Making a good and persuasive argument is very much an acquired skill. It requires much practice and perfecting. It takes more than just having passion and making good points. Just because a person is passionate about the topic or has supporting details does not mean they can make a successful argument. Much more thought and skill is required. Gordon Adams, in his letter to the Arizona State University standards committee, demonstrates this quite well. Gordon Adams writes a passionate argument, yet his argument lacks several critical aspects.
Adams purpose and passion for writing were much to be desired. Adams was aspiring to graduate college and enter law school to be able to represent his people, the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma (Adams 18). The only thing that stood in the way of Adams' goals was a college requirement of an algebra mathematics requirement (19). Adams was one math credit short to graduate (19). He addresses a letter to the ASU standards committee presenting his case in hopes that the committee will waive the mathematics requirement (18). He poses his argument primarily on the premise that he will not use algebra in his profession and therefore does not need to take the course (19). He stated that if the course was not waived he would be set back in his studies and not achieve the timeframe of his goals (19).
Adams' purpose for his argument was made very clear and his argument demonstrated several desired techniques. He needed the math credit to be waived, or he would not be able to graduate and would be set back in his goals (18). He revealed that this was not only a personal matter, but that if the committee did not waive the math credit it would also affect the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma (18). Hoping...
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... evidence as to why he is more certain of his future than a younger student. Adams failed to realize that a well rounded education gives graduates the ability to work a variety of jobs and that the title of college graduate means that you have demonstrated the ability and completed the requirements of a well rounded education. He instead deemed that he did not need algebra for a well rounded future and he was certain of what his future held (20).
Gordon Adams demonstrated his passion, however his argument was lacking several critical aspects. He had good intentions and a strong desire to help others, however he did not correctly frame his argument. He failed to appeal to his targeted audience and lacked fundamental understanding of the principals of general education. In his letter to the ASU standards committee, Adams failed to adequately present his argument.
He draws attention to his argument by using statistical evidence and methods of persuasion. The methods that the author uses to better explain his argument for this book include that of researched evidence, rhetoric, ethos, and logos. Examples of each can be found throughout the book. For the researched evidence, an example is all the quotes the author uses to better each argument of almost every paragraph of this book.
In “Life is Not Measured by Grade-Point Averages” by H. Bruce Miller, Miller announces that a young lady named Gabrielle Napolitano was suing the University for accusing her of plagiarism in her paper. Napolitano hired a lawyer and built the case stating that the so called “plagiarism” was just a, quote “technical error” (Miller, par.2). Miller announces this problem but doesn’t get his true argument out until the last few paragraphs of his paper, stating that students need to stop worrying about their grades or grade-point averages and need to start enjoying the process of learning, to embrace the knowledge and use it without the fear of lack of money in the back of their minds. Miller uses strong terminology throughout his paper and keeps the paper at a fast-pace to retrieve the audiences full attention and to also keep it until the end, he also uses antonomasia to refer back to his university, making his style of writing very entertaining; however, Miller fails to accept Napolitano’s feelings about the problems at hand and makes a huge assumption that she is only concentrated on her grade-point average, fails to appeal to his audiences beliefs, and includes inappropriate fallacies in his paper. Even though Miller has weaknesses in his paper, he did a good job using the proper style in his paper to keep the reader’s attention and to get his argument that people need to enjoy learning and not just be in it for the money across.
4. Other than appeal to emotions, the only other type of evidence she offers is appeal to logic but she only does so briefly when she is talking about the number of Americans that have a bachelor 's degree. She should have included an appeal to authority or more examples of appealing to logic, because most of her argument is based on personal experiences, which is only appeal to emotions. By using the other two types it would make her argument less
When John was a young boy he was taught how to read and write by his father. He was accepted into Harvard in 1751. Adams graduated in 1755 with Bachelor of Arts degree. Right after graduating, Adams decided he would pursue a career practicing law. Yet his first job following graduation he was a schoolmaster in Worcester, Massachusetts. He learned to adjust to becoming the schoolmaster in the town; he socialized at night, and met with old school friends and returned home during the breaks from school. During his career as a schoolmaster he was worried that he was ruining his chances of getting a better career. It was said that Adams often felt as a dictator and his students as generals and politicians. As a teacher John developed the ...
...year without a principal!” (136). From these examples, we can see that readers can easily imagine the situations that Moore describes; this helps readers clearly understand Moore’s points. For that reason, this strategy is successful for Moore to effectively express his ideas.
...a career to something that guarantees a successful life. This negative light gives many student the ugly side of college that maybe it isn't as good as it sounds. The function of the essay to deter students from becoming like sheep and following social norms, Murray wants students to become informed before making decisions that can change the outcome of their life for many years.
...ch AMATYC Algebra Curriculum Reform.” 24 Jan. 2010 < http://www.amatc.org/ publications/Electronic-proceedings/LongBeach22/Steinfort.pdf> Rimer, Sara. “First Woman Takes Reins at Harvard.” The New York Times. 13 Oct. 2007. 23 Jan. 2010 “Secretary of Education Richard Riley addresses Mathematicians.” American Mathematical Society. 8 Jan. 1998. 24 Jan. 2010 Williams, Mara Rose. “What’s A Degree Really Worth?” NorthJersery.com. 24 Jan. 2010. 24 Jan. 2010 Zernike, Kate. “Making College ‘Relevant’.” The New York Times. 29 Dec. 2009. 24 Jan. 2010 < http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03careerism-t.html>
Pharinet. ""Is College for Everyone'"." Practical Argument: A Text and Anthology. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 635-636. Print.
However, the newly revised SAT will not encourage students to improve their reasoning abilities and aptitude for their college level of works. This is because the test is moving towards achieving, the results will only be showing what they learned throughout high school, and will not be proving their capabilities in handling college work in their first two years. The re...
Ellis, Joseph J. Passionate Sage: the Character and Legacy of John Adams. New York: Norton, 1993. Print.
Chan, Amanda. "SAT is not a fair measure of skills." Penn Live. Advance Digital, 3 January 2012. Web. 14 Nov 2013. .
SInce my first day of high school I Have been working hard to maintain my grade point. Unfortunately this was not enough, i aimed to end my junior year with above a three point gpa in hopes of being accepted into Oregon state. My history in math has held up my grades for many years. As I entered High School I realized that I would have to work extra hard to maintain the grade in math to ensure my candidacy at OSU.
Scott Adams fills his essay full of verbal fallacies that take away from his initial theme of finding his/her passion. These two quotes use the fallacy of the "straw man argument." “That was the year I learned everything I know about management,” and, “That was the year I learned everything I know about getting buy-in” (99). He is trying to prove the argument that all his education/learning experiences came from practical knowledge. This over exaggeration and overstatement takes away from his argument. It cannot be validated because school is proven to build character and hard-work ethics ("EdLab"). Due to his assumptions, his credibility is under question. Next, he uses “hasty generalizations” in the opening sentence by saying, “I understand why the top students in America study physics, chemistry, calculus and classic literature” (98). Through inductive generalizations, he rushes to a conclusion that all top students study in a certain field, which is a false statement. Along with verbal fallacies, Adams carries a bias throughout the essay. He says, "That's my starter list that would serve B students well" (101). While yes, the information can aid the "B" students to become more successful, it can pertain to anyone with any grade. His use of these segregating statements narrows the window of his audience
A persuasive essay takes a position on a topic and attempts to prove that position.
Miller was not a good student and he failed math three times in high school. He tried to get admission to university on the basis of his football skills, but he c...