Ethos in College: Non-Traditional Age Students and Younger Professors

Introduction

Ethos can be defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary as, “the distinguishing character, sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group, or institution.” Famous Greek philosopher and teacher Aristotle studied and taught the concept of ethos. In The Rhetoric, Aristotle identifies ethos as:

…the character [ethos] of the speaker is a cause of persuasion when the speech is so uttered as to make him worthy of belief, for as a rule we trust men of probity more, and more quickly, about things in general, while on points outside the realm of exact knowledge, where opinion is divided, we trust them absolutely (qtd. in Haskins 44).

From a teaching perspective, ethos can highly affect a classroom’s efficiency. In this case, ethos will be described as a collegiate instructor’s character. To go along with this, credibility, trustworthiness, and general relationships with students an educator in a collegiate classroom must acquire.

Ethos and education often go hand in hand. Although being an effective and accomplished educator is tasking, establishing ethos as a teacher is an undertaking in itself. Ascertaining ethos as a young educator requires time and effort. Incorporate age differences among the teacher and the students, the educator may have to work even harder to establish ethos. Despite the age of the individuals being taught:

It is obvious that education, whether classroom instruction or practical drill, advice or entreaty, must ensure that students are positively involved, that they at least listen and pay attention to the words, actions, and the thoughts of their educators, instead of drifting off or doing something else, or simply leaving to try to learn what they need on their own (Prange 74).

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