In the essay “College Students, Welcome to a Lifetime of Debt!”, Barbara Ehrenreich has a strong appeal to the pathos pillar of persuasive rhetoric. The writer uses humour to ridicule the universities that charge great amounts in necessary and unexpected attributes, leaving the students in debt. Despite the playful language she also shows the dangers of premature debt to the society of the United States of America. At first glance, it is a laughable essay, but it will leave the reader questioning.
The first evidence of humour is in the first sentence: “Welcome to Fleece U. [. . .]” (par. 1). This introductory statement is comparing to the usual saying of actual universities in the beginning of the academic year. The name of the organization, …show more content…
It accomplishes this goal by not generalizing secondary educational institutions that put students in debt; rather, it shows features that are common in most, or in the biggest universities in the United States and Canada. The essay sells a university where the students will not be missing anything that the other students in other universities are doing, and will acquire much more, such as bill reading (par 5). It starts by showing what the student will get out of the university experience, being common to most youngsters in academic organizations in undergraduate programs. For instance, “make lasting friends [. . .], drink, more than [. . .] ever thought possible and bitterly regret it in the morning, [. . .] be amazed by calculus”, and other scenes seen in movies that depict North American university life (par 2, 3). The turning point comes when it says: “come out of here with some hazy notion of spelling and grammar”, as if this was not the most important feature of being a secondary education student (par 3). This introduces the next paragraph, which reveals that the “real purpose here is to shake off the pointless freedom of youth and assume the burden of debt” (par. …show more content…
Financial management is often seen part of the “adult life”, and that is what those expensive universities make the students experience. Still, the essay describes how the debt from university will make the diploma holder “toil faithfully in your cubicle year after year” and follow the individual to his or her death, and passed on to the children, in other words, a miserable adult life (par 11). The writer uses these descriptions to preserve her argument against student debts, albeit she cannot deny that an experience is certainly better than watching DVDs about life coaching and motivation (par
The first evidence of humour is in the first sentence: “Welcome to Fleece U. [. . .]” (par. 1). This introductory statement is comparing to the usual saying of actual universities in the beginning of the academic year. The name of the organization, …show more content…
It accomplishes this goal by not generalizing secondary educational institutions that put students in debt; rather, it shows features that are common in most, or in the biggest universities in the United States and Canada. The essay sells a university where the students will not be missing anything that the other students in other universities are doing, and will acquire much more, such as bill reading (par 5). It starts by showing what the student will get out of the university experience, being common to most youngsters in academic organizations in undergraduate programs. For instance, “make lasting friends [. . .], drink, more than [. . .] ever thought possible and bitterly regret it in the morning, [. . .] be amazed by calculus”, and other scenes seen in movies that depict North American university life (par 2, 3). The turning point comes when it says: “come out of here with some hazy notion of spelling and grammar”, as if this was not the most important feature of being a secondary education student (par 3). This introduces the next paragraph, which reveals that the “real purpose here is to shake off the pointless freedom of youth and assume the burden of debt” (par. …show more content…
Financial management is often seen part of the “adult life”, and that is what those expensive universities make the students experience. Still, the essay describes how the debt from university will make the diploma holder “toil faithfully in your cubicle year after year” and follow the individual to his or her death, and passed on to the children, in other words, a miserable adult life (par 11). The writer uses these descriptions to preserve her argument against student debts, albeit she cannot deny that an experience is certainly better than watching DVDs about life coaching and motivation (par