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Summary Of Michelle Obama Speech

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During his presidency, Barack Obama said that by the year 2020, America would have the highest college graduation rate. In Michelle Obama’s speech, “Remarks by the First Lady at Education Event with DC High School Sophomores,” she speaks to students at Bell High school. These high school sophomores come from many different social and economics backgrounds. Many of these students do not live privileged lives and cannot afford higher education. Obama discusses the importance of college education and how students should prepare for it during high school, even with limited resources. She tells the students her own personal experiences as well as inspiring and calling them to pursue a higher education. Michelle Obama’s speech appeals to the student’s hopes and dreams for the future, exhorting them to set themselves up for success. The use of parallelism, a rhetorical device in which the writer repeats the same sentence structure or part of speech, in Michelle Obama’s speech makes every student feel like they can relate to what Obama is saying as well as understand where others come from. One example of parallelism is seen when Obama talks about student’s possible backgrounds. “Maybe you’ve had problems at home … Maybe you’ve come from a tough neighborhood ... Maybe one of your parents has lost a job and you’ve had to struggle just to make it here today” (Obama). She repeats the sentence structure of “maybe …. you’ve …,” giving her speech a rhythmic flow to link her ideas and

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