In the broadcast “#1 Party school” the writer defines the issue very well. They start off with evidence right away, and I thought that was a very good way to explain the issue so that it makes sense to the audience. It is shown that the issues need to be investigated right away because just in the very beginning the woman in the broadcast catches a girl going to the bathroom on her lawn. That, in and of itself, should be enough to investigate it immediately. Some facts are given to explain how the issue affects different groups that might have an interest in or connection to the issue, like the clip from the frat house, and the example of the kid who went out just to observe drunk people. There could be more, however, because I found they could have talked more about how it affects the academic life, and people who don’t drink. A lot of the quotations I thought were from interviews from students here, and what they thought about drinking. They even interview drunk people, and that gave good insight into the night life at Penn State. I think the point of this broadcast is to show why Penn State deserves the title #1 Party School.
In my opinion, I was a little offended. I’m not a heavy drinker, in fact in all honesty, I’ve only drank once in my life, so I found it a little unfair that these people were pinpointing my school and stereotyping it in a way that made it seem like all students here drink. I thought this broadcast portrayed Penn State as a school where students only drink, when really there are tons of good things done here. I think had it been an Ivy League school that was dubbed the #1 party school, they wouldn’t have been as harsh since ivy’s have academics to back them up. What I’m saying isn’t that Penn State doesn’t have great academics; I just know that Ivy League schools take classes and academics more seriously than at a normal school. I did, however, like how they observed drunk students and showed their actions through interviews (like the stop sign). I also liked how they used school examples, like street names and stores, so that it became a more personal piece rather than just a normal party school. On the other hand, I didn’t like how the broadcast made it seem like the drinking here doesn’t happen at other places. I’ve been to other college campuses and I know that drinking happens there too. The amount of alcohol abuse here just seems so much more serious, when in reality there are just so much more people. If our school was scaled down to the size of a smaller school, say 6,000 undergrad for example, the amount of drinking would be the same as any other school that size. Notice how the bigger schools have been known as the #1 party schools. I feel like the size of the school and the number of enrolled students has a lot to do with the title of #1 party school, when in reality it would probably be very similar to that of a smaller school if it was scaled down.
Evan:
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of students feel the same way you do about the piece -- slightly offended that it suggests that most PSU students are big party-goers, when the majority are not. We'll be talking about this in class tomorrow.
One thing I really liked about your observations is that you took the opening scene as a way to justify the rest of the interview. I like this idea -- that the opening scene suggests that an investigation of the issue is worthwhile, because it shows us the situation that merits investigation up front. That's a clever way to look at it. So I'm thinking: what might be the opening scene of your report? How might you paint a picture of the issue you want to investigate to show your reader that it is worth talking about? How might you illustrate the problem you want to investigate? I think that'd be a great way of starting your own paper.
Thanks!
-Denise