Navigating the Transition: Middle School to High School

For many middle school students across the nation the transition from middle school to high school is an exciting time. It is the beginning of the end, their last hurrah before they go off on their own as college students. While students may be excited to experience all that high school has to offer, some parents are anxiety ridden. They are aware that the next four years will play a crucial role in their child’s future. Parents begin to wonder whether or not their local high school will prepare their child for the difficult academic transition from high school to college, or if their child will be negatively influenced by the decisions their peers make. These types of questions may lead some parents to seek out other academic options for their

Parents who value the importance of a religious education will be overcome with a sense of ease knowing that their child will be in a school that truly accepts faith. It is made clear to parents through the school website that Marian lives out its mission statement by openly incorporating faith both in and out of the classroom. By reading the tabs under campus ministry parents learn that students are not only required to take four years of theology class, but are also required to participate in 40 hours of community service. This community service project is referred to as MACS or Marian Acts of Community Service; MACS asks that students use their God given talents to help who are less fortunate. Marian’s website includes an abundance of pictures of Marian students doing their MACS hours in soup kitchens, elementary schools, and veteran hospitals across the Detroit area. However, it doesn’t stop there, in addition to pictures of students doing local charity work, there is also an assortment of pictures of students doing international charity work. Marian students are given the opportunity to take yearly mission trips to Guatemala and Nicaragua, where they aid underprivileged children and families. Parents viewing these pictures will see the great charity work that Marian students do, and subsequently will want their children to help enhance the lives of those who

Claims about religion, academics and futures after Marian make appeals to pathos, logos, and ethos respectively. The information provided on Marian’s website is specifically chosen in order to appeal to their audience, in this case the parents seeking out a High School for their child. Without conscious awareness, parents on the website are being swayed to think that Marian is the best choice for their child. Good use of rhetoric, as seen in this scenario, has the ability to make its reader respond it causes the reader think or feel a certain way and has the power to cause some sort of