In my opinion Penrod’s views on anti-intellectualism are quite valid. While the members of academic teams will someday have a great impact on the world, their achievements will often be overshadowed by sports and many other entertainment medias. Through television people can watch the latest news of a celebrities everyday life, though news on a scientific breakthrough are only brought to light occasionally. Overall I think the lack of recognition for intellectuals could be considered a good thing. Constant praise can lead to a person being content with what they’ve done, causing them to stop striving to do better. The fact that their work never gets them world wide fame causes them to thrive in their field. If scientists and other great minds of the world experienced the lime light or our celebrities it would ruin them. I don’t feel that Einstein would have had the same level of dedication to his work if paparazzi stalked his every move.
To find a topic for my argumenative documented essay i began by looking on the internet. First i checked the KDKA, i though this would be a great site because its a local pittsburgh news source. After looking around a bit i even found a college news section, reinforcing that this was the perfect place to look. Once i looked through this section i found out it was more focused on scores of local sports teams than news that affected college students. After that dissapointment I went to the local news section. Once again I found no articles that would work as an appropriate topic for the essay. Most of the articles involved a crime being commited or something burning down. Of the top of my head there really isnt anything i can think to write about either. One thing I do have a problem with is the fact that pittsburgh university students get free bus passes and art institute students do not. The students from our college use the bus just as much as any other. For some odd reason though were left out. Also there is no way for a art institute student to afford a buss pass on there own. A year long pass costs over eight hundred dollars, and that only covers zone one (which barely goes outside of the downtown area). I guess this would be a good topic for an essay but i dont know if ill be able to come up with enough information to write a three page essay.
The town I come from is called Reamstown. Its located in eastern Pennsylvania in between Lancaster and Reading. Reamstown is a tiny place having a population of only 3,695 compared to Pittsburgh’s 310,037. While Pittsburgh has many cultural districts, famous shops, and nationally recognized restaurants. Reamstown not only has no stores there are only two restaurants (Both of which I’ve worked at). Unlike Pittsburgh many streets in Reamstown can be walked down without seeing a single person or car. Reamstown is definitely a more quiet area filled with people that mostly keep to themselves. Also another big difference is homeless people. Never have I been asked if i could give up some spare change in my home town. Thinking back I don’t think I’ve ever seen a homeless person in Reamstown. But in pittsburgh you deal with them everyday. I see at least a dozen of them when walking to school, whether its early in the morning or late at night. Overall I think Pittsburgh is a very interesting place with loads of fun things to do. But I will always feel more comfortable in a quiet small town setting.
