1

Ms. Metzger
English 103
9/15/14
Edmundson Reading Response
Mark Edmundson focuses on the different aspects of education in light of what it
should be considereda privilege or a commodityin his article On the Uses of Liberal
Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students. He makes a strong point with his
personal experience when the students have the opportunity to evaluate him and how, even
though he knows hes turns up positive results from them, they make him nervous because of
how much control students have. One of his other main points is that students are failing to have
an interest in learning; a lack of passion and enthusiasm. Edmundson comments that theres
little fire, little passion to be found in students in his classes and observations (325). Lastly
Edmundson speaks of the consumerism that has leaked into schools and the detrimental effects
of its diffusion into universities. The entirety of Edmundsons article is to make a bold statement
as to make a change for the better. Through topics such as interest in learning, power of the
people, and finances, Edmundson ropes in his audience to make his claim clear and powerful.
Edmundsons pet peeve, per say, is how students come into a classroom expecting to be
enthralled by some mind reeling question or a laugh-out-loud style joke. Students, as Edmundson
puts it, think that the function of him as a teacher is to divert, entertain, and interest (323). He
doesnt appreciate the word enjoyed when it comes to his classes. Hed rather hear evaluations
claiming that the course has challenged the students and maybe even changed their lives. He
hopes that through his teaching, students will take something out of it and will measure
themselves against what theyve read (323). However due to the generation of students he
teaches, he knows that students come into the classroom expecting to be catered to. Students
expect their needs to come first even if they seem ridiculous to the professors. Edmundson
claims that his generation of parents is responsible for the way students are, saying that they

2
sheltered these students, kept them away from the hard knocks of everyday life, making them
cautious and overfragile, who demanded that their teachers, from grade school on, flatter them
endlessly so that the kids are shocked if their college profs dont reflexively suck up to them
(326). On the contrary, not all students have been raised this way and some parents have
succeeded in teaching their children to adapt to the learning environment theyre put into. From
personal experience, my parents would never let me withdraw from a class or get anything lower
than a B without their confident knowledge that I was trying my hardest. To work hard for
something that doesnt particularly interest us makes us stronger in real world situations like
doing that monotonous desk job many people encounter at least once in their lifetime. That being
said, students are also unreasonably afraid of humiliation in front of a class. Heaven forbid that
the class deems one student stupid, or that the teacher tells them theyre wrong. When
Edmundson looked into this with one of his own personal students, they were on the fence as to
whether the factual flaw they spoke in class was more important than their reputation. If a
students ideas are challenged, they claim to be offended. However, looking past the classroom
setting, Edmundson calls out students on being almost unfailingly polite outside the classroom
(331). They go out of their way not to offend their professors for fear of getting on the bad side
and their grade suffering as a result. Edmundson seems to conclude overall that to be usefully
offensivemight not be a bad thing and that students are desperate to fit in and have this block
against their flaws being pointed out.
Students not only are somewhat over sensitive when it comes to education but also have a
lack of desire to learn. One of Edmundson's students stood out to him because of the way he
pursued his interests and let them make him into a singular and rather eccentric man and in his
own bubble he seemed to care very little about the opinions of others (325). Edmundson seemed
to praise this student, Joon Lee, for his particular way of approaching his education. However,

3
Edmundson mentions that Lee pursued his interest and so forth making him an outstanding
individual, but realistically not everyone is going to have an interest in everything they
encounter, no matter how much effort they put in. Generic education systems dont necessarily
work best for everyone. Many fantastic individuals, such as Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, and Walt
Disney, dropped out/didnt finish college (or even high school) and have gone on to achieve
multitudes of greatness. Edmundsons final statements in his article reveal his long term goal of
renewing the passion in students to get them excited to learn new things without having to be
entertained with jokes and TV references.
The most widespread issue that Edmundson elaborates on is how consumerism
has largely taken over university culture. Universities not only intend to attract the smartest
individuals but also the richest because whats most important to them is the money (Edmondson
328). Its a sad phenomenon where our students are valued more for the fact that theyre paying
tens of thousands of dollars to attend colleges rather than their education as a whole. In domino
effect to this, students are afraid of taking chances with their education because of how important
financial stability is to them. Edmundson makes a hard hitting statement that theres a sentiment
currently abroad that if you step aside for a moment, to write, to travel, to fall too hard in love,
you might lose position permanently by which he means taking any risks for your personal
enjoyment or fulfillment exponentially decrease your chances of success in the greater world
(327). Universities tend to the students wants in order to attract them to their school, they
compete with one other on terms like who has the best athletic facility, or who has the nicest
dorm life. On top of that, the students ability to choose their own classes and then proceed to
drop and add classes with ease within the first week or so gives the students that strong consumer
mentality that they can get what they want without consequence. Even further, they have the
opportunity to withdraw from a class if it proves too difficult and therefore avoid an F on their

4
transcript. Edmundson relays this by saying a happy consumer is one with options and
therefore students are catered to so that they stay at the college and continue paying those
thousands of dollars to attend (329). Another controversial topic Edmundson touches on is that of
buy in order to be where advertisements focus on the people who own the products as opposed
to the product itself (325). However relevant this may be for some advertising, there are
companies who seem to have escaped the conformity. Microsoft has come out with tablets that
utilize windows 8 technology and in their commercial have displayed an iPhone in comparison.
The ad is simple in that its a white screen with two devices on it. The products are then
compared based solely on their features as opposed to who is using them. The most human
contact you see from the commercial is the hand that comes up to swipe or tap the screen.
However, the way Edmundson uses it in the college sense is that brochures show you happy
students around campus making use of the variety of facilities which draws prospective students
in to want to be like that smiling college kid on the front cover of the pamphlet. Overall you can
clearly see the disapproval of Edmundson on university culture and how he wishes things were
different.