A Rhetorical Analysis “America’s Most Overrated Product: The Bachelor’s Degree”
A bachelor’s degree just to drive a taxi cab? It might be the future of many college graduates according to Marty Nemko. In a June, 2008 edition of the Chronical of Higher Education in an article titled “America’s Most Overrated Product: The Bachelor’s Degree” Nemko argues that a four year college degree may not be worth the cost, and not the right choice for most high school graduates. For past generations, it has been expected that to be successful one must attend a four year university. Two year degrees, technical, and trade schools were looked down upon. Nemko wishes his reader to learn a different truth. He wants to educate the educators who have misguided today’s youth into thinking that four years is the only successful path to take. He writes his article to alert parents and students that a four year college education is not for the majority of high school graduates. His argument is well formatted, as he establishes both his credibility to the reader and uses statistics and citations from other credible sources
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Nemko is able to use his canvas to paint a picture for his target audience and show them that a four year degree is not the only path available, not the right choice for most high school graduates, and a weak choice for today’s job market. He uses pathos but continues to cite facts throughout the article to use logos to validate his claims. He ends by giving options such as associates degrees and trade schools to show that he is not anti-education just simply a reformist. This really adds to his ethos. He also leaves readers with a positive note about many famous, respected people who did not graduate from four year institutions. This adds to his pathos one last time. Nemko certainly makes one think on their educational life choices by mixing ethos, pathos, and logos throughout his
Murray examines the bad side of a B.A. by stating, “while it is true that the average person with a B.A. makes more than the average person without a B.A., getting a B.A. is still likely to be a wrong economic choice among high-school graduates (676).” He explains that high school graduates who believe in receiving B.A. will help them get a higher-paying job they are only narrowly
In Marty Nemko’s essay, “We Send Too Many Students to College,” I thought he presented his argument about how a college degree does not necessarily mean that you will succeed in life in a subtle yet smart way by utilizing a personal connection with the subject of his essay. Or as Aristotle explained in The Art of Rhetoric, the appeal to authority (Ethos). Additionally, I thought his incorporation of the two stories about the individuals who obtained their degrees, but could find a job with their aforementioned degrees was a very honest way of descripting what I believe is happening in today’s educational institution.
In his article, “Are Too Many People Going to College?” Charles Murray argues that too many people are going to college universities when they should be focusing on other lifestyle options. In his opinion, whether or not to attend college is a personal decision that should be thoroughly thought through. When weighed with the unrealistic prerequisites, the financial expenses, and the time needed to obtain a degree, many people will find that attending college will not be beneficial to them. Speaking of this Murray attests, “The question here is not whether the traditional four-year residential college is fun or valuable as a place to grow up, but when it makes sense as a place to learn how to make a living.
In the article “Not Going to College is a Viable Option”, Lawrance B. Schlack claims that going to college is already regarded as the best option after high school by public, but not going to college is also an important choice. However, his article is not very effective or persuasive. The writer tries to build a trustful foundation for the article by using ethos. However, the credibility he built is not very suitable for this topic. In the first sentence, he indicated that all the “retired superintendent” suggest that superintendents always tell students not go to college is a better way to explain themselves.
Liz Addison’s essay, “Two Years Better Than Four,” was first published in the New York Times Magazine back in September of 2007. Addison went to two community colleges and majored in biology; earning her degree in 2008. In her essay, she is responding to Rick Perlstein's article “What’s the Matter with College?” in which he claims, “College as America used to understand it is coming to an end” (211). Addison refutes Perlstein’s claims by saying, “My guess, reading between the lines, is that Mr. Perlstein has never set foot in an American community college” (212).
“College in America” Caroline Bird thinks that a college education may not be the best choice for all high school students because college education does not bring about social equality, it does not benefit them financially, and it is not guaranteed that college will lead them to an elite profession. First of all, high school students are expected to bring about social equality through four rigorous years in college. However, college is an expensive way to categorize the highs and lows in society. It is pressuring to younger students to pursue a higher education that only a few could achieve, and is also difficult for them to established an identity in society. Second, a college education does not benefit the youth financially because it is
1. Of the three primary units we have completed in this course, I learned the most from the Rhetorical Analysis unit. As well as being educational, this unit was enjoyable and thought-provoking. Evaluating the argumentative essays both set a foundation for an argumentative paper and taught me how to effectively detect logical fallacies. Until this unit, I was unaware of the several logical fallacies that people use to argue their position.
In my opinion, I agree with Murray’s claim that four year college is not worth, job satisfaction for intrinsic reward, and the dark side of the Bachelor's degree. In my view, Murray’s is right, because college requires student to take 32 courses in four years or longer and not all courses are relate to the field they study with. More specifically, I believe that four years college will take more time to achieve our goal and knowledges doesn’t teach us how to make a living in our society. Murray described in his article, “More people should be getting the basic of a liberal education. But for most students, the places to provide those basics are elementary and middle school” (235).
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.
Thank you for meeting with us today. I made a folder within google drive to use as a resource to share information. In this folder you will find all the documents from today 's meeting. You will also find a spreadsheet for you to identify any current college and career courses offered within your district. Thank you again and feel free to email me if you have any
In his Essay “Are too many people going to college,” first published in a 2008 issue of AEI, Charles Murray explores many insights onto the topic of furthering education as well as exploring various other options to pursue after high school. Who exactly would think that too many people are going to college? Well with more and more students flooding campuses at the end of every school year and less and less going into trade schools, a shift in the job market is just beginning to be seen on the horizon. Charles Murray’s essay “Are too many people going to college” shows that not only are there other avenues to pursue a potential life long career, but that much of the time pursuing these avenues may offer better results for some wanting to go to college.
In “Are Too Many People Going to College?” Charles Murray offers his opinion on the number of students that pursue a B.A. He believes that two year or four year colleges are not needed for a majority of students who could instead pursue other life paths. He discusses the ability for the general knowledge needed to be learned in primary and secondary school, and for a lessened need for a “brick-and-mortar” institution the problems with the current secondary and higher educational issues including the lessened need to acquire a B.A. All members of society need certain skills in order to be productive members of society. They need to know general facts about the country they live in, general history, and general geography.
Short-response prompt (15 points) In a speech to high school students, a business owner makes the following statement: "Nowadays a high school diploma alone will get you nowhere in life." Write a short argument either for or against this statement. Be sure to include a clear claim and to provide and respond to at least one counterclaim. Use specific details from your own experiences and observations to develop your argument.
If a person’s parent or guardian drilled the idea of college into your head, or if they told you ‘do what you want’ or ‘I don 't care’, or ‘You’re not going’. While college is great, there are other means of education. The value of college is a low because there are people who do not qualify for a college education, and also because there are other ways of post-secondary education other than college. College is not valuable because many people will not make it into a 2 or 4-year college, much less graduate from one. To support this, in the article Why College Isn 't For Everyone, it says, “As a general rule, I would use graduates in the top quarter of their class at a high-quality high school should go on to a four-year degree program, while those in the bottom quarter of their classes at a high school with a mediocre educational reputation should not.”
In the article “ Why college isn’t( and shouldn’t have to be) for everybody” it states “For example, the emerging economy will need platoons of technicians able to install, service, and repair all the high-tech machinery filling up hospitals, offices, and factories.”(26) . “ Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” They feel they are compelled to get a college degree because they’ve been told that it was necessary to get a college degree, some people also think that if you go to a four-year college everyone would look down to their nose if they don’t have a college degree.. “ I think everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cabdriver.