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Gerald Graff Other Voices Other Room

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Educational Inconsistency I remember the first experience in a true science course, it was nerve racking and overflowed with mysteries; I loved it and that has not changed since. This current semester in college, I decided to enroll in both Biology 112 and Chemistry 111 expecting my prior biology knowledge to assist in making chemistry easier; however, I quickly learned that I was mistaken. After a few weeks, I learned that some information from biology differed from the information in chemistry; even the most simplistic topics were completely different along with their corresponding vocabulary and definitions! How can two relating science classes differ so much? Gerald Graff, an English and Education professor at the University of Illinois, …show more content…

His descriptive thesis begins the empowering narrative that describes the many sources of the discrepancies college students are experiencing. Graff describes the effects differing opinions between teachers and politics that affect the direction of education. Additionally, Graff’s use of metaphors provide a comprehensive view of the negative effects the current education system has upon its students. He also appeals towards his audience through rhetoric such as Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. Graff enumerates numerous educational issues that exposes the truth of our education system and musters the support of his …show more content…

For that reason, Graff anticipates his readers and responds accordingly with strong evidence. Furthermore, Graff expects his audience to approve of his values and support his evidence by including an outside reference: “A rhetoric scholar, Gregory Colomb, has studied the disorientation experienced by a bright high school graduate who, after doing well in a humanities course, as a freshman at the University of Chicago, tries to apply her mastery to a social science course, only to come up with a grade of C” (Graff 342). In essence, both Graff and Colomb agree that students are smart, but there is too much of a disjunction between classes that causes students to underperform, therefore, smart students may fail due to the differences in our

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