Blog #1

Texts can come in so many different shapes, sizes, and types. All forms of text have their own special meaning of what they are trying to accomplish (their purpose), but some can be much more mentally challenging to comprehend and summarize in our minds. From the tweets published to the governmental documents written, all forms of text hold their own importance in some way or another and being able to understand the underlying messages within them is a crucial attribute for one person to have. Understanding/summarizing the underlying messages within texts can help farther the overall knowledge of what is being read by the consumer. The benefits from learning to be a critical thinker are endless. Being able to personally question everything you read and see in the media is an endlessly self-beneficial trait to have as it restrains one-self from believing everything that is read and seen immediately and replaces it with question. The ability to question what you are absorbing through a text can open an entirely new realm of knowledge simply by forcing yourself to look deeper into what information is being discussed/ given. Learning to view texts in different ways is an excellent way to expand your base knowledge on reading comprehension, usually every author has their own intention when writing whatever piece of text, they are creating and knowing that author’s purpose can help you see where they are coming from, why they are saying what they are saying, and even shape your own understanding of the writing. In class when we read all three of the different texts from EHE, we identified all of the underlying items within the texts with the rhetorical triangle such as why the author has credibility for what they are writing, the main purpose for why they are writing, the context behind what they are writing and so on. Each of those different things we did to break down the articles helped me, and hopefully others, better understand why the author wrote what they did.

Seth Davis is a feature writer for Sports illustrated, has a regular column on SI.com, is a sports analyst with CBS, and is even the host of his own show “Courtside with Seth Davis” on the CBS College Sports Network. Needless to say Seth is a very reliable and educated source in this topic he discusses. He begins his article with addressing an article from McClure’s a prestigious monthly academic journal, as having a multitude of scandals involving seedy recruiting, nefarious boosters and academic fraud which leads to a class of students tainted with commercialism. After which, Davis focuses on an article by Taylor Branch that is entirely based on the faulty premise of student athletes generating billions of dollars for universities and private companies while earning nothing for themselves. Davis contends that student-athletes are already compensated in several ways other than a salary. Student-athletes can earn a tuition exceeding $200,000 over the course of four years, they are provided with housing, textbooks, food, and academic tutoring along with several other benefits through their teams and coaches. Davis wants to push the change of scholarship model updating so that the gap exiting for every athlete in every sport can be closed. He also mentions that the bigger football programs are wanting to give athletes “what they are worth”. This whole edifice depends on the players’ willingness to perform what is effectively volunteer work.