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Nancy Cao
Professor Masulit
Ethnic Studies 21
10 October 2016
Staley and Halverson
In Constance Staley's article "Technology Skills: Wireless, Widowed, Webbed, and
Wikied," she explains the benefits and disadvantages technology possesses. Some of the benefits
she describes are convenience, affordability, interactivity, managing course work, etc. On the
other hand, she names many disadvantaged technology causes, such as: laziness, dependency,
inaccuracy, etc. She states that technology is very common in today's society, and we, as college
students, always have to use technology. Now, people have to be more technological because
society is becoming more and more technologically advanced.
I agree with Staley's pros and cons about technology. Although technology has brought
the human race very far, there are some flaws. Now, people have to use technology in order to
stay current. Even schools are supplying laptops and iPads to students. College students need the
internet to turn in their essay, write a paper, do research, etc. I agree that there are cases where
people become too dependent on their phones and social media. In many ways, social media is
able to inform people and bring people together. However, social media allows bullying and
trolling. People become narcissistic and depend on others for reassurance through likes and
shares and favorites. In many ways technology has taken over people's lives in good ways and
bad.
In William H. Halverson's article "American Higher Education: A Brief History," he
begins explaining how American universities came to be. It all started with nine universities and

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we all know as Ivy League: Harvard, Brown, Pennsylvania State, Rutgers, Princeton, Columbia,
Yale, College of William and Mary, and Dartmouth. These universities were made to reflect the
universities in England, Cambridge and Oxford. Universities were established to make sure that
the colonies would be supplied educated and literate leaders. Higher education was designed to
benefit white males. Later, female colleges were created as a result of the feminist movement.
Halverson states that the three tasks of a university is instruction, research, and public service.
While reading Halverson's article, he made it clear that universities were designed for
wealthy white males. Women and also minorities were seen as inferior and irrational. Today, I
still feel like the traditional education system benefits white males the most in America. This
system is very old, but for some reason we still use the same structure. I believe that the school
system is outdated and things do need to be changed. Although there are things like affirmative
action that benefits minorities at the university level, it is still very difficult for minorities to go
through school. Women and minorities are discriminated in certain fields and are unable to
pursue a career in that field. Women usually dominate fields that are "women's work" and it is
very rare for a woman to be in engineering, computer engineering, etc. In my opinion, the system
is out of date, and the traditional school system should be updated to the lives typical Americans
live today.