Freewriting about Formal Response- 9/29

As of right now I'm still not sure whether my final paper will be based upon my agreement or disagreement with the arguments that Edmundson puts forth in his essay "On the Uses of a Liberal Education." So far I see two main points/arguments that Edmundson develops throughout the essay: 1. Today, universities are catering to students through fancy facilities, etc., more so than through the qualities of their professors, and 2. That students need to change- they need to go from being shy and reserved to engaging and knowledgeable with an urge to learn and less of a fear of failure. 

I think it would be easy to agree with him because many students want to come to specific universities because of their name (Princeton, Harvard, etc.), because of their beauty, or maybe even because of a specific reputation that they have (party school, smart school, getting good jobs afterwards). I would also agree to some extent that there are not many students who have the same attitudes and personalities as Joon Lee, the urge to learn and explore different ideas and question the teachings of professors. Edmundson thinks this because of the lack of expression and the lack of active participation during class, and instead the increased conformity, of students. However, just because student's don't want to speak up in class does not mean that they are not interested in the subject and don't have their own opinions. 

On the other hand, if we were all afraid of failure because we've been pampered our whole lives, wouldn't we be more likely to go out on a limb because of the belief that we wouldn't fail, even if we were wrong? The idea that we would never fail just isn't true since, maybe in high school and college professors just might pass us, once we get into the real world with real jobs, we'll get fired if we are wrong or making mistakes. I would also have to argue that maybe the students aren't the only consumers- but the universities as well. Universities only accept the best applicants, so throughout high school the students must not only do well in school but volunteer, play sports, participate in extracurricular activities, and just be an all around good student so that they will appeal to the universities.