Rhetorical Analysis Of Why We Undervalue A Liberal Arts Education

In the article “Why We Undervalue a Liberal Arts Education” by Adam Chapnick, the author points to reasons why the liberal arts degree is undervalued. While his article lacks direction, it is effective because he talks about the topics he promised and he backs up his claims efficiently through the use of ethos,pathos and logos.Overall his argument is legitimate and the article is well written. To my understanding, the article is analyzing the way the world looks at liberal arts degrees and how they should be teaching the students to appreciate them. Chapnick clearly thinks that the liberal arts degree is unappreciated by today’s society as you can see in this quote, “The message coming from the policy world is clear: if you want

Chapnick uses all three kinds of claims in his article. For example, he uses a claim of fact in this sentence, “Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about who they are, and what I’ve realized is rather unsettling: many of them are our graduates”(Chapnick). He backs this up by saying, “More broadly, across the country, thousands of Canadians graduate with degrees in the arts and humanities every year ”(Chapnick). He uses a claim of value here, “ I think that the BA can eventually be seen to be equally relevant, if we provide our students with a better understanding of the learning process. ”(Chapnick). A claim of policy, “The solution, I think, lies in the way that we conceive, develop and then promote our value-added bona fides”(Chapnick). He uses many factual claims throughout his article and backs them all back with

The reader has to trust the author with what he is saying in order to convince the reader of anything. Adam Chapnick is deputy director of the Canadian Forces College and a professor of defense studies. At first glance of his article, one can tell that his writing and claims are legitimate. He pulls statistics from sources of all different kinds, such as his own experience, “for example, university taught me organizational and time-management skills”(Chapnick). One finds the author finds a lot of authority to make the audience believe him. Just all the more reason to say this article is well