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Persuasive Essay Ethos

Decent Essays

This year’s U.S. News and World Report’s top ranked universities in America: #1 Princeton University, #2 Harvard University, #3 University of Chicago. For many aspiring high school students, being admitted into these elite universities has become nothing less than an infatuation. However, many believe an elite education may actually have negative effects on young adults. Echoed in, “Don’t Send Your Kids To The Ivy League” by William Deresiewicz, he uses elements of ethos and pathos to effectively argue that students who attend highly competitive universities may actually be harmed by transforming into people who are “anxious, timid, lost, with little curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose.” Throughout the essay, Deresiewicz presents anecdotes and explanations to contend his suggestion. In doing so, he is capable of building trust with the readers and providing authentic reasoning for his claim. Deresiewicz explains, “It was only after twenty-four years in the Ivy League -- college and a Ph.D. at Columbia, ten years on the faculty at Yale -- that I started to think about what this system does to kids and how they can escape from it, what it does to our society and how we can dismantle it” (Deresiewicz 203). By stating this, the author not only displays his honesty to the readers when he admits the duration of coming to his realization, but he also establishes his honorable status and credibility by mentioning his experience at Columbia and Yale, two highly respected Ivy

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