Pre-Writing of Summary

Mark Edmundson concludes that this generation of college students is cheerless and dispirited in his article “As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students,” found in Harper’s Magazine. Edmundson believes that university culture is, much like American culture at large, is obsessed with consumerism. He feels that students are “sleepwalking” through their education (through their lives for that matter) and lack passion. We are all desperate to look cool or fit in according to Edmundson. He blames several factors for this attitude in today’s youth. Starting with blaming TV, preceding generations, and the university’s themselves. “[His] generation,” he says, “let the counterculture search for pleasure devolve into a quest for commodities.” The universities’ have transformed to mirror the aim of the entire culture, that of big business. These schools are now marketed to attract the brightest and richest kids. Edmundson says it’s different than when he was younger, when schools were sold on the merit of their faculty, and the description of the courses, not the best football team or best gym. The pandering to students and their parents wants doesn’t end once their admitted.