In Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

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Restrictions of Essay Writing in a Curriculum: An Evaluative Essay on Fred Stenson’s “In Search of a Modest Proposal Fred Stenson’s essay “In Search of a Modest Proposal” (Essay Writing for Canadian Students with Readings, 340) expresses his disapproval of essay writing in the grade nine curriculum. Stenson feels that essay writing should be a creative process towards student’s personal opinions, but the curriculum sets guidelines that the students must follow which prevents this. His reference to what his daughter has been taught in her English class is the basic premise of the essay as it is used to not only develop the essay but also the thesis which is not clearly stated. Stenson’s use of emotional appeal is for readers to sympathize how …show more content…
In the beginning of the essay, satire is used to convey how students are misguided by their teachers. Stenson claims “whenever teachers were attacked, he rose to defend them” (340). This portrays his respect for teachers. However, once he begins assisting his daughter with her essay writing, he starts to question her teacher. For instance, his daughter chose her essay topic from “a list that the teacher had given them choose from” (340). Stenson is surprised at this method of teaching as he questions it with what he believes an essay should be. He feels that a “personal essay is to be personal” (340) which his daughter finds irrelevant because she has to follow a “formula” (341) or else she’s going to fail. The use of satire here develops the contrast between the grade nine curriculum versus what Stenson believes how an essay should be written. Near the end of the essay Stenson compares John Swifts “A Modest Proposal” (Essay Writing for Canadian Students with Readings, 348) to the grade nine curriculum. At the end of the evaluation, Stenson gives Swift a C, and said “it would be a shame to keep him out of grade 10” (342). This use of satire exemplifies the limitations English curriculum posses. Despite being a properly written essay, it is deemed satisfactory just because Jonathan Swift’s essay did not follow the formula provided by the

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