracle, DU tells me I have to live on campus. I found my self packing my bags and loading my Toyota again with all my stuff and hauling it through the halls of the new dormitory I would be living in for the next year. My double was great! It was spacious, in one of the nicest halls on campus, and my roommate was pretty good. For the first month, I walked through the hall to the elevator and looked at all the colorful posters of events the dorm would be hosting that week. I went to almost all of them. By the fourth event, my floor had ate dinner a couple times and played all the silly ice breaker games we could. Somehow though, these icebreakers didn’t break the ice. Three quarters of the floor had been friends for over a year and refused to open their doors to the new kids in town. Everyone already had their niche. The actual dorm didn’t help me all, my classes were where I started meeting people and making all my friends. So I started switching off between a friend’s house close to campus and my dorm room. I have been able to do so many more things and see so many more people than I did in the first month of living in the dorm.
College is a time of exploration and self discovery when teenagers are left on their own and thrust into a new environment. A place where you meet new people, study until 2 a.m., and make some choices you regret in the morning. It is all part of the college experience, an experience for some only needs to last one year. After a whole year of putting up with your roommate’s lack of showering, or the numerous meals at the caf, it is time to leave the nest and really start to live in the real world. While dorms do offer a safe and strict place to live, they can sometimes cause more harm than good. Upon returning from class one day I arrived back at my dorm and in my kitchen was an unwanted pool of water. Someone decided to leave a window open up on the 4th floor freezing the pipes, sending water cascading down my wall into my kitchen. So, because of someone else’s negligence I was left with a mess, a smelly kitchen, and some soggy crackers. There are many instances when dorm living can be a nuisance, but there is no reason to keep students trapped for more than one year.
ReplyDeleteTo most people, college is equivalent to independence, no parents, and parties 24/7. The suspense of finding out your college roommate is overwhelming at times; this is the stranger who you’ll live with for the next nine months. The appeal of the dorms is incomparable; sharing four showers and three toilets with thirty other girls, listening to your neighbor at all hours through paper-thin walls, and most enjoyably living in an 8x10 room (if you’re lucky) with a complete stranger. However, as appealing as this lifestyle sounds it can surprisingly get in the way of the real purpose of college at times; education and schoolwork. Have you ever tried to do homework in the dorms? Yes. Have you ever gotten any homework done in the dorms? No. It’s a wonderful thing to stay up late at night studying for an exam while your desk is shaking from the thumping bass of your wonderful next door neighbor’s new music system. It’s even better when you wake up early the next morning to go to the library because you were unable to do anything productive the night before. As you pass the toilet stalls on the way to the showers, you’re not surprised as you notice the puke encrusted toilet seat. Not to worry, there are still two more stalls to share with thirty other girls on the floor. Once you get into the shower you cross your fingers in hopes that the plumbing will work regardless of the mounds of hair stuck on top of the drain. Lifestyle in the dorms is one of the many wonderful things that college has to offer. As amazing as it sounds to fulfill Denver’s two-year live in requirement, I truly don’t think that life in the dorms is right for me.
ReplyDeleteAs a college freshman, I have experienced just about everything, both exciting and disgusting, there is to experience living in a dorm room. Living in a small brick covered room with a complete stranger is definitely a wake-up call. I grew up being the only girl in my family and always had my own room. In a short amount of time, I cut down half of my room size, eliminated the closet, shared a bathroom with 25 other girls, and was assigned a new ‘best friend’ to spend 24/7 with. Yes, I believe that living in a dorm your freshman year of college is something all students should experience, but I also think that one year is enough. Students should be able to make their own living arrangements starting their second year in college. In the dorms, I met a bunch of new people, formed new relationships, and began my independency, but I also encountered many obstacles I would rather avoid. I would walk into the bathroom with the sinks clogged with food, hair, and the occasional throw up. I have learned to study with blaring music and my roommate hanging out with her boyfriend all night. As a sophomore, I believe we are old enough to decide whether or not we should live on or off campus. It would allow students to choose their study habits and people they want to and do not want to live with.
ReplyDeleteLive in campus is good for students. It is a chance to know others. The first quarter when I come here, I leave in campus. There are four people in our room and we got familiar with each other soon, and not after a long time, all my roommates take their friends to our dorm to have fun. Sometime we cook together, even though all of us are not good cook, however, we felt happy to eat something made by ourselves. What’s more, live in campus, everything is convince, to go library within 5 minutes, go to gym in 10 minutes, give yourselves no reason to be lazy, like stay at home all the day, or don’t finish your homework.
ReplyDeleteI do not want to live in the dorms for another year. It is hard living around a group of people that you do not get along with. You are forced to be surrounded by people whether you like them or not. You could have your worst enemy across the hall from you and there is not much you can do about it. One thing that really pissed me off is when I am trying to sleep and the people above or under me are playing their music insanely loud and there is nothing that I can do about it. In my first year at college I expected to live in the dorms and I am okay with it. It is a good way to meet new people and get involved in the school. Living in the dorms a second year would be the worst. I have to do the exact same stuff I did first year. Live in a tiny room, have a tiny bed, eat the dorm food, which isn’t the best, and be surrounded by people all the time. I will be 20 years old(turning 21) and still living in the dorms. I do not want to be told what I can and cannot do. I also like my own personal privacy. It is gross walking into the bathroom that you share with 16 other people and there is pee all over the seat or someone decided to drink too much the nights before and have puked everywhere. Back home, you don’t have to live in the dorms your second year. All of my friends love living on their own after their first year. When we start getting older we want more space and freedom. Everyone goes to college and wants their freedom to do what they want. If you are forcing them to live in the dorms another year, they will dread it and not be happy.
ReplyDeleteDo I want to live in the dorms for two full years? Not a chance. I can’t walk into the bathroom on a Sunday morning and not find two of the four stalls pasted with throw up. I don’t want to live in the dorms ever. A year I can handle for sure, it’s one of those things where for years I knew I was going to have to live in a dorm my freshman year of college, I accepted it. But, two years is double one year, and double one year is double amount of throw up pasted stalls, double the amount of laxative induced food, double the elevator time, double the time wasted getting my mail, and double the amount of time I have to wait to get next on an x-box game. Independence is something that I have looked forward to about college. There is nothing independent about the dorms. The dorms are about as good as staying the in the worst hotel in the world. All a dorm room comes with is a mattress and a desk. Your going to spend over a thousand dollars to equip your room with everything that it cam un-equipped with, most of which you will throw away or just leave behind. I want a house. I want a house that I can wake up to on a Sunday morning and not find a throw up pasted bathroom, a house that doesn’t come with laxative induced food, a house that has maybe an ounce of privacy, and a house that has a bed bigger so that my feet don’t dangle over the end, and my arms don’t drape over the sides. R.A. on duty? Are you kidding me? I am almost twenty years old.
ReplyDeleteLiving in the dorms can be quite disgusting. The small brick rooms with two messy college students can be a challenge. The excessive amount of clothes, shoes, books, and just unnecessary things clutter up the space way too quickly. My own room is not the cleanest of places to live. As you walk in on a good day you can see the floor, but on a usual day the floor is nowhere to be found. Good thing is my room mate and I are both very messy so there are not any disputes on that subject. The floor bathrooms that are used too many times a day and not taken care of very well are something that I do not want to live with again. Each of these things are a summary of a freshman dorm life. Not the most elegant to say the least. But, the cafeteria is right downstairs, what can get any better than that. The food is enjoyable with several choices to pick from for each meal. That is a good deal, no cooking needed on your own! Dorm life gives shy freshman the opportunity to meet hundreds of kids, just because they live under the same roof. As a freshman it can be hard to put yourself out there and introduce yourself. But in Halls everyone is new so making friends becomes easy and accepting. I feel as though for your second year it would be fun to have your own house with your best friends. You could throw parties every night you dreamed and did not have RA’s telling you to turn down your music for study hours. But you will have to cook your own meals, go grocery shopping, and pay the bills for house appliances. As a sophomore in college you still are in your beginning years of college, so dorm life would probably be beneficial. Thinking about all the people I have met so far, and the year is only half way through makes me want to live in the dorms again. Next year can be an opportunity to meet just as many new friends as I have made this year. Who does not want to make more friends?
ReplyDeleteCollege life can not live without the relationship build up from residential halls. The first semester I came to the U.S.. I lived on campus with an American girl. It was really good for an international student who was the first time to study in the U.S.. We went to the gym, library, shopping together. It was a really treasure memory for me. The first day for class, I did not know where to go. She bought me to my class and then she went to her class. She always ask me, how things going? how’s your classmates? how’s your professor? I felt that I am not alone, I have a friend who really cares about me. It gave me more energy to stay in the U.S. to study hard. I remember we listen the music and eating at weekend in our room. We chatted about everything. Even though my english is not good enough for chatting, but she was very patient to listen to me and guess what I wanted to say. It was the memory that I would never forget in my life. Even though we were in different city now, but we still talk to each other. We shared our new life to each other. This is the friendship that I got from my residential hall.
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