Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian's Perspective

The Pueblo’s emphasis on the spoken word is a reflection of what values their culture epitomizes. They believe in a strong sense of family and community, in which speaking from the heart is the best way to strengthen ties. They remember their culture the way that they have always remembered their culture, by getting in a group and telling their creation stories. However they are not the only culture that have this tradition but one of many. When you look back into history for examples of cultures with similar views on words and stories they’re typically more primitive. They are almost always tribal and include groups from Africa, Australia (aborigines), and the Pacific Islands. These peoples sense of community is tied to this form of storytelling because it encourages communal togetherness and a shared culture which is constantly being reaffirmed at these gatherings.

A possible reason for why Native Americans in general cling so strongly to their old ways of life is that, quite frankly, it’s all they have left. The only things that haven’t and are the hardest to take away from them are their stories. They remind them of a time when they were free to live their life the way that they wanted. No reservation on which they must remain or society which they must conform to. They were they masters of this continent 400 years ago and the only thing they have left now are words and stories.

(post by Erik)

A "Good" College

I found the introduction of “What Makes a College Good?” by Nicholas Confessore to be very intriguing. In particular, I enjoyed reading his first few introductory paragraphs, in which he spoke of the college-admissions process. He mentioned how admissions have become much more selective in recent years, further increasing the number of schools to which students apply. Confessore acknowledged the pressure to get into the “right” schools, and found that college visits and college guides and rankings have a major influence on where students even decide to apply. Reading about this, I thought back to when I first applied to college. I had decided that I didn’t want to have to take out loans to pay for college years later, so living in Wisconsin, the cheapest schools were obviously the in-state, Wisconsin schools. I ended up applying to four schools in total, all in Wisconsin. Two of which are private universities and two are public. I picked these schools to apply to because they were all relatively close to home, and at the time, I honestly didn’t feel great excitement in selecting a university. I toured three of the four universities that I applied to, but I do not recall looking into the college guides and rankings Confessore mentioned in his paper. In my guidance counselor’s office, there definitely was a pamphlet of all of the state schools compared on a chart, but this mostly covered details such as price for tuition and room and board, average ACT score and grade point average accepted, and other information regarding the college. Although I have not observed college guides and rankings in a magazine or book, after reading Confessore’s paper, it sounds extremely logical that these rankings do matter, that students probably do regard these statistics and numbers in making their college decision. Confessore made a point that, sometimes, because of these ratings, universities value prestige over their student’s learning. Though this is not true in all cases, the status of being a “good” school is definitely important to the students that apply to that particular university. When I was accepted into the schools I had applied to, everyone told me, “Oh, the University of Wisconsin – Madison is such a good school.” I thought to myself, well if it is such a “good” school, and supposedly the “best” state school in Wisconsin, then why not go there? I enjoy being in Madison, and I am very happy with my decision to attend school at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Overall reputation and rankings of universities affect the number of applicants and those who accept their admittance, so it is only logical that colleges make it a goal of theirs to obtain high ratings.