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Rhetorical Analysis: Should Everyone Go To College

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“On average, college graduates make significantly more money over their lifetime than those without a degree… What gets less attention is the fact that not all college degrees or college graduates are equal.”(pg.208 para. 1) Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill are senior researchers at Brookings’ Center on Children and Families, Sawhill is also a senior fellow in economics study at Brookings’. Owen and Sawhill authored the essay, “Should everyone go to College?” The authors use a wide variety of rhetorical devices in the essay, including ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade their audience to take another look at whether college is the right choice for them. Throughout the essay, the authors keep a neutral tone so that they come across as non-biased, …show more content…

When we look at lifetime earnings-the sum of earnings over a career-the total premium is $570,000 for a bachelor’s degree and $170,000 for an associate’s degree.” (pg.211 para. 1) This is an extremely effective use of logos to persuade as to why getting a college degree can yield “a tremendous return” (pg.211 para. 1), as the Hamilton Project stated. This is so effective because the authors lay all the numbers out right in front of the readers regarding lifetime earnings achieved through bachelor’s degrees, associates degrees, and high school diplomas. The authors gathered research from the Hamilton Project and also created graphs to provide the reader with the facts and statistics they need to make their own decision whether they should go to college or not. When the provided data is considered, it’s hard to see why someone wouldn’t choose to attend college and earn a degree. The authors were successful in achieving the goal of getting their point across by simply stating hard undisputed facts on earnings which is why this is a good example of logos in the authors’

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