Reader Response #2 (Out tired, Our Poor, Our Kids)

The article “Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Kids” by Anna Quindlen offers an insight to not only poverty in the United States, but poverty in the United States amongst kids as well. The way Quindlen wrote this article she very much has a compassionate tone to her, almost like a commercial to sponsor a child in some third world country. I definitely agree with what she is arguing for and think that she did a good job at it. She really plays at people’s emotions and tugs at their heartstrings when she brings up all the stories about the homeless families living in shelters and fitting six people in a master bedroom sized room.

Quidelin starts strong and goes straight into her stories about homeless mothers with children ranging from teens to toddlers, and their struggle to have a roof over their head every night. Most, not cold blooded, people tend to have a soft spot for the impoverished even if they do not always give to them when they are on the streets begging for money or food, but the soft spot is there nonetheless. The children are our future, a statement that has been said for generations and it never ceases to be true. That statement combined with all the little facts she provided, and organizations she talks about really form a great argument against childhood poverty. The final nail in the coffin of her argument comes when she mentions the quote that is at the base of the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor,” and relates that to the “small refugees” whose chances at the American dream have essentially been ruined.

Overall, I feel that Anna Quidlen made a great argument against childhood poverty and I completely agree with what she stated.

The Wrong Lesson: Teaching College Reporters to Be Meek

I felt like the article “The Wrong Lesson: Teaching College Reporters to Be Meek” was a very interesting piece, one that I thought maybe took aim more specifically at private religious universities than they did others. The author made some good points about the censorship of young up and coming college journalists and I am inclined to agree. Truthfully, it is up to each school to set its own policies and such, but it hardly seems honest or unbiased to have policies that outlaw freedom of speech or publications that expose your flaws. In today’s corrupted world, I find it refreshing to pick up a newspaper or a magazine and read something other than celebrity gossip. I would prefer that my news came from a reporter who isn’t afraid to snoop around and go places others wouldn’t for fear of the repercussions.

Overall, I liked David Wallis’ style of writing he seemed notably crude using phrases such as, “scared the living shit out of him”. He seemed really passionate about the subject, not nearly as passionate as the author of “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women” but passionate nonetheless. The argument was actually more effective than I anticipated it to be. When I first started reading the article, I didn’t expect it to sway me or motivate me in anyway, but after reading it I felt outraged that universities would go to such extents to quiet their journalists. What really got me was Chris Carroll’s’ story about the freshman who essentially was strong-armed into giving up journalism. It is appalling that universities are even allowed to have such policies and indeed I do feel that parents should not allow their students to attend institutions that silence journalists and are apparently anti-freedom of speech.