The Typical College Student, Eliza

In the article for today we were to read about a case study in college reading habits. I found myself reading and viewing myself in the study as Eliza. I too do not normally read to get information and to connect unless an assignment from the professor calls for it. It is mostly reading to interpret the author’s point or idea they are trying to get across. This does involve skimming and note taking because we as college students do read for more then one class and for more then one type of class. It is sometimes hard to differentiate the types of reading each class is calling for and you can find yourself mixing the techniques.
Another aspect of Eliza’s schoolwork that is talked about is her report research and writing. The author comments on how Eliza procrastinated in her sophomore year on a research project and only grabbed the materials that were easily accessible to her; she did not bother to dig deeper. Honestly I will admit as a college student I do this and I guarantee many of the other students if not all do this too. It makes our lives easier when we have three papers due and we just want to get them done and over with; why make it harder then it has to be. Eliza makes the comment about “prove it in writing from the book,”(pg.364) which is what all professors tell us to do. They tended to say at least freshman and sophomore year that by backing up what you are saying that your point should be proven and the focus was learning how to provide the essential background information to prove a point. As long as your point was fully backed by evidence then it was a good paper. I do not necessarily think it is a bad thing.
We talked in class about how Bartholomae was saying the students have to write to the professor and they have too “create a university” and Haas is saying the same thing in her essay about Eliza and her assignments. “The curriculum in her English class was built upon recognition of authors and their claims and positions.”(pg.363) This is how we as students shape our university we write as if we were the professor, for what the professor wants as pertaining to the topic. It is not uncommon to sound one way in one class and one way in another. As we see with Eliza as she goes through school she learns to better cope with the differences in classes and even improves herself and thus her writing. She has learned to work the system as I hope I will when it is all over. Although it was a case study it shines light on common college student practices and can maybe show us how to improve ours through the experiences of Eliza.