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Comparative rhetorical analysis
Rhetorical analysis
A proposal for rhetorical analysis
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Students in school typically work long hours in order to achieve high standards academically. Those who achieve the highest grades are honored with the title of valedictorian. However, the title has been under attack as students and parents call for the title to either be extended to more students or abolished entirely. In “Best in class by Margaret Talbot, Talbot claims that schools should keep the single valedictorian system, but reduce its overall importance; she claims that using contrast and selective presentation. In her article, Talbot makes use of contrast in order to advocate her position. She describes the GPA of students today and compares it to the GPA of students twenty years ago; the grades of today’s students are about 0.26 …show more content…
She shows the perspective of many different people to show a seemingly neutral overview of the situation surrounding the status of valedictorian. Her frequent use of interviews and dialogue allows for her to show her opinion or position on the matter while still maintaining her status of neutrality; the claims simply appear to be the positions of others. The structure of her essay and positioning of her interviews also are deliberate and subtly support Talbot’s message. She grouped the interviews so that negative statements about valedictorians were positioned near the beginning and arranged the interviews with good outlooks on valedictorians near the end, separated by a chunk of historical context for the school system. The context used as a divider influences the reader to think the following interviews are stronger and more well reasoned because the audience has information to relate what the speakers are saying to. This establishes the intent behind the essay as the layout encourages the perception of the positive interviews as well written. In “Best in Class” by Margaret Talbot, the use of contrast and selective presentation clearly establishes the author's message that the single valedictorian system is should stay, yet be reduced in overall importance. Though the title has been heavily criticized, it ultimately serves as a reward to the hard work students put forth. Talbot uses her article to
Women’s Brains deals with the abuse of scientific data in order to “prove” negative social analyses with prejudiced groups such as women, blacks, and poor people. Evolutionary biologist Stephen Gould points out the flaws in the scientific methods of various scientists and correctly asserts that many scientists incorrectly used anthropometric data to support social analyses that degrade prejudiced groups.
Laurier had graduated at the top of his class and was chosen to give the
An article that uses a lot of rhetorical devices is Shitty First Drafts by Anne Lamott. The speaker of this article is obviously Anne Lamott; the reader gets to understand her more after she shares some personal experiences. Lamott wants people to know that their first drafts are supposed to be shitty. This article is meant for college students who just finished their first draft and is looking for improvement. The purpose of this whole article is to inform you that your first draft is supposed to be horrible because no one can just pull an amazing paper from no where, not even the people who write for a living. The whole subject is telling you that your first drafts are going to be bad, so make sure to write multiple drafts before you
I chose this word because the tone of the first chapter seems rather dark. We hear stories of the hopes with which the Puritans arrived in the new world; however, these hopes quickly turned dark because the Purtains found that the first buildings they needed to create were a prison, which alludes to the sins they committed; and a cemetery, which contradicts the new life they hoped to create for themselves.
In the article “Making the Grade,” published in Newsweek Magazine, Professor Kurt Wiesenfeld states that students in the modern society believe that they should receive grades based on their desires and potential rather than their academic performance and personal effort. It is arguable that students should be allowed to have some leniency based on the fact that there may be obstacles distracting or refraining them from completing their work. I believe that it is the students responsibility to maintain or improve their grades by implementing hard work, consistency and dedication to their studies.
In a nutshell, all you have to do to become valedictorian is have the highest GPA of your graduating class. Simple right? Maybe, if you go to a small school, but when your graduating class is around 1,500 people? Yeah, not so much.
Sherry, expresses her concern on how students are being handed useless diplomas since they are not being taught the necessary knowledge skills and abilities to help them in the workforce. She goes on to back up her reasoning regarding the broken educational system using a personal example that failing a student would be the best way in motivating that student in having a usable high school diploma. Sherry, voices her disgust on how the educational system allows teachers to pass along students simply because they are good and do not cause any disruptions in the
“It’s Harder Now to Change Student’s Lives, but No Less Important” isn’t just an average writing piece, it is a writing piece that truly catches the eye; Stephen R. Herr does this by not only portraying a strong, academic message throughout his words, he also eloquently places his words in such a way which significantly affects the piece as a whole. However, this was all not luck of the draw; Herr knew what he was doing from the beginning by knowing certain writing techniques such as focusing on a specific audience, knowing his own position, using rhetorical moves, and much more.
Commencement speeches, which are presented in American graduation ceremonies, aim to inspire and motivate. Successfully, Nora Ephron 's commencement speech addressed to the Wellesley Class of 1996; inspired her audience to "be the heroine of [their '] li[ves], not the victim". Through anecdotes, Ephron explored the differences between her education and the graduates at Wellesley College, to remind the women graduating that whilst society was different in many ways, in particular for women, "there was still a glass ceiling".
She highlights the disruption that the decision causes schools by addressing a situation that took place in Sarasota, Florida and how, after the school had named co-valedictorians, “teachers considered boycotting graduation” and “students talked about booing” the student who had originally been given the valedictorian status (114). Talbot emphasizes the emotional state of the school after two valedictorians had been named in order to pander to her audience’s empathy. The notion of teachers “boycotting” graduation (a typically excitedly anticipated event) and students “booing” a student who had put four years of her life into academic success solely due to a slight change in tradition conveys the idea that the preservation of the prestige of the position should be maintained rather than watered
“In 2007, two federal reports found that performance of U.S. high school students on the reading portion of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has declined between 1992 and 2005, even though students reported getting higher grades and taking harder classes” (Goodwin, 2011). One might conclude that this fallacy in data identifies a deeper issue in the classroom referred to as grade inflation. According to A Handbook of Education Law Terms, grade inflation is defined as, “the increase in score being awarded, with no increase to the standard being required of the student” (Garner, 1999). Studies suggests in the past rising grades represents an improvement in standards and academic rigor, however in today’s classroom this correlation does not always seem to be true. As trends in education change, so does the position on this topic. Through his writing style, appeal to his audience’s logos, and use of elaboration strategies Bryan Goodwin, author of “Grading Inflation: Killing with Kindness,” presents a strong argument against grade inflation in the classroom.
In Artie Kohn’s “The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation” in Bergmann’s Academic Research and Writing, the author is skeptical regarding if the issue of grade inflation is really existent. It is shockingly apparent after reading the portion of the essay stating Harvard University’s two headlining quotes, each quote’s dates were spread apart by over a hundred years (Bergmann, 2010, pg. 260). Those representing Harvard University in the quotes come off as rather egotistic and overly confident in nature. The author states within the essay “To say that grades are not merely rising but inflated – and that they are consequently ‘less accurate’ now…is to postulate the existence of an objectively correct evaluation of what a student (or essay) deserves,
I agree with the “You Are Not Special” because of the facts the speaker said. He said that there are 37,000 high schools around the country. With this many high schools there are 37,000 valedictorians from each school. The speaker said if you are a valedictorian, class president and athlete you are not special. I agree with this because you may be the valedictorian of your school but there are many more valedictorians across the country.
I’m not up here to talk about sweaty undergarments, though. I’m not even up here because of my charm and good looks. I have been granted this lovely opportunity to speak to compensate for the misery that went into the earning of the title “valedictorian”, and all the misery that will envelope the rest of my life as a result of it. Whenever I can’t figure out how the pump works at the gas station, I’ll hear, “And you were valedictorian?” If I try to pull on a door that says push, it will be, “You were valedictorian?” Get caught picking my nose on the jumbo-tron at a baseball game, and the jeers will assault me: “Hey, jackass, were you really valedictorian?”
The article from the New York Times, “Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes,” by Max Roosevelt, has brought up many creative ideas on grades. This article shows that we as students often confuse our grades between effort with the final product. I find this article interesting because, many future occurrences in our life can depend on our grades in high school and college. Reading this article can also help us decide what plan of action we need to take personally, to put in the right amount of effort in to be rewarded with good grades. First we need to consider why grades actually matter