Something that can be seen as either a major flaw in his argument or a strategic appeal is his lack of presenting opposing views. He didn’t recognize any counterarguments. He only spoke from his perspective, without exploring the views of his opposition. This could hurt him because his argument was not solidified by his responses to obvious oppositions, but this choice could help Edmundson in making an ethical appeal to the audience. Edmundson seems genuine by not trying to argue with possible oppositions; he comes off as having pure intentions of changing the path of the next generation. Edmundson does other things to come off well to the reader as well. Edmundson seems to truly care about the state of the next generation because he takes …show more content…
Shorris was researching for a book on poverty, and he was influenced into completing an experiment where he would teach the liberal arts to the impoverished. His central claim is that the liberal arts teaches the poor how to succeed in a political—as Thucydides defines it—society. Edmundson and Shorris both write essays on liberal education and contemporary culture; however, both authors come to different conclusions. While Edmundson decides that liberal education has become useless in today’s culture, Shorris documents how a liberal education has changed the lives of sixteen people. Shorris’ essay includes a younger generation that does have passion—this is opposed to Edmundson describing an entire generation as generally passionless. The difference between the two authors is that Edmundson bases his findings on his experience with privileged students and then applies it to a whole nation of young adults; meanwhile, Shorris writes about his experiences with impoverished young adults, but he doesn’t apply his results to the entire nation. Edmundson is speaking too generally when he says that the generation of his students is passionless, that they cannot benefit from a liberal education, and that they are all going to school as consumers. In contrast with Edmundson’s students, Shorris’ students were changed; this shows that not every group of students is the same as Edmundson’s students. Shorris’ essay gives another side to the story that Edmundson tells; although Shorris’ argument doesn’t totally invalidate Edmundson’s, it does limit
Rhetorical Analysis Draft Three “The Privileges of The Parents” is written by Margaret A. Miller, a Curry School of Education professor at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. This woman was a project director for the Pew-sponsored National Forum on college level learning from 2002-2004. This forum assessed the skills and knowledge of college educated students in five states by a way that allowed the test givers to make state-by-state comparisons. Miller believes that “[a] college education has benefits that ripple down through the generations” and this has enabled her to work and speak on topics such as: college level learning and how to evaluate it, change in higher education, the public responsibilities of higher education, campus
The article “The New Liberal Arts” by Sanford Ungar argues that the people who have studied the liberal art are not beneficial for the society, however the author states several facts to prove against it. The author believes not only the Liberal art major is valuable in America, but also other countries have special consideration to this field. These students have strong communication skills and they catch up very fast, in addition they study science and math beside art. A lot of people immigrate to America every year, so they are considered as a second language, thus their communication skills are weak. Liberal art students have been trained to raise the society communication skills, moreover they gain variety of abilities such as:
Education now a days is a fairly easy thing to obtain, whether it’s through cheap public schools or more expensive private schools, but in the 1800’s education was more of rarity than a commodity. In the story Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and the auto-biography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass written by himself, shows the more unconventional ways that people may have needed to go through to have something that resembles an education. Where Huck Finn had simply lived his life and traveled the lands to gain his knowledge, and Frederick Douglass using sly trickery and a piece of bread to gain his own knowledge. With this, both of these men learned through the interactions of people, and with that, may have received a better education than people get
Over the course of history, many oppressive systems have been overthrown by the people whom they belittled. Even today, here in our country that boasts the ideology of freedom, we continue to be oppressed under the false pretense of education. You might ask how that is possible because you don’t feel oppressed. Well, it is because that is how you have been conditioned to think by some of your teachers, and the education system.
The main argument is that perceived throughout the reading is that the schools itself is failing students. They see a student who may not have the greatest test scores or the best grades, and degrade them from the idea of being intellectual. Graff states, “We associate the educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly and exclusively with subjects and texts that we consider inherently weighty and academic” (Graff 244). Schools need to channel the minds of street smart students and turn their work into something academic.
“A large fraction of our total economy has grown up around providing service and counseling to inadequate people-- and inadequate people are the main product of government compulsion schools.” The government-- the face of a nation, the commission of our founding fathers’, the building blocks of freedom-- except no one is free. Political figures and journalism authors’ place blame on 21st century students for “failing America;” however, monkey see-- monkey do. Contemporary students are the face of reform; parent-- students educational standards, shrewd motivational obligations, and the discrepancy of learning or obeying orders, only a few of the problematic burdens placed on modernized students (Gatto 25). Parents have always been expected to teach their children right from wrong, so why has the blame for inadequacy now been placed on the child, opposed to the adult?
“3 Reasons College Still Matters” by Andrew Delbanco 3) “Surely, every American college ought to defend this waning possibility, whatever we call it. And an American college is only true to itself when it opens its doors to all - the rich, the middle, and the poor - who have the capacity to embrace the precious chance to think and reflect before life engulfs them. If we are all serious about democracy, that means everyone.” 4) In this part of the writing Andrew Delbanco tries to persuade his audience by using the pattern of logic that agrees with the overall argument but also considers another striking point of view to strengthen the argument (While these arguments are convincing, they must also consider…).
Martha Nussbaum has experiences in writing about education related topics such as liberal education, already publishing a book called „Cultivating Humanity”. However her inspiration to write her book entitled “Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities” came from a person of the Spencer Foundation named Mike McPherson but also because of the fact that she was resident fellow at the foundation. In addition to this, her association with the Cambridge school in Weston, Massachusetts helped her by giving her optimism in what type of education she wanted to defend in her book. ( xii )
Education is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life. In each essay, all three authors ward against the dangers with the education system of their era. Whether it be diversity, segregation or the goals of the system itself the authors believe changes need to be made, as education systems form the future leaders of our society. Through their text the authors believe they must solve the faults within the education systems, to conform society to what they believe is morally and ethically correct.
The idea of classroom causing problems for America’s society is elaborated when President Johnson explains that many children in America don’t have enough money to afford school. “There your children’s lives will be shaped. Our society will not be great until every young mind is set free to scan the farthest reaches of thought and imagination.” In order for a society to be great, education is the foundation; schools are where child learn about their world, and what it is they will do in the future to earn money to live a good life. And to better prove his idea Johnson states, “Each year more than 100,000 high school graduates, with proved ability, do not enter college because they cannot afford it,” then questions what will happen in years when time has become elapsed to conclude any efforts are needed to come into play for there to be a Great Society.
The movie “Freedom Writers” presents itself as a movie that challenges stereotypes and stigmas against students who come from stigmatized backgrounds. While the film addresses some problematic assumptions, it also exacerbates other stereotypes and misconceptions. The film “Freedom Writers” begins with the intention to disprove the idea that students from certain ethnic and racial backgrounds are “unteachable,” but the narrative of the movie contains many errors in the depiction of the students and the portrayal of the teacher. The depiction of the students is problematic because the actors are much older than the age of the children they are expected to be portraying.
The Death of Liberal Arts Response The value for a complete, effective education has decreased over the years. Important courses in liberal arts have been eliminated from a numerous amount of collages causing their students to be less prepared for the working world. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 where it’s characters live in a dystopian society that does not value books at all they in fact are burned due to the threat it holds relates to the death of liberal arts in today’s society.
As Americans, we view the Constitution as a stepping stone to making the great country we live in today. Yet, we the people of the United States failed to realize another component in order to form a perfect union. Which is to establish and promote equal opportunities for a quality education for all. However, we live in a society where social locators such as class, gender, and race are huge factors in the determination of one’s educational future.
The former South African president and revolutionary Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” In the movie Dead Poets Society instructed by Peter Weir from 1989, the students of Welton are stuck in the past with suppressive teaching methods, that strikes down upon anyone, who dares to think differently, until one teacher comes and gives them the encouragement to do so. This paper will analyse and interpret the movie Dead Poets Society with focus on the use of cinematic effects and symbolism. The art of symbolism is used throughout the movie to get subtle statements and meanings across to the movie audience.
The humanities as Necessities The concept of humanities has been around and taught in places of learning for centuries. Humanities focuses on the human race as a whole and how they act or respond to different scenarios. While it is still taught throughout the United states in its universities, humanities, according to Thomas Frank, is beginning to wane away ever since the 1980s. He is determined to not let college humanities drop away from view, however does it in a manner that almost washes his core argument away.