Lean On Me Rhetorical Analysis

Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers, a novel depicting success, provides different examples of how an individual can achieve success in every chapter of his book to show his audience that success, despite a variety of barriers, is in fact in our control. A very important chapter titled, “Marita's Bargain”, explains the flaws in today’s public school systems. He shows the problems with the solutions to fix them while showing the alternatives to the regular system such as the KIPP Program in New York. The KIPP Program (Knowledge is Power Program) is a new kind of middle school that selects students from less fortunate locations and uses unique teaching strategies to turn them around into fantastic learners. In the chapter, Gladwell is extremely descriptive by using visual words to paint the picture of the South Bronx in New York City. He describes the buildings that were built in the 1960’s as squat and bleak looking. Gladwell had an interest in this subject as it involves success, however he had no prior experiences to produce the piece. Gladwell establishes personal credibility through the use of knowledge, reason, and facts and figures. He comes across very knowledgeable on the subject presenting great data with excellent vocabulary. He is able to do this with no obvious bias as well. Gladwell shows authority because he is well known for writing novels that involve success. His intention is to teach and explain how schools need to change the length of vacation breaks

When Mr. Clark originally taught at Eastside High School, the culture seemed very competitive and full of high standards. The students seemed very eager to learn and at a pretty high level for their age. Twenty years later, the culture flips dramatically. The school quickly goes from pristine to a graffiti-infested playground. The teachers are the prey and the students (mainly the ‘hoodlums’) pretty much do as they please. Education is a small goal for any of the students, and the students that do want to do well fear those “hoodlums.” Mr. Clark identifies this immediately when returning to Eastside High. During his first assembly, Mr. Clark let the entire school know that he was the HNIC. He gathered up all the trouble makers and sent them home, expelling them from school. Most were drug dealers, 5th year students, or drug abusers that were dulling the spark of the other students.

In “Bring Back Flogging”, Jeff Jacoby addresses the problems within America 's criminal justice system. He gives many reasons why imprisonment simply does not work, and suggests that corporal punishment should be used as an alternative. Published in the Boston Globe, a newspaper well known for being liberal, Jacoby provides a conservative view and directs his argument towards those who strongly support imprisonment and view corporal punishment to be highly barbaric and inhumane. However, in order to shed light on our current situation, Jacoby discusses the dangers that we face though our criminal justice system a nd shows concern that imprisonment is doing more harm than good. In effect, Jacoby looks to the past for solutions, and

Advertisements are everywhere. From billboards, to magazines, to newspapers, flyers and TV commercials, chances are that you won’t go a day without observing some sort of ad. In most cases, companies use these ads as persuasive tools, deploying rhetorical appeals—logos, pathos, and ethos—to move their audiences to think or act in a certain way. The two magazine ads featured here, both endorsing Pedigree products, serve as excellent examples of how these modes of persuasion are strategically used.

The students all took a practice test and only thirty-three percent of the students have passed and the states minimum average is seventy-five percent. Throughout the school year, the students work effortlessly with Mr. Clark along with their school teachers prepare for the real test. Mr. Clark’s crazy and wild antics start to get to the students and they begin to respect him even more for it. They begin to see that he is only doing this with all of their best interests in mind. One of the students who was expelled’s mother complained about the way Mr. Clark ran things at his school and got the mayor involved. After Mr. Clark is found with the chains on the door, which is illegal and a fire safety hazard, and was arrested. All of the students came down to the Board of Education in Paterson and basically protested and ranted on how they wanted Mr. Clark to be released and return to his duties as principal. Eastside High’s assistant principal Mrs. Barrett claims that Mr. Clark was not the right choice to serve as principal of Eastside. But the students all say in rebuttal how Mr. Clark cares for them like no other and how he has done so much good for them that they will not accept anyone besides Mr. Clark. Soon after, Mr. Clark was released and good news was received. More than enough students

Clark continues to empower and motivate the students with- “You are NOT inferior! [pause] Your grades may be. [pause] You school may have been. [pause] But YOU can turn that around and make liars out of those bastards in exactly one hour when you take that test and pass it and WIN!” Not only his words, but his voice inflections are inspiring. The use of foul language in his speech proves to the students that he does not view them as children, but as young men and women that can handle such language and honesty. This was not a speech read from an outline; Clark spoke from the heart with stern honesty. He had already won over the school which provided

When you see a solider in his or her uniform, you are proud that they are serving this country to protect our freedom, securing our country, and defending democracy worldwide. The solider can come from different branches of the Military. The one you might be familiar with is the U.S. Army. These soldiers are well respected and prepared to serve our country whenever and wherever needed, combat-ready at all times, and trained to counter any threat, anywhere. In 2007, the United States Army department published a recruitment ad for U.S.

President Obama uses inspiration, patriotism, and logic to convince students to work hard. Ethos is probably the strategy he relies on most. He calls on students' sense of patriotism and respect for him as president of the United States, and he also uses his own experiences to show that he understands how difficult it can be to work hard. He uses pathos when he shares the inspiring stories of students who achieved great things in spite of enormous obstacles. He uses logos in some parts of the speech, such as when he shares statistics about the failures of successful people like J. K. Rowling.

At Hazelwood High School, they do things differently than at my school. At Hazelwood, most of the people worry about themselves and nobody else. Most of the school doesn’t get good grades and the school does not do anything about it. One day in English class Andy walked out when they were reading Macbeth because it was too emotional for Andy to handle. His friends were concerned and told the school counselor. They said, “But… but… it seems like… like… he needs help or somethin’.” Then the counselor said, “Well, I probably shouldn’t tell you boys this, but he is getting some outside counseling… So you boys can relax and be assured that he is getting whatever help he needs”(100). At Harrisburg High School, if someone had an issue like that, the counselors and teachers would be concerned, even if the person was getting outside help. Another thing about education that is different than mine is the school. In Ronda’s English homework, she wrote, “Our school building must have been built about a million years ago, because it was brown and tall and raggedy-looking, but it fit right in with the rest of the day”(16). At my high school, we are very fortunate to have a very new building to learn inside of. At Hazelwood High, they were not fortunate enough to have a new high school be built. Culture and education are very important pieces of people’s

When watching the movie Lean On Me directed by John G. Avildsen, the characters are seen as rambunctious, illiterate delinquents, suffering from poverty. Many citizens have advised to close this school because it is a “waste of education no worth trying to improve the incompetent, poor, trashy students that attend it.” The school board saw for this and agreed that the African American, Hispanic, and a few Caucasians were nothing but troubled, rigid, uneducated kids. This may be what they have grown to be, however they were raised in a facility everyday that had no guidelines or expectations. No one but the student is to blame some may say, but the students only did what the administrator and educators allowed.

In May of 1998, Kipland Kinkel brought a gun to his school. Over the course of two days this escalated from: being sent home, to murdering his father and mother, to murdering 2 students and wounding 26, earning a lifetime sentence of 111 years and 8 months in prison. In the court case being examined, the presiding judge addresses the original case, defendants ground for appeal, and the justification for the State’s decision to deny the appeal. Judge Haselton effectively uses ethos, logos, and pathos to support the Higher Court’s decision to deny the appeal because the original sentence was constitutional and just.

In the movie Lean On Me, Joe Clark persuades the staff and students that hard work is necessary in order to be successful through the use of ethos, logos and pathos.

Through out the movie you see difficulties that the students are trying to finally fit to be part of the system but they still may not be accepted because of their classes. With low achieving school, have a suspicious amount of high test scores the reliability and dependability are questioned. Conflict theory is used that the struggle in society and schools between the haves and have nots. For example, not funding for computer, not having computers, no air conditioning for summer and less opportunities for students in general. The school is portrayed as a place where students do not want to be or care about being in school. The staff don’t care about the students especially they gave up on them. There is a quote that I got from the movie, that Mr. Escalante was asking the math department for calculus

He didn’t want the school to be taken over by the state, so he faired 300bad students. At first, he is not understood by others. But he still kept on his own way. He changed the school environment and asked students to wear uniforms. He always paid attention to the school learning atmosphere.

The students became such great students when Mr. Escalante came to their school to teach because he made the students repeat sayings, he argued to be able to teach the students more, and he made the students work on math every single day. In the movie, Mr. Escalante started off with have the students repeat, “A negative times a negative equals a positive.” He just kept on making up saying from there. Along with that, Mr. Escalante told the staff that he wouldn’t teach anymore if he wouldn’t be able to teach the students in the summer. He wanted to do this so his students would pass the advanced calculus placement test. Lastly, he encouraged the students to work everyday day no matter the condition. For example, Mr. Escalante was teaching the