Is Monica Potts 'Essay' What's Killing The Poor White Women?

Do you know of anyone who has dropped out of high school and has suffered from not receiving a full education? Well according to Monica Potts’s essay, “What’s Killing the Poor White Women?”, it is the lack of education that decreases women’s life expectancy. She tells of a women’s story, Crystal Wilson, who passed away, at a younger age, when there seemed to be nothing wrong with her. When the doctors and police officers looked into her background, they came to find out that not receiving her high school diploma was one cause of her passing. Monica Potts is persuading those women who have dropped out to start back up and finish their schooling. Also for women who are beginning to consider not finishing high school to continue until they graduate. …show more content…
She makes many remarks towards information regarding the reason women are dying at a younger age, but doesn’t give a source as to where the information came from. One example of assertion was “Black women without a high-school diploma are now outliving their white counterparts.” (602). She then continues to give knowledge of reasons why black women are outliving white women, but fails to give a source for that knowledge. By not giving evidence, it makes it difficult for the reader to believe all that is in the essay. Even though the reader gives credit to the author because she should be an expert at this subject, it can still be hard to believe all that is within the writing because of the lack of sources. Another example of the use of assertion is when Potts informs the reader how only about a third of the workforce is made up of women without diplomas and they usually end up leaving the workforce to care for their young children (599). Being one of the readers, it would be helpful and more comforting if there was a source, so there is conformation about the information given. There are times in the essay where there are sources given, however it is not about the main