Sharing Is Caring

"Sharing is a big deal these days. Sharing is a growth industry, a new field of study and of practice; it presents a realm of career opportunities, a new way of life, and a concept around which we are restructing our world."

-Janelle Orsi, co-author of The Sharing Solution

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   In the book "Share or Die:Voices of the Get Lost Generation in the age of Crisis", I read about the ten ways the world is becoming more shareable. Sharing techniques, lifestyles, and businesses may be what is best for everyone, by reading about the rough experiences they have gone through. It would cut down on the amount of debt that is happening now, and also educate others. Sharing may be a good way to give other people a new way of thinking about things or a new prespective of life. Sharing experiences could prevent others from making the same mistakes to just keep worsening the state that cities are in now, like people going through identity fraud due to the information that they put on the internet. I believe that sharing, not only information, but knowledge about personal experiences will have a large impact on our generation and the world overall. I have noticed that many of the sharing methods in this essay are very useful. Social media and the internet are both things that I am familiar with and they both have advantages from a positive and negative side.

   From the social media point of view I have seen that Facebook is a large sharing site. It can be used as a way to share information with people to find lost family members. I have put my own personal information into the site just to find family members that I haven't spoken to in years. I also used facebook to locate my God mother that I was separated from at a young age. Social media and the internet can also keep people from doing things that may harm them. The right information in the hands of the wrong person can teach someone a quick lesson. These websites have no filter so people become careless, and will put information about their social security numbers and other things into sites that are not protected. This could be an example to educate people about the correct ways to use the internet and many social media sites.Youtube is also another way I have seen social media and the internet being used. Many of my professors this semester have used it to post study guides, feedback on certain assignments, and also to show instructional videos.

       " If Facebook was a country, it would be the fourth largest country in the world by population with over 800 million users."







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Is All of This Just A Big Waste of Time ?

            Is college even anything like it used to be ? Is college enough to make it in the 21st century ? Will people even be as worried about college as we are now ? I honestly have no way of answering this question, but what I can say is there are possibly three reasons college won't be as affective to people in later years as it is to people now. The first reason would be that mostly half of the people that start off going to college just drop out after a while. The second, as technology is increasing the need to actually go to college to learn new skills will probably decrease. The third, college degrees are not as promising as they have always been.

 

 

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"About thirty precent of college and university students drop out of school before they even get to their second year. Fifty precent of those students that start off at college never graduate." , as seen in "College in America", an infographic. Students hear many times in their lives about how fabulous college is, and also about how many things they can accomplish with a college degree. Once many of them get to college they soon start to realize that college is not just fun and games. College actually requires a lot of self-determination and a lot of self-motivation. High school and high school teachers often talk about how good college is and how it will help you succeed in life, but is that even the case anymore ? Is college really going to get you ahead in life? I see it as yes, you can go to college and get a degree, but a job is not guaranteed; especially not in the kind of economy we live in today. In an article written by Jordan Weissmann, "Why Do So Many Americans Drop Out of College ?", he clearly explains that unprepared students sign up for school because they think a degree is their passport to middle class. He also says that students should have other options. I am guilty of thinking of college in that way. I have stated in many of my past blogs that I came to college to get a degree in nursing to be successful. That statement was me, thinking that college is just going to lead the way for my success and that I would have nothing else to do. My thinking process was totally off.

 

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Technology is taking over the way students learn completely. Homework assignments can be done over the internet and many class projects require internet now. The way technology is evolving is great, but is it all for the good ? In " The Crisis in Higher Education", the opening sentence caught my eye. The opening sentence said, "Online courses are attracting hundreds of thousands of students, millions of dollars in funding, and accolades from university administrators. Is this a fad, or is higher education about to get the overhaul it needs ?" The passage goes on to talk about the internet is raising new hopes in education. All of the work that needs to be done can be done from your dorm room or even your own home. Many teachers have started to put the lessons for the day on an online website that can be reached by their students. Teachers also put videos of the things they covered that day in class online too. What's the point of even having class ? Give your students a reason to come to class, other than the fact that they are paying for you class and don't want their money to go to waste; give them something to look forward to. In the article, "Is Technology Ruining Children ?", the article talks about how technology is creating a generation of students that are unable to do anything themselves. I am one of those type people that if I need to figure something out, I will just type it into google because it's so much easier than doing it myself. I can say that technology has turned me into one of those lazy children.

 

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 In the article " College Education, Good Jobs: Why Degrees are Overrated ", by Ramesh Ponnuru, he talks about how ridiculous it is that people how have college degrees work as hotel management and accounting. It's sad to say, but there are people out there with college degrees that are just stuck with nothing to do. The way the economy is now there are not many job openings at all. This puts the people with college degrees at a disadvantage. Those people have to take any job option possible just to make ends meet.
      These are my reasons as to why I can't say that college is or isn't good enough for anyone. Yes, it helps you succeed, but what does college do to you in the long run; how does it damage you ? Will the drop out rates, technology, or non-promising careers hold college students back ? You tell me.

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Is College Worth it ?

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   Do you want to make something of yourself ? Sometimes I find myself asking this exact question. Although college is making a HUGE dent in my wallet and my parent's wallet, I can't say that I see myself anywhere else. I view this as an opportunity to strengthen my learning skills and teach me at least some of what it will be like when I'm on my own. College not only expands your knowledge further than what you have learned in high school, but it also creates a path for better career decisions. I would like to become a nurse so I know my only way to further that dream would be to actually finish college. It may seem as though your whole reasoning for being there is pointless or maybe even a waste of time. In "Professor: Value of College Extends Beyond Paycheck" by NPR staff, it states,

          "Rose, the author of Why School? and other books, cites the idea of intellectual growth — "not just learning things to make a living, but also learning things to enable you to do things with      your life, to enable you to find interests and pursuits that may in some way or another expand the way we see things."

 



        

       College gives students a chance to really make something of themselves. To actually see what they are capable of doing. It will also challenge the thoughts that they had during high school the dreams that they set for themselves years earlier. It could be looked at as a big test of endurance.

 

 

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In "Live and Learn: Why We Have College", Louis Maynard states, "College is, essentially, a four-year intelligence test. Students have to demonstrate intellectual ability over time and across a range of subjects. If they’re sloppy or inflexible or obnoxious—no matter how smart they might be in the I.Q. sense—those negatives will get picked up in their grades. As an added service, college also sorts people according to aptitude." I, myself, wasn't the best student in high school so I can see this as my opportunity to try and make something better of myself. To prove that not every student comes to college just to party or just to waste their parent's money. In " Don't Miss The College Forest for the Career Trees", Bobby Fong explains "College can't serve you well without challenging you to integrate information and skills in ways you haven't before, and to apply the results to problems that may not yield clear and simple answers." I feel as though I always have to push myself to complete things, like assignments. I want to see can I really go through with this independent life. To prove to myself that I am capable of making it.

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In the article,"Actually, College is Very Much Worth it", it basically tells you that college graduates are more likely to be in jobs with better benefits, further widening the gap between graduates and non-graduates. I don't want to spend years in college and end up with an underpaid, unappreciated job. I don't want the time and pain that I have invested into school to go to waste, so it's almost a priority for me to finish college and do something better, something great with my life. This will show that all my hard work actually paid off somehow. This is what college is good for !!!!!!

Why college ?

Well at first coming to college was never a "serious" thought of mine. Yes, I wanted to come but I never thought I could have the determination or self-motivation to complete assignments on time. Once I saw the look on my mother's face after being the first one of her children to actually graduate high school, I knew the decision to come to college was a "no brainer". This is when alot of thought into what I wanted to be or what I was even interested in. I knew nursing was something that I was interested in, and children was another one of my interests.

Also, another reason of mine to go to college was just to get out of my house; prove to people that I was actually independent and capable to doing things on my own. Being the only girl of four boys I found that having to prove myself became sort of a ritual. I guess really my choice to come to college was to mainly make my mother and family proud or course, but to also prove to them and others that I didnt need everything done for me. That at some point of time in my life I was going to actually have to grown up and start the whole living on my own process with or without them.





                                          

 

Something About Me :)

Hey everyone, my name is Laquaramyshia Bonds, but I just go by Myshia. Im from Oxford, Al , and I graduated from Oxford High School. During high school I spent most of my time playing basketball, or being out with friends. Im originally from Magnolia, Mississippi, and I moved to Alabama when I was about six or seven. I have four brothers and im the second oldest. Graduating high school was a huge accomplishment to me because i knew it would make my mother proud. My hobbies include shopping and texting. I believe I have the worst road rage on the face of this Earth, so I would advise people to just stay out of my way. I chose to go to Jacksonville State because of the excellent nursing program. I plan on majoring in Nursing, and becoming a Neonatal nurse. Working with childern is really a passion of mine. I am really loving JSU so far, and plan on continuing my mission to finish college successfully.