Teacher at UCLA, John McCumber, In his recently published article, “How Humanities Can Help Fix the World” published in October 2, 2016 on The Chronicle, emphasizes the importance of humanities, which is the study of how people process and document human experiences, on how it influences the choices people make in their daily lives. McCumber establishes his credibility through experiences at UCLA, convincing incidents, figures of speech, and the usage of rhetorical appeals while maintaining a serious tone throughout his article in order to prove his point to his audience. McCumber starts off by using Alexander I. Jacobs’ essay from Chronicle to support his argument. It is stated on Jacobs’ essay that, “defenses of humanities tend to take two paths”. One, life is not simply a matter of careers and the second path argues that people with humanistic training tend to succeed in both careers and life. McCumber points out Jacobs’ essay persuades people but it doesn’t really do its job by persuading people to live interesting lives. McCumber explains the reason to why it doesn’t really persuade people which is the lack of money that leads people to worry more on how they can survive and earn money rather than worrying …show more content…
At the beginning of the article, McCumber opens up his article with a simile saying, “As academe’s hoped-for recovery from the 2008 financial crisis recedes before it like the shimmer of water on a hot roadway” (1). McCumber strategically begins his essay through a simile to get the attention of his readers to promote enthusiasm among readers. By the end of his article, McCumber talks about scientists, when explaining, engage in humanistic thoughts as well, then McCumber proceeds to mention a metaphor from the Roman playwright Terence, “nothing human is truly alien” to end his paragraph as well as provide a transition to his next paragraph which would present his usage of the rhetorical appeal,
In recent discussion of the purpose of a liberal arts education, a controversial issue has been whether it is “just filling you up with knowledge”. On one hand, some argue that it is just a good prerequisite to have. From this perspective, the point of earning a degree is to get a better career. On the other hand, however, others argue that a degree “has actual human value”. In the words of David Foster Wallace, one of this view’s main proponents, “a liberal arts education is not so much filling you up with knowledge as it is about ‘teaching you how to think’”. According to this view, having a degree affects how you think. In sum, then, the issue is whether a liberal arts education teaches you how to think positively or not through your banal “adult life”
We are discussing space exploration, and looking at it through the lens of social science and the lens of the humanities.
Higher education in modern day America has become a debated topic, with some saying that it is not worth it due to the debt it leaves upon leaving, and some saying that it opens opportunities that surpass the results of obtaining one. A resulting view from this conflict is that certain forms of education aren’t as beneficial as others. A primary example of one of these less valuable educations is the study of Liberal Arts. Author Sanford J. Ungar discredits this view in his article The New Liberal Arts where he discusses the many misconceptions that have come to form this interpretation. To convince the reader of these misunderstandings, Ungar uses the appeals of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, with heavy appeal to logic (Logos) over the other two. Each misconception uses and focuses on more of one appeal than others, and by doing this, he is very successful in influencing the reader into considering that these misunderstandings are present.
Humanities are required for the development of an individual’s creativity and expression, without these skills our society would be monotonous and bland. Our nation was built on the ideals of freedom and democracy, and although math and science help us to progress economically and technologically, they don’t help individuals to express themselves to be effectively represented by our government.
The topics that I am most interested is God and health. I am extremely passionate about my faith as well as maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It may seem like these two topics are on the opposite side of the planet, but they have more similarities than you may think. My favorite reading thus far in A Time Traveler's Guide to Rhetoric is “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato. This story reminds me of today’s society, as humans begin to see the significance of light we also discover the truth. Of course, this all relates to my Christian faith, in which we seek the truth of Jesus Christ, we become the light in a dull and dark world. The longest paper I ever had to write was last year in my AP English course in which I was required to do a semester long
In an article entitled “The Humanist Vocation”, which appeared in the New York Times, David Brooks, a well known columnist, and an op-ed editor for the New York Times, claims that the decline in numbers of humanities graduates is due to the humanists’ loss of interest and faith in their mission, supporting his claims with lines from a note written by one of the history teachers of the University of Chicago back when he himself was a freshman. Brooks is definitely right when he tries to link this decrease in humanities majors, however, he does not fully succeed in tackling the real issue behind the drastic change.
In ‘Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor’ by Bell Hooks, issues involving the poor and the rich in the society are brought to light. Hooks addresses issues such as how the poor are viewed in the community, common assumptions about the poor, and how the poor are represented in the media. In her analysis, it is evident that those living in poverty are grossly misrepresented. This misrepresentation affects these people’s daily lives.
1. To start off , the paragraph explains that college is too expensive. The next thing that the author explains in this paragraph is that getting into a University will help with the necessary needed skills to get a good job. In my opinion, I think that the course in which he talks about has both critical thinking, writing, and a deep humanities education. Getting into a community college will also give you the skills which some are critical thinking and writing, and also will provide a deep humanities education because there are teachers that love to teach and if a student pays attention he or she will gain that knowledge needed to move on, to the next level, the next step to success.
He wrote, “The career bandwagon seems to suggest that shortcuts are available to students that lead directly to high-paying jobs—leaving out “frills” like learning how to write and speak well, how to understand the nuances of literacy texts and scientific concepts, how to collaborate with others on research” What he means by that is there is no shortcuts to a high-paying jobs. He also implies that liberal arts education is the only right way to prepare an individual for their future career because it equips ones with the abilities to write and speak formally, and understandings on scientific matter or how to cooperate with other people for your work, etc. However, I do not think he can deny the fact that the starting salary for a liberal arts graduate is approximately $32,500 while for an engineer is $75,000, (http://www.mtu.edu/engineering/outreach/welcome/salary/). For instant, what can a person possibly do with his philosophy degree right after graduating? He will probably have to go for more schooling before he can find a high-paying job at some big firms or he will have to struggle a lot before he can open his philosophy shop or publish his book. In short, a liberal arts degree will take longer to see its worth than career education or vocational training.
Rhetoric is a course in which students are taught the values of persuasion. And yet, behind this course is the utmost power to corrupt the world, changing it into a world of our own policies. This power, even though seldom discussed, has lead to many intriguing discoveries. One such discovery is how people are able to shape the world they live in simply by choosing the right words. Therefore those who would want the world to be a better place must protect this power. If in the wrong hands this power could cause serious damage. Several authors have striven to protect rhetoric and its power. Few agree on the matter of defining rhetoric, but they know that they must protect rhetoric from dark souls. A single definition of rhetoric must maintain a simplistic nature while incorporating every aspect of rhetoric. However, I argue that rhetoric is a means of persuading audiences of a situation and a particular reality through language and personal appeal. In order to prove this definition I will discuss how rhetoric creates a situation, the shaping of a different reality, the audience, the use of language, and the personal appeal. Finally, I will demonstrate the absolute need for rhetoric.
I believe humanities is more than just "the study of human beings by culture and the arts". I believe humanities is the process of how human beings have advanced rapidly in the sense of how information is gained and delivered to the mind culturally. Humanities shows that time is of the essence and that with time things are evolving to keep up with modernization and to always have something "original" available, to seem different or culturally of the world. I believe that humanities have most defiantly made me aware that I am capable of thinking deeper into the meaning of certain information I have received in my lifetime or even asking questions that I thought could not have an answer. Humanities has made me see life in a different way and has made me take action in changing some of the habits I have been accustomed throughout my lifetime to such as my diet, habits, and believing information that has been a lie all along. I am so grateful that I took this course this year because it has made me eager to become a more open-minded, healthier, woke, individual and I hope to share information that I have researched myself to make a difference in my
On February 14, 2016, the Chronicle of Higher Education published an essay by Julio M. Ottino and Gary Saul Morson entitled “Building a Bridge Between Engineering and the Humanities.” Ottino and Morson discuss the importance of the fields of engineering and the humanities. The purpose of the essay is to show how engineering and the humanities are linked together and are needed simultaneously. Even though, Morson and Ottino adopt a weak informal tone in the middle of their argument; the authors end their argument strong by successfully using ethos and logos to appeal to their audience, college and university faculty and administrators.
Janaro, R & Altshuler, T. (2009). The Art of Being Human: The humanities as a technique for
Throughout time, many inspirational speeches have been remembered, because of how they connect with the audience. Steve Job’s speech during the Stanford’s graduation was inspiring to many of the college graduates. Many people think in order to be successful a college degree is mandatory. Even if they do not like what they are doing. People should love what they do, and should not follow dogma. With his speech, Steve Job’s convinced the multicultural population at Stanford University to be prominent and to pursue their passion by relying on three personal stories in a balanced structure that enables pathos to be clearly developed. Steve Job’s presents his personal stories and a little bit of history as evidence. Even though, this was all
“Our culture is more shaped by the arts and humanities than it often is by politics.” - Jim Leach