Rhetorical Analysis Of Betsy Devos

On September 29, 2017, the United States Secretary of Education, Betsy Devos, gave a political, publicly addressed speech at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Her main arguments revolved around the current US education policies, advancements in school options, and the “future of choice” for the next generation of students. As a national leader of the school choice movement, she clarifies to the audience, of both supporters and protesters, that she does not want to destroy the public education system, but instead inject competition through the promotion of charter and private school education systems. This policy-based speech pushes its audience to embrace the future as one that fully integrates choice into every decision parents and students make regarding their education. As she argues her main points and various supporting statements, she effectively persuades the audience through the use of consistent assertions, emotional appeals, and

Betsy Devos promotes throughout her speech that education is an investment in the individual student and that is why she advocates that more US funding and focus should support the education systems. Each year, the US education budget gets published and educators never believe the amount is fully enough to satisfy the needs of the schools and their students. In fact, the current “America First” budget, which was released by President Donald Trump in 2017, revealed that the funds which are directly put towards education had been cut by approximately 13.5%, or 9.2 billion dollars (Kamenetz). As a result, schools were limited in their spending within the past year. In reference to this budget cut, one of Devos’ main arguments at the start of her speech is that each individual student is unique and in order for them to fully succeed within their system, they should be placed in helpful