SWA11

Carolina Reader Chapter 2, Question 5
The first essay, “Matters of Faith Find a New Prominence on Campus,” made the claim that religion is growing on campus. The first cause stated was that the religious right is growing, and therefore making religion a more acceptable place to go for students. Another cause mention was that baby boomers have decided not to press religion on their kids like their parents did them. This in turn makes kids more receptive to trying to discover it for themselves come college.
The second essay, “Schools of Thought: The Liberal-Conservative Divide on College Campuses,” claimed that conservative beliefs are rising in college campuses. Liberalism is still stronger, but the divide is shrinking. This is because conservatives have several strong organizations that feed young republicans into good organizations after college. Another causal statement was that liberal groups are often very radical, which can scare people away, as well as very narrow and specific. This causes a split in the liberals as a whole, hurting their strength, while conservatives are more, well, conservative with their demands.
“The College Dropout Boom” claimed that college dropout rates are increasingly high among lower income families. This is because many colleges have limited resources allocated toward need based scholarships. Another cause of this is what is known as the “factory work ethic” where it is looked down upon to “waste your time” in college. It is instead thought of as better in some low income industrial towns to get right to work after high school, or even sooner. A final cause is that once you drop out, or even just “take a break,” it’s not easy to go back.