Is Google Making Us Stupid?, by Nicholas Carr Essay -- internet, techn

The internet is our conduit for accessing a wide variety of information. In his article, â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid,† Nicholas Carr discusses how the use of the internet affects our thought process in being unable to focus on books or longer pieces of writing. The author feels that â€Å"someone, or something, has been tinkering with [his] brain† over the past few years (Carr 731). While he was easily able to delve into books and longer articles, Carr noticed a change in his research techniques after starting to use the internet. He found that his â€Å"concentration often [started] to drift after two or three pages† and it was a struggle to go back to the text (Carr 732). His assertion is that the neural circuits in his brain have changed as a result of surfing endlessly on the internet doing research. He supports this statement by explaining how his fellow writers have had similar experiences in being unable to maintain their concentrations. In analyzing Carr’s argument, I disagree that the internet is slowly degrading our capacity for deep reading and thinking, thereby making us dumber. The Web and Google, indeed, are making us smarter by allowing us access to information through a rapid exchange of ideas and promoting the creativity and individualization of learning. With one easy click on the search button, Google grants entry to a reservoir of information for our use. Carr acknowledges that the internet â€Å"has been a godsend to [him] as a writer† because of the ease of finding information rapidly (Carr 732). Before, he would spend days searching through lengthy articles for the same material. Thus, web-browsing proves that not only is the internet useful for finding relevant information, but it is a time-saving tool. In today’s gener... ... access to it from various forms of media. Instead of demolishing our ability to read and learn, the internet aids us by giving us rapid information that would otherwise take days of research through books to attain. Therefore, the internet should not be viewed as the cause for our lack of intelligence, but rather the reason for our vast knowledge. Technology has revolutionized our learning and will continue to serve as the prime tool in our education. Works Cited Carr, Nicholas. â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid?† The Atlantic.com. July/August 2008. 15 November 2013. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/200807/google Wright, Sandra, April Fugett, and France Caputa. â€Å"Using E-Readers and Internet Resources To Support Comprehension.† Journal of Educational Technology and Society 16.1 (2013): 367- 379. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

Studying English Language

1. Studying English language in an English-speaking country is the best but not the only way to learn the language. Do you agree or disagree with this statement. Some people believe that the students have to go abroad to study English while other people claim that beside learning English in an English-speaking country, there are a number of ways to study this language. I am strongly persuaded by the latter idea by the following reasons. First of all, it cannot be denied that learning English in an English-speaking country have many advantages.While overseas, students will have opportunities to practice listening and speaking with British people, which is conducive to the development in using language. Moreover, by dint of living in foreign countries, students can also experience the culture first-hand (have first-hand experience in foreign culture), which is a great help when trying to understand the language. For example, living with the native family will provide the students oppor tunities to discover about new cultures and customs. Besides this, if student attend language full time, teachers will be native speakers.In that case, not only will student’ speaking and listening skills improve but the attention can be given to develop reading and writing skills. However, the fact has shown that, most students in non-English-speaking countries often study English at secondary schools, sometimes at universities. Although the spoken English is not usually of a very high standard, the knowledge in grammar is often quite advanced, which will be good basics to perfect language ability in the future. It is obvious that the more technical science upgraded the more ways students can approach the knowledge worldwide without going abroad.Equally important, learning English basics at secondary school is much less stressful than studying language while overseas. The statistics have shown that students’ living at home does not have to worry about troubles such as finding accommodation, paying for their study and living cost and trying to survive in a foreign country where day to day the living course much stress. In brief, while going abroad is a good way to approach the native language, studying at home also become more and more useful to enhance the English abilities especially in the basic skills.

The For Loan Debt Crisis - 1308 Words

Many economist view this current student loan issue in the same realm as the home mortgage crisis. In 2008 The mortgage crisis put the American economy into the biggest recession it had seen since the â€Å"Great Depression†. An economist by the name of John T. Harvey is highly regarded for his work in economics. Harvey attended the University of Tennessee, where he received a doctorates degree in economics and political science, and has now taken on the role as a Professor of Economics at Texas Christian University. Harvey wrote an article published on Forbes.com titled â€Å"Student Loan Debt Crisis†, where he breaks down the main intricacies of student loan debt. Harvey starts by discussing the comparison between student loan debt and the†¦show more content†¦This means ninety percent are making their payments on time. Harvey also points to how the government backs most of the loans, he states, â€Å"the government supports 95% of student loans, meaning tha t the private sector is protected from direct economic fallout in a way that was not true in the subprime crisis. Last and perhaps most important, we don’t have financial institutions enthusiastically creating assets derived from pools of student loans (especially the riskiest ones) that are then traded on the stock market, thus making their value vulnerable to sudden and violent changes of opinion.† The final statement Harvey inquired about is exactly why this student loan debt crisis should be put into perspective. The mortgage crisis had so many cracks in its foundation that it was simply bound to collapse. Banks were making risky loans, but did not care since they knew they were just going to resell the loan to another bank. The loans were then pooled together and received securitization through an intermediary institution. The intermediary would then organize these loans into tranches and aach tranche would then undergo a shaky ratings process where it would receiv e a rating based on the risk. Where all of this went wrong is these intermediary institutions would then pool all the low rated tranches and get them re-assesed where the pools now received a higher rating due to it being a watered down pool of loans. These loans turned into a hot potato where the