Using Music to Teach Ethos
Introduction
After teaching high school English reading and writing for four years, life led me to apply for a position teaching English at a state university. I was hired as an adjunct faculty member, but in my eyes, I was basically a utility man in the Major Leagues. The brief hour-long meeting with the adjunct coordinator was my first exposure to rhetoric and anything related to it. I knew what a rhetorical question was—don’t we all?—and I had heard people make comments such as “He might think he knows what he’s doing, but in all reality, his talk is all rhetoric.” Still, did I know how to teach this stuff to other people? On the college level? I sat down with the information the coordinator had given me and I found many helpful hints, ideas, and terms. I love terms. If I am given a list of terms, I can often use the definitions to find the common links and make the material teachable. I did an online search and found a Web site that broke down the various elements of rhetoric and included a list of terms. I was in heaven, rhetorically speaking.
This first exposure to rhetoric was, I must admit, dull and dreary, much like Latin seemed to be where I used to teach. Dead languages, dead concepts—were the Ancient cultures good for anything other than art, stories, language, and great food? I decided that this seemingly dry material would have to be souped up a bit to attract college freshmen whose attention spans run between 10 and 15 minutes. Then, as Red Skelton might say, I had an apostrophe. I realized that the compositions my students write are comprised of sections, each an entity unto itself which contributes something to the overall essay. I remembered my senior year at UGA, taking “History and Analysis of Rock and Roll Music,” and the lessons we learned about the different sections of a song and how those sections are merged to create one complete unit. After reading a bit more about rhetorical appeals—ethical, logical, and emotional—I realized that the songs we listen to every day can be linked to this previously unknown, dry material.
Although the United States has replaced a partially drafted army with an all-volunteer army, the Selective Service System stills allows men to be drafted if the military is too small (Olson-Raymer, par. 48-50). When the United States invaded Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Americans voluntarily enlisted (par. 55). Despite this, military personnel claimed that there was a shortage of soldiers, and a draft would be beneficial in the war effort (Thompson, par. 7). Fortunately, the draft remained and still remains unnecessary. Whenever a draft has been implemented in the United States, controversy has ensued. Some people think a draft
But in 1980, President Carter reinstated the draft in a way, stating all men born after January 1, 1960 were require to register with Selection Service, but this was not reinforced after about he of 1986. Today, the question is debated about whether or not we, as Americans, should reinstate the draft. Those in favor of reinstating the draft argue that our country would be safer, those drafted would learn important lifelong lessons and build characteristics that today’s generation has lost, and Americans would learn to appreciate more, something our society has forgotten. Those who oppose the draft argue that there would not be many, if any, families that are not military based and have to worry about loosing people in their family. Reinstating the military draft is
Tiffany Burkes, Jill Fandzel, Jessica Ramuno, Ady Rabie. “Harriet Tubman” csun.edu. n.d. 1, April. 2014. web.
Ethos: The credibility of Anti-Flag, as of right now, is growing enormously. All the other punk bands look to these guys and marvel at how much they are defending their beliefs. For example, a person is watching his or her favorite band play and he or she begins to talk of how great Anti-Flag is. Immediately one could pick up on that and want to get to know more about Anti-Flag. It is a chain reaction of learning about other bands through bands that he or she already knows. If Anti-Flag are respected by bands that were the original punk-rockers such as Bad Religion, NOFX, and The Clash, then they will be admitted into the fan base of such bands. As long as a band can get a well known band to show favor, the band will be more accepted by the fan-base community. This is ironic because the band does not have to make good music as long as a respected band likes them.
Of View: Draft Vs. Volunteer Army (2013): 2. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 30 Apr.
Clark (2016) suggests that rhetoric isn’t limited to oral communication, but currently has a permanent foothold in written works: magazine or newspaper excerpts, novels, and scientific reports. Not only written
Tubman’s intense desire for freedom can be traced back to her earliest days as a child. Born in Dorchester County, Maryland, Tubman never knew her birthdate. It is thought that she was born in either 1820 or 1821, however, there are no formal records stating the exact date due to the fact that slave owners did not find it necessary to document the birthdate of their property (“Harriet Tubman”). At the age of seven, Tubman was hired out to a woman named Miss Susan. Living under Miss Susan, Tubman was no stranger to whipping and other cruel punishments whenever she did not complete her job as it was demanded. Even at such a young age, Tubman knew t...
Various Authors. "Harriet Tubman." Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale, 1995. Student Resources in Context. Web. 16 Nov.
Araminta Harriet Ross, Harriet Tubman, played a crucial role in History. She was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and union spy in the civil war. Her courageous rescues freed over 300 black slaves. In fact her work was so impactful that the South put a 40,000-dollar reward on her head. She became the most famous leader of The Underground Railroad and many called her Moses after the biblical character. Harriet Tubman was more than an essential part in The Underground Railroad; she was an essential part in our history.
On a daily basis, we as humans try to make other people see things from our point of view and we do so using persuasion. We unconsciously do this every time we speak because most of our actions are persuasive in nature. There is not any way to communicate without using rhetoric or “being rhetorical.” I find rhetoric to be a very frustrating word because the word has so many different meanings. That it makes it hard to get a grip on what it really means. The word rhetoric means the art of convincing or influencing others whether through words or images to support a specific perspective. Rhetoric works in all interactions with others as it helps teaches a person to think logically, to discover wrong and weak arguments, to argue for or against
After figuring out where you are, it is time to start to build your compass. The reason compass was invented is that seamen had to use the tool to lead them. Life is as if an ocean, there are so many way we can go; however, many people may have no “compass”, let alone know where they ought to go. This book mentions that we need to think about the build a Workview and a Lifeview. Basically, the Lifeview is the life we tend to live. For example, someone wants to live an environmental friendly earth, so the Workview should be finding a job in one of organizations that contribute on climate change, protecting nature, and more. In fact, no one can stay in college to study for a very long time, they eventually will go to the society. Building a compass to find your way is extremely important step we have to go through, and we should start to do it as soon as possible.
The author begins his argument by retelling the story of his youth to build his ethos but the results are poor as it presents more questions on how he is a credible source on this argument as his only evidence is his own story. However, through the same means his pathos is built as his anecdote conveys feelings in the audience, making them more willing to listen. Graff finally, gives a call to action to schools to use students’ interests to develop their skills in rhetoric and analysis, which reveals the logic behind his argument. The topic about how students are taught rhetoric and analysis brings interest but with an average argument only built on pathos, a low amount of logos, and questionable ethos it can fall on deaf
The impact and effectiveness of using proper rhetoric was a strategy of “good” writing that I was not aware of until my senior year of high school. While taking AP Language and Composition my junior year, my fellow students and I believed that we had survived countless essay workshop activities and writing assignments with emphasis on word choices, grammatical structure, syntax, punctuation and spelling. By the time we had entered AP Literature our senior year, we felt we could achieve success; we already knew how to write in the correct format and structur...
“Music education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around them a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete education that includes music.” Former US president Gerald Ford, said this in regards to musical education. He and many other people believe in having an education in music at some point in a student’s life. According to the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) says that Bill Clinton is a saxophone player (The Most Musical United States Presidents par 25)
TED Talks (Producer). (2013, February) Sugata Mitra: Build A School In The Cloud [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud#t-65046