Persuasions: Identities, Stereotypes, & Fights

When I first walked into the debate, I wasn’t sure of what to expect from a debate for higher education. After walking out, I still didn’t feel it was really a debate so much as a discussion. Anya mentioned right off the bat, that she wasn’t here to discuss the future of higher education and that she believed the students always had to come first. Anya and Siva became more focused on the issue of whether or not higher education is a benefit to students. I noticed that they never seemed to take things that far, they would make a several points and agree with each other and only disagree with each other occasionally. However, I think the two of them did get heated up maybe two or three times during the debate.

I found the debate between the two of them very interesting because I felt that Siva was more of a professional speaker while Anya was more of a ideological one. I felt Anya had the passion of socialists, while Siva relied on his evidence. I didn’t disagree with either of them, I feel that they both had very strong points to make. My thoughts on the matter were spoken by one of the audience members. Although I don’t remember his name, I remember that he said he believed that both their methods would eventually be applied to schools. I also agreed with the statement that most students who attend college do so for a higher degree and pay, and not purely educational reasons.

To start off, I really enjoyed watching the episode of Daria and everyone’s videos in English today! All the videos were really different from each other in production and style, and I liked the background music of each one a lot. But moving onto the debate, I really don’t know what I was expecting from it, but it certainly was interesting. Like Vicky, the fact that Anya was the only woman on the podium piqued my interest. From what I gathered, Anya was on a side where she believed that you don’t necessarily need to be in a lecture hall setting with a professor lecturing or in a classroom discussion to be learning. One thing she mentioned that stood out to me was the site LinkedIn, where I think she was trying to argue that people would use and learn from the information posted there, and post there themselves. She pointed out that ideas and creative discussions can happen anywhere, not just inside a classroom. Siva, on the other hand, believed in the classroom setting and in a “tried and true” way of learning and teaching. I actually didn’t find myself agreeing entirely with either one of them, but I felt that Siva did present himself and his ideas in a more calm and composed way. I feel like at times, Anya lost her cool and became sort unreasonable in her answers, if that  makes any sense.

Props to the woman who pointed out that not everyone could understand everything people said (i.e. the undergrads), who I now know is Professor Gaunt after reading Vicky’s post. She made good points, but I just can’t help remembering that before she spoke into the microphone, I made eye contact with her at one point when she was on the line and smiled, but I didn’t think she’d say anything remotely close to what she actually said. But after she spoke, all I could think was “Damn, she’s fierce!”.

Overall, I enjoyed the debate and I loved the fact that there were so many people passionate about this topic and asked really thought invoking questions. 🙂

English class was particularly fun, mostly because we watched an episode of Daria and then our digital essays. I would like to make a comment to Deon and what he said about Mattel; they have over 30,000 employees worldwide, not 5,000. I knew there was something wrong with that number. Anyway, I thought the videos we all made were great.

On a much different note, the debate was much more interesting than I thought it would be. I have to say that I did not like Anya as much as I thought I would when she started talking. At first, I was intrigued that she was the only woman on stage. However, when she began debating her ideals, I realized that not only did I not agree with what she said but I didn’t like the way she said it. While answering questions, she gave off an attitude and was not very well-spoken. She used a lot of “likes” and “uhms” and gave off a very womanly attitude. I do not believe in double standards, however Siva was so much more well-spoken than she was and I believe it was because of her attitude. Siva also seemed a little full of himself, with a “cover charge higher than Barbara Streishand.”

The best part of the debate, and I know the rest of our LC will agree with me, was Professor Gaunt. (I believe that’s how you spell her name. I’m too lazy to check her card.) She was right. I didn’t find myself truly interested in the debate because it didn’t relate to me. There were only so many points that Anya and Siva made that I actually remember but this professor “of color” opened a can of “whoop ass” as Professor Kaufman said. (She teaches classes on anthropology and racism only on Thursday from 6-8 in case anyone is interested.)

Higher education is getting more expensive and according to Siva, they’re expected to do worse because it’s more economical. My boyfriend mentioned to me today that he wants to transfer to NYU. My personal opinion is that it just isn’t worth it. They are destroying the city with their plans for skyscrapers and unnecessary facilities. They are an extremely expensive university with the same education as Baruch.

All in all, I found the debate to be much more interesting than I had expected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw4SUb2bZbg

This is the link to my video.  Greatness isn’t achieved easily. =D

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9JTsqZC99s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCL0IOPHwaU
sorry i have no idea how to embed right now ><

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Danielle Minch
Vicky Vien
Jonathan Rodriguez