Review Of Jon Meacham And The Failure Of American Higher Education By Robert Atkinson

There was a time when America’s education system was top-notch according to the culture and society. With time, a myriad of things has changed, but unfortunately what has not evolved is the American education system. The country is still following a system which was not designed for the current global economic climate. Equality, as positive as it sounds is not as sufficient when it comes to education. The system treats students equally yet expect a similar culmination and outcome. Every child has his individuality and distinct abilities; one cannot judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. Conversely, a few of the prominent reasons why the education system is failing are overcrowded schools, the rise of technology, and following the same old school hours.

The 2016 Presidential Election is approaching quickly, and as is customary a number of highly controversial issues have taken center stage and each side argues their position with oftentimes charged rhetoric. Using the rhetorical strategies discussed in class (ethos, pathos, and logos) in varying degrees and combinations both Democrats and Republicans appeal to their base and attempt to reach out to those who are on the fence. Oftentimes, whether a presentation or piece of controversial writing is political or apolitical a sizable majority of the readership will begin reading with preconceived notions. Those who take a hardline stance against the writer's position typically will never be convinced to adopt it. However, a large minority of readers

I have been asked to give my professional opinion on which article to publish in this week 's edition. The two articles I have to choose from are “Are too many people going to college?” by Charles Murray and “Should everyone go to college?” by Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill. In short, Murray’s article explains throughout the article that the basic knowledge essential to a being an American can be learned in k-8. Murray explains that high school can be the place where students learn about their career paths and there would be no need for college. Murray believes college is not a necessity in today 's society if we can teach more in elementary, middle, and high school. Owen and Sawhill’s article can be summarized, in short, with their theses, “While the average return to obtaining a college degree is positive, we emphasize that it is not universally so. For certain schools, majors, occupations, and individuals, a college may not be a smart investment. By telling all young people that they should go to college no matter what, we are actually doing some of them a disservice” (Owen and Sawhill PG#). Both articles use rhetorical strategies to convey the purpose of their article to the reader. Charles Murray uses interesting anecdotes, understandable logical reasoning, and relevant statistics to facilitate his non-traditional ideas clearly to the reader. On the other hand, through the use of credibility Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill uses assertions, logical reasoning, and

Rhetorical strategies are ways in which authors craft language so as to have an effect on readers. Charles Murray, in his essay “Are Too Many People Going to College?” uses various forms of persuasion to convince readers that attending college is not and should not be a stereotypical norm for all millennials capable of obtaining a degree. The synopsis of his claims essentially lies in these three statements: college should not be a place where core knowledge is learned, college does not benefit everyone’s career path, college should not be required to achieve a higher educational understanding of a vast variety of interests. Murray peeks readers curiosity to his claims by making critical, emotional, and logical appeals. By appealing to all forms of persuasion, Murray’s opinions on this topic might just change the way reader’s view college.

Schools have changed remarkably since they were first introduced centuries ago. Continue reading in order to find out how the past has shaped education, as we know it. There are six main eras or time periods in which important things occurred for the American School System, The colonial era, The growth of public schooling, The progressive era, the segregation and Integration era, the 1960s-1970s, and the 1980- present era.

Readers naturally respond to credible authors when reading articles, autobiographies or novels; it is an channel for audiences to connect to their narrators. When famous actor and director Tom Hanks writes an article for “New York Times”, it will not be disregarded and will grip the attention of readers instantly due to his credibility. By Tom Hanks fame for his award winning movies and roles, his pieces of writings will be publicized and noticed by the public, demonstrating a key concept of ethos; appealing to credibility. Hanks’ article will be listened and analyzed deeply because of his status, especially since he was a student who attended a junior college for his first two years of higher education. Hanks states, “I couldn’t afford tuition for college anyway. I sent my final

Whether an opinion piece is effective depends on the expertise of rhetorical strategy of an author. This can either make a written piece convincing or unconvincing to the target audience. A clear example of how rhetorical strategies make a piece more convincing is the comparison of David Laska’s, “Minimum Need for a Minimum Wage Increase”, and Shamus Khan’s, “The Promise of More: Why We Should Raise the Minimum Wage”. By using rhetorical analysis on both opinion pieces Laska clearly makes a better argument. He makes use of logos by including statistics, an expert’s research in the field of minimum wage, and historical data to attack Obama’s decision to raising the minimum wage. He includes pathos to

I have already observed one of the pieces of the triangle, the audience. It is believable that Rose targeted his audience to be blue-collar workers. Now the writer and the context, the other two pieces of the triangle, can come into play as well. First, I will touch on the audience. When targeting an audience, there are a few moral questions to ask oneself. Various questions include the intention of the writer, what emotions they would crave to evoke from the audience, how the audience will practice or perceive the information the writer provides, in addition to how the audience will benefit from the writer’s message. Rose has definitely engaged all of the questions into consideration. For example, Rose’s intention was to educate blue-collar workers and let them comprehend that an academic education isn’t the end-all-be-all. Furthermore, their education on the job is just as valuable. Another example is that Rose put thought into how the targeted audience would benefit from the message he was trying to convey. The audience can definitely gain from reading the article, “Blue-Collar Brilliance.” The following point to consider would be the writer. This is beyond concerning the purpose of why the writer is trying to progress a message. One might consider if their purpose is to educate, entertain, persuade the audience, or construct a call to action. A writer could have multiple reasons for addressing an audience. Mike Rose’s intention is to definitely educate and persuade his audience to believe that blue-collar jobs require intelligence and that not everybody has to achieve a higher education to be successful. He also builds an effort to provide a little bit of background information as writers must set up credibility for the audience to listen. This is extremely imperative for it ties into the argument that Mike Rose raises in his persuasive article. The last piece of

Journalists are infamous for their motivation to produce hard hitting editorials, twisting the truth for their own selfish benefit. Steve Chapman strays away from this stereotype by ensuring integrity in every article. Continuously, Chapman strives to present the public with his analytical opinions. Douglas Adams describes the drive of Steve Chapman; “To give real service, you must add something which cannot be bought of measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity”. Steven Chapman, who writes weekly op-eds for the Chicago Tribune, delivers insight into national headlines using suggestive rhetoric appeals to address the reader’s fears of uncertainty followed by accredited reasoning, a condescending tone targeted at the written subject, calling the reader for reformation within society, and dashes to separate general statements from definitive fact, shifting from a mission-based point of view to thought-provoking opinionated writing in order to spark motivation within his readers using his opinions so that they can take action to better their communities in hopes of improving future national development.

The author’s thorough investigation of an industry that many tend to overlook or avoid uncovers an incredibly vital part to his overall point. Joe Flom, along with the many other Jewish lawyers that shared his same experience in the 1950’s and 1960’s, exemplify Gladwell’s point that success, “...is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities” (Gladwell 155). Their circumstances of constantly and predictably being segregated from white-shoe firms due solely because of their appearance and religion allowed them to put deliberate practice, or their ten-thousand hours, into mastering the law of litigation and proxy fights that would become a premium in modern business. In addition, the circumstances of their upbringing allowed them the opportunity to have their parents instill a great work ethic into them as children, which would influence their success in adulthood. The author shows through the analysis and realization that many of the Jewish lawyers that became prominent through this law were sons of business owners. Gladwell ultimately uses this chapter to display how truly attainable success can be if the opportunities to work toward success are taken, and also how success is created out of a long process, and many times, people will, “prematurely write off [others] as

To start with, ethos constitutes the first element of comparison between the articles. Beginning in “Why raising the minimum wage is good economics,” Komlos includes The Economist, a “weekly international news and business publication” to increase his credibility on this topic (The Economist, n.d., para. 1). Second, Komlos’ (2015) article contains “Alan Kruegar of Princeton University” (para. 7). One may not know Alan Kruegar, however reading Princeton University immediately catches the eye and gives Komlos more credibility. Additionally, Komlos supplies a synopsis about himself at the end of the article which allows the reader to see that he “is a professor emeritus of economics and of economic history at the University of Munich” (para. 14). In “The argument against raising minimum wage,” Huppke introduces four

The United States of America used to be known as one of the greatest countries to be apart of. From the jobs to the economy to education people loved to be apart of the American culture. The problem many Americans are facing today is poor education. Since America is viewed as a high profile country many people have prominent expectations on what they are receiving, specifically the education. The fact is that there are major problems with all levels of the education system today. Starting with early education, teachers are quick to say children needs to be medicated or put into special education. Proceeding to the general or high school education where kids are graduating but not prepared for what’s after. Lastly how higher education or college can hardly be afforded in today’s society. As a result of the failing education system, many parents blame the child or society when in actuality the failing system is corrupted by some teachers, lack of preparation, and lack of affordability in higher education.

He uses a sense of urgency to capture his audience "[b]e better informed than the average citizen and tell you directly what a professional analyst and newsman thinks is really going on behind the headlines" (648-649). His ability to organize his essay and draw in different classes of people is effective. Williams’ informs the reader how horrible his former co-workers presented information by using criticism and logical fallacies. He presents to the audience how “they” are not telling the whole truth. He convinces his audience that he is different and tells the truth so they should believe

We use rhetoric every day without even realizing it. Correctly using rhetoric on a specific group of people can drastically increase an arguments’ strength. Benjamin R. Barber wrote an article conveying his research on the failing school systems in the U.S titled America Skips School published in Harper’s Magazine. Barber uses rhetorical elements like ethos, pathos, and logos to build his argument. He establishes his credibility and then emotionally connects with his audience and explains who and what is to blame for the lack of quality education in America. Once he establishes a solid connection using these

This book has proven to be an enlightening read. It both teaches and inspires. Howard Zinn has offered us a perspective of the real story of American history heretofore unavailable to us – history from the perspective of real people – immigrant laborers, American women, the working poor, factory workers, African and Native Americans.