"Dear Students: Don't Let College Unplug Your Future" By Gideon Burton
1. In this article, the author's intent is to convince his audience that college is behind the times when it comes to using new media effectively and that the structure He also wants to convince his audience that they will never be prepared for the the "real world" after graduation if they don't start taking full advantage of what new media has to offer. He also suggests that using and taking advantage of new media will be worth far more than a college diploma ever will.
2. This author definitely uses ethos to establish credibility in his writing. He mentions that he is a college professor and this is an argument that professors don't usually make when addressing students. He also does a great job of using imagery and humor to appeal to his audience. For instance, "<image of university magazine with supercomputer and smiley nerd>". I think that imagery and humor were very effective rhetorical tools to use considering that his audience is a bunch of college students. Also, I don't know if this is a rhetorical tool or not but I noticed that he capitalizes a lot of phrases and words for emphasis throughout the article.
3. I think that this article was effective, to a point. It definitely made me want to go out there and use more of the resources that new media and technology have to offer. However, I wasn't completely convinced that my use of Facebook or blogging would someday be more valuable than a diploma. That seems like a stretch. I agree with the fact that colleges should do a better job of incorporating such media into their curriculum, but I wouldn't go as far as to criticize the very academic structure of a university.
I really like your analysis! I agree that he used a lot of imagery and humor to appeal to students. I didn't see that until now. I totally agree with you on the effectiveness of his paper. Honestly, who would take a persons blog work over a diploma! Maybe if he had to choose between 2 people with diploma, he probably pick the guy with the blog if he felt that was more important, but then again, blogging and Facebook is a new generation thing, and i don't see business looking at that as something super important right now.
ReplyDeleteYeppp, it's official. I was the only one at our table who didn't pick this article. Funny how it worked out that way.
ReplyDeleteI liked this, it was very clear and easy to see your viewpoint. And, I liked the example of humor you used from the article. Funny stuff.
Avarie, I thought this was a good analysis of the article. I felt a lot the same way as I was reading it. I agree with Jordan's comment too, although I think it is interesting to look at the dynamics in business where management and administration are kind of switching generations. I wonder if this is an article that might have more relevance in the future than right now, although I think the author underestimates the ability of Universities to adapt to new technology and ideas.
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