Kenyon Commencement Speech

Words: 200

Pages: 1

In the Kenyon commencement speech David Wallace’s argument is that education isn’t about earning a degree or filling you up with knowledge. It is about teaching students how to think. For students to be fully educated and well-adjusted in their daily life they should learn to control how and what to think. To choose what we pay attention to and to choose how we construct meaning from experiences. The most convincing part of Wallace’s speech to me is that one can’t overcome close mindedness. He quoted an old cliche, “the mind being an excellent servant but a terrible master” and that is so true. Our thoughts can take over and we become so distracted that we are no longer aware of what we are doing instead we are lost in our own thoughts. Those

Show More

Commencement Speech, Kenyon College

short story “The Lesson” by Tony Cade Bambara, and the essay “Commencement Speech, Kenyon College” by David Foster Wallace, convey that a person should be aware of their surrounding to develop the way that person thinks from that point on. In the story “The Lesson” you have a group of poor inner city kids who are taken on a day trip by a college educated older lady to a toy store that caters to the wealthy. In the “Commencement Speech, Kenyon College” the speaker talks to the graduating class about how…

Words 737 - Pages 3

Rhetorical Analysis Of The Commencement Speech By David Foster Wallace

Wallace gave the commencement speech to the Kenyon College graduating class of 2005, he provided an outstanding articulation that some would say laid the foundation for the audience to become vividly aware of their surroundings in a non-superficial way; and how doing so can improve one’s outlook on life dramatically, in other words, he tells them, let go of their natural default settings and live life for today. When David Foster Wallace gave the commencement speech to the Kenyon College, graduating…

Words 142 - Pages 1

Essay on Wallace Rhetorical Analysis

then it would certainly be very different than the world as humans know it. Since air is essential to the livelihood of most life on Earth, it could be considered an “important reality.” In David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech, “This is Water” to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College, Wallace states that “the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about.” (Wallace) Despite the necessity for air, most take its beautiful existence…

Words 1397 - Pages 6

David Foster Wallace This Is Water Summary

Summary: In David Foster Wallace’s 2005 commencement speech, This is Water, given at Kenyon College, he communicates with graduates about the value of their education and the struggles of everyday life. He mentions things such as that everything is not always as it appears. He also talks about the everyday boring routine life almost every adult encounters. Wallace’s also mentions that everyone believes things in their own way and has their own convictions how they feel about what happens to them…

Words 424 - Pages 2

David Foster Wallace Commencement Speech Analysis

In his commencement speech at Kenyon College, David Foster Wallace emphasizes the importance of personal and intentional choice in life as well as the acquisition of control over how and what to think. The author begins his speech with the fish story, where he clarifies that the most crucial realities are often hard to see and talk about. Wallace explains that an enormous amount of stuff, people are mechanically certain of is completely erratic and even deluded. Against the parable’s backdrop, he…

Words 263 - Pages 2

3.2 essay

important tool in life, but it is how we use it that truly matters. Many students are consumed with the idea that knowledge is power and, therefore, college degrees are the ultimate tool for entering the work world. In David Foster Wallace’s “Kenyon Commencement Speech,” he advises graduating students that in order to obtain a complete education, they must learn how to think and what to think and to be involved with the lives of others. It is important to believe that a degree is the key that can open…

Words 1409 - Pages 6

David Foster Wallace's This Is Water

At the Kenyon Commencement in 2005, David Foster Wallace gave a speech, This is Water, to all who attended the ceremony and gave them words of encouragement and advice for the new life they’ll have after graduation. Wallace told multiple stories during his speech, each of which had to do with understanding other people and how they have their own unique thoughts. Wallace begins his speech with a greeting and then dives straight into the story of fish to introduce his topic to the audience. By starting…

Words 340 - Pages 2

David Foster Wallace's Concept Of Default Setting

In 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College, David Foster Wallace presents his concept of “default setting.” Wallace mentions that “default setting” is the belief that humans center their experiences and views of things from their own perspectives and putting their priorities above everything else. This way of thinking is wired up from birth and it is the default setting people automatically and unconsciously do in situations. Humans fall into default setting because of unconscious thinking, they…

Words 252 - Pages 2

Tara Summary FINAL1 Essay

think? In the commencement speech “This Is Water” by David Foster Wallace, he implies that throughout most of life, people just go day by day thinking impulsively. Life is constantly taken for granted. For a better outlook on life, when thinking in general, all thoughts should be premeditated. One can actually change how life plays out just by changing the way one thinks which would also change his or her reactions for the better, and not everyone knows that. After reading his speech my mind took…

Words 828 - Pages 4

Argumentive Essay Education

Alazhae Beckford Tom S. 3/11/2015 ENG 103 Many young people see going to school as a chore and only go because they absolutely have to. Some will even skip school because they see it as boring and unnecessary. In the essays “Kenyon Commencement Speech “by David Foster Wallace and “Are Too Many People Going to College? “by Charles Murray they express two very different opinions about college . David Foster Wallace expresses how everyone needs school high education up to college to succeed…

Words 851 - Pages 4