Sounding like Gibberish

In Adam Sternbergh’s essay “Got bub all up in the hizzle, yo!” His main idea for the essay was that rap actually does a lot for the English language by making it exciting and innovating. I think that rap is not all that he makes it out to be. The groups of people that listen to rap are teenagers and young adults. Today many of these teenagers and young adults have young kids that listen to the same thing. So what impression is this making on the younger generation about our language? As a child it could be very confusing to learn English one way in school and then go home and have English presented another way. A lot of kid’s don’t know how to distinguish between what’s right and wrong. So how do they know what English is correct?

Sternbergh talked about in his essay the famous song by 50 Cent where the chorus said, “You’ll find me in da club/ Bottle full of bub/ Mommy, I got the X/ if you into taking drugs.” Not only does this song have horrible grammar, it has a horrible message. If I were a parent I would not want my young child listening to the music. These lyrics if they were made into a movie, the movie would be rated at least PG-13. Yet this is being broadcasted all over public radio and public television.

The music that our parents listened and still listen to had and have morals and lessons in them. They were happy and talked about PG things. They motivated people and gave a positive outlook on life like U2’s song “Beautiful Day” from the album All That You Cant Leave Behind he says, “It’s a beautiful day, don’t let it get away.” This is the kind of stuff that I would want my young children to listen to. The song has good grammar and it is very positive. Its feel good music and you don’t loose brain cells listening to it.

Every time I hear rap I feel as if I am loosing brain cells because not only is what most rappers sing about ridiculous, the grammar is horrible. Sternbergh states that “You’ll find very few arguments however, praising rap music for keeping the language alive.” I think it is making the language less innovating. If this is the kind of music that sells and people insist on listening to and defending, soon we will all sound like we’re speaking gibberish.

MAKE New Friends

Kenneth A. Bruffee states in his article “Binge Drinking as a Substitute for a ‘Community of Learning’,” that the reason why first year students join fraternities and sororities is because they lack friendship and it is the only way to get any friends. Therefore, that is where the binge drinking comes into place. I beg to differ on many levels, but I agree on others. There are plenty of opportunities to make friends in classrooms and activities.
Not all first year students join fraternities or sororities because of the reputation that they hold. A group of students that join are the ones that are on “mom and dad’s money” and they could care less about the education. They just want to have the social aspects that colleges offer. Bruffee’s basis of his argument was based on personal experience. Not all teachers denounce their students and not all students feel alone. I know plenty of students that are here and they make friends within the classrooms and they are happy and content. They are not part of a fraternity or sorority.
The way that Bruffee portrayed college students was extremely harsh in my book. I didn’t come to college lost with nowhere to go. I did have friends from my hometown that came, but I made more friends in my classrooms than I had before. I am not part of a sorority and I know I have true friends that I have met this year at Lander. I met my friends in my classes that are part of my major. The first thing we had in common was our major, but we were able to talk about what we wanted to do after Lander and we then got into other topics of both of our interests. If I was a high school student reading that article, I would be terrified of college no matter what walk of life I came from. Even if the high school student was a drinker or not, they would think the only way to fit in as a part of a fraternity or sorority is to be an active drinker.
Yes, Bruffee is right in many aspects and his information is true for some people. He was right in that fact that first year students come to college unsure about a lot of things and wanting to fit in with the other students. But it’s not true for all. So he should have explained it better within the article.