Rhetorical Analysis OfIs College For Everyone?

Brandon Hart Professor Brines ENG 101.14 19 January 2018 An Analysis of "What’s College Good For?” by Bryan Caplan

Rhetoric is a way for one to learn how to communicate to an exact audience and reason. In this journal, I will

Zinsser addresses his argument using pathos, which plays on the reader’s emotions. Zinsser states, “Mainly I try to remind them that the road ahead is a long one and that it will have more unexpected turns than they think. There will be plenty of time to change jobs, change careers, change whole attitudes and approaches”. This states that the students should calm down and explore more for their lives in the future. Zinsser draws attention of the readers by starting with the notes that the students sent to their dean, Carlos Hortas, showing the anxieties of the students trying to figure out their uncertain future; this allows the readers to show sympathy and concern towards the students as they relate to their feelings of pressure. For example, Zinsser recalls a story that the dean told him about the typical questions he would receive from students in the 1960’s. The questions were about why the world was suffering and how they would contribute to improve it. The typical questions from students nowadays are about what major they should be in or what class they should take in order to get into either law school or medical

High school, the best times of our lives. But in every situation others don’t experience it as the time of their lives. In specific, the so called, “Loser, Nerds, Outcasts." Sometimes the perception that most high school movies convey for this certain group are the reality. In this article "High school confidential: Notes on teen movies" by David Denby, He describes the functions of an everyday American high school. David Denby uses very effective language and rhetoric to provide the minds of the opposing side. A sample of the rhetoric skills he uses is stereotypes, ethos, and pathos.

She assumes that everyone’s background is like her which can easily “Enter on empty and leave with a head full of dreams” (page 213). Such presumption has affected the voice of the lecturer, becoming more aggressive such as questioning Mr. Perstein’s knowledge about the Amercian education. She, accidentally or not, humiliated Mr.Persteine by indicating that “Mr.Perlstein has never set foot in an American community”. By concentrating too much in criticizing Mr.Persteine, the “Two Years Are Better Than Four” essay may cause audiences annoyed.

Paglia effectively uses all three rhetorical appeals in her essay, and that immediately makes her argument much more impressive and compelling for the reader.

Throughout Cronon's essay the structure that he employs plays a critical role in his gentle persuasion of the reader. Cronon is crafty and subversive in his persuasion of the reader through the use of his inductive structure. Beginning his essay with a question, "What does it mean to be a liberally educated person?"(156), Cronon temps the reader with an intriguing question. The reader is enticed with the proposition of an answer as the phrase is plastered on many surfaces and never thoroughly defined in modern society where a clear working definition would be exquisite. While entrancing the reader Cronon's opening question serves another purpose as well: building the foundation for his thesis. While he attempts to answer this confusing question he slowly crescendos towards the new and controversial thesis, which explains the connection between love and a liberal education.

The rhetorical situation is defined as the context of a rhetorical event that consists of an issue, an audience, and a set of restraints. While this may be true, there are many interpretations and versions of these situations. In David Bartholomae’s text, “Inventing the University,” he explains the situation of college students learning to fit the requirements of their college professors. Another author named Kevin Davis formulated an essay titled, “Does Coming to College Mean Becoming Someone New,” explores a similar situation of university students in terms of their commitments and changes they make to succeed in college. Bartholomae’s rhetorical situation is persuading college professors to understand that students have a problem with

but she still has an agenda hidden the evidence that she chooses to use to support the

In the article “Colleges Prepare People for Life”, Hrabowski uses multiple appeals to accomplish his goal of persuading the reader. Firstly, he uses logical appeals to approach the importance from a number standpoint. He stated that despite other institutions raising costs, UMBC has only “increased 3 percent each year for the past three years” (Hrabowski). He supports his educational institution for the majority of the article, and he uses the monetary numbers to put to rest, or at least ease, one of the largest criticisms. Additionally, he uses pathos to convince the reader from a multitude of strategies.

Rhetorical devices and minor arguments magnify the main theme of frustration that convey his main message that with such a large and renowned campus, these problems shouldn’t occur. Without these techniques, “New semester, same old problems” would be less effective and lack important evidence to enhance the writer's feelings. His persuasive writing and credibility makes his argument more convincing and

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

As supported by Jay Heinrichs in his book, Thank you For Arguing, rhetoric needs to make a comeback in importance in high school education, as it is a vital skill that could be used in everyday life beyond high school. Rhetoric is an important skill due to the fact that its use could become a constant in our lives. A vast array of rhetorical skills can help a student obtain and keep a job once they land in the working world. A keen eye and ear for rhetoric can be an invaluable tool in obtaining one’s goals in life.

            In today’s society, everyone has heard of the saying, “Education is important and college is the key to a well-off life.” Some may think on the contrary that there are other routes that one may can take and still become successful in life as well. College is not the only answer to every individual. Not everybody is academically driven so the topic still appears to be very much controversial. In the essay, “Is College for Everyone, Pharinet articulates her perspective on the reason why she thinks that college is not really meant for everybody. Pharinet presented her side of the argument to her audience by laying out dome persuasive techniques. She uses a mixture or logos, ethos, and pathos to defend her case. Since, Pharinet’s has a background of being a professor, she has some authority over this argument because she has witnessed first-hand on how college students act and interacted with college students before. However, Pharinet demonstrations slight bias perspectives though-out her argument she is very narrow-minded. Even though her arguments are stated clearly she is lacking on her claims she backs up her argument with biased logic, uncited statistics, and a lot of pathos.

The main points in chapter 3 section 3.1 and 3.2 was how rhetorical strategies make messages persuasive. Messages persuade through their angle of vision. The angle of vision causes a reader to see a subject from one perspective only-the writer's. Writers create an angle of vision through strategies such as the following: stating point of view directly, selecting some details while omitting others, choosing words or figures of speech with intended connotations, and creating emphasis or de-emphasis through sentence structure and organization. The angle of vision or the lens is persuasive because it controls what the reader sees. Unless readers are rhetorically savy, they can lose awareness that they are seeing the writer's subject matter through a lens that both reveals and conceals. Writer's use angle of vision to look at the subject from a certain location, or to use another metaphor, the writer wears a lens that colors or filters the topic in a certain way. The angle of vision, lens, or filter determines what part of a topic gets seen and what remains unseen, what gets included or excluded, and what gets emphasized or de-emphasized.