Analysis Of John Cassidy's 'College Calculus'

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Writer, John Cassidy, in his article in The New Yorker, “College Calculus, ” sums up the history of our higher education from the establishment of Harvard College in Massachusetts. Then he goes further in the discussion of the funding for students and the actions Obama has taken to provide higher education for the people. Cassidy’s purpose of writing this article is to enlighten the reader in what our government our media and the business community speak so fondly of receiving higher education and then Cassidy goes into detail of the actual values higher education has to offer. He takes on a tone of authority to explain his points and his facts as well as adopts a sympathizing tone for the readers to relate with the topic and see the truth …show more content…
He furthers his writing in explaining the message we are receiving. He further continues and states, “Promoters of higher education have long emphasized its role in meeting civic needs. The Puritans who established Harvard were concerned about a shortage of clergy; during the Progressive Era, John Dewey insisted that a proper education would make people better citizens”. This is really what you constantly hear. It is something you are raised to hear from your parents to your high school teachers and television you watch. The message of higher education bringing more success is everywhere for us. In this Cassidy has appealed to our emotional side of nostalgia and being able to connect with the statement or remembering someone telling us higher education pays off in the long run. Right off the bat he is keeping the readers intrigued by creating that emotional connection between the subject himself and the …show more content…
He does it in a way that makes you relate to it and how your perspective of what higher education is and the value of it all. He then further shows us the statistics of the wages of the people who graduate and how the numbers are consistently decreasing and the input the people give to get higher education no longer worth what the output is. Cassidy throws out a lot of names and speaks of how they are all seeing the same decline. The higher education is great to grow our horizons but the value of it is no longer intriguing and as some come out on top a lot are not and are in serious debt. Our education is important and the serious issues arising in our educational system are important to look at and Cassidy hit them all in the

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