ARP: Reaction to Meiland's "New Types of Intellectual Work".

Kensuke Uematsu　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Uematsu 1
Professor Owen
ARW Section AI
28 April 2007
　　　　　Reaction to Meiland’s “New Types of Intellectual Work”
Summary
　　　　　According to this text, students will be required new types of intellectual work in college. There are three main points about the new work. To begin with, college students will be required the work which is exactly different and higher level compared with high school students. To illustrate, why Meiland can exactly say both high school and college are different is that, there is a kind of statement to explain how the university should be. It called a normative statement. His statements on this topic are intended to describe the way things are at the best colleges and the way they should be in every college. Next, the students should have sufficient evidence when they believe any ideas. According to W.K. Clifford a nineteenth-century English mathematician and philosopher, it’s the wrong way to believe anything without sufficient evidence. To demonstrate, the work in college deals with the rational justification of belief. Students have to investigate the rationality of every belief. Finally, there are some difference about treatment of the word “theory” between high school and college. In high school, it’s an unchangeable fact but in college, it’s a changeable and it may turn out to be wrong. For these reasons, college students will be required new types of intellectual work.

Discussion
　　　　　Meiland says that the students who are in the college required new types of intellectual work. There are various works in the college. One of them is that, students have to have a sufficient evidence to believe any ideas. To begin with, the work characteristic of college deals with the rational justification of belief. For example, college teachers are concerned not merely with imparting information but also, and mainly, to present and examine the basis on which this information is or should be believed because they want this material to be believed on the basis of reason rather than on the basis of authority. Following this, I agreed with Meiland because a good reason or sufficient evidence is surely important when people tell their own opinion to others and to make the opinion reliable. To demonstrate, if you want others to accept your opinion by a presentation or a speech in the company, you must bring sufficient reason and some hope which will become benefits to their business so students in college should acquire the skill of telling their opinion with reliable reasons before they start working in a company. On the other hand, you can get a mind of critical thinking and reasonable thinking if you always think about the evidence of all your ideas. Therefore, I agree with Meiland’s idea, students in college must have sufficient evidence to believe any ideas and it’s a quite important thing in college education.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Work Cited
Meiland, Jack W. College Thinking: How to Get the Best Out of College. New York: New American Library, 1981. (The ELP Reader, 2006. 7-10).