John Oliver Rhetorical Analysis

On the highly esteemed network of HBO, comedian, John Oliver took to his Emmy-nominated show, Last Week Tonight; to discuss the controversial topic of standardized testing. Much like other subjects he discusses on shit late-night television show, the well-established comedian uses his skill of humor as an advantage in his ridiculing of standardized testing and America’s education system. He is able to expose the testing industry by adopting a very blunt and humorous tone in order to convey to his audience why theses exam producers need to find solutions to their controversy. His welcoming and enthusiastic approach helps him gain interest and build a relationship with his viewers. John Oliver’s abundant use of satire, visuals, and modern day references not only attribute to his credibility, but also help develop his argument that the United States’ testing statistics are below average, therefore the true test for the nation’s education system is “convincing everyone it works, or accepting it doesn’t work, and fixing it” (17:10-17:21). Oliver welcomes his audience into his discussion with a joke that immediately clarifies his

He traces it back to a 1990’s report of America ranking 28th in education, which lead up to the impactful law of No Child Left Behind enforced by former president, George Bush on his third day of office. He describes what the law entails as well as the effect it had on the nation as Oliver highlighted in an article that the act “nearly triples tests from six to 17” a year (5:37). He then leads up to our current president, Barack Obama’s 2007 speech on how he disagreed with Bush, but once he got into office, he did not get rid of tests, but instead created his own educational programs. This was not only to expose the hypocrisy of politics, but to generalize that the problem is the implementation of these