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Rhetorical Precis #5: “Education” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s purpose in his article is to persuade the reader that children should not be force fed knowledge but should instead simply be taught the tool with which to learn. He emphasizes that children should be taught to be inquisitive and to seek knowledge out of enthusiasm and curiosity. One thing Emerson does that is effective is he goes chronologically through a person's lifetime for the most part. A young child and works his way to a college student and then touches on the teacher himself or a grown man.
Emerson provides many examples to help illustrate his point. In the beginning he gives the example of an acquaintance of his, Sir Charles Fellowes. He explains how he
Soon after launch on January 28th, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart and shattered the nation. The tragedy was on the hearts and minds of the nation and President Ronald Reagan. President Reagan addressed the county, commemorating the men and woman whose lives were lost and offering hope to Americans and future exploration. Reagan begins his speech by getting on the same level as the audience by showing empathy and attempting to remind us that this was the job of the crew. He proceeds with using his credibility to promise future space travel. Ultimately, his attempt to appeal to the audience’s emotions made his argument much stronger. Reagan effectively addresses the public about the tragedy while comforting, acknowledging, honoring and motivating his audience all in an effort to move the mood from grief to hope for future exploration.
The essay "Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson implements the use of many transcendentalist ideas through the use of strong rhetorical language. The core belief of transcendentalism is self-reliance and independence, and it stresses the importance that people need to do things on their own. Emerson uses irony to point out many latent truths about the concept. He also uses personification to show that the world around someone can have qualities of a human. Metaphors are also used heavily in the essay as catalysts to help the reader better understand Transcendentalism.
Chase Mielke’s spoken word piece, “What Students Really Need to Hear”, shines many lights on the purpose of school and how students contribute to said purpose. There are a myriad of important points, although the central idea stands out above all. More specifically, the idea that the point of school is not to memorize facts, but to learn how to deal with difficult times properly. He writes, “It is your resilience in conquering the main event- adversity- that truly prepares you for life after school.” Mielke illustrates this concept using rhetorical devices such as pathos, or emotions. Simply, the author’s use of pathos emphasizes the idea that school’s ‘main event’ is to instruct students on how to keep moving in the face of seemly insurmountable harshness.
In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Education”, he uses various diction to create tones to establish that the education is flawed and it revisions need to be made to fix it.
Elie Weisel once said this: “I know and I speak from experience, that even in the midst of darkness, it is possible to create light and share warmth with one another; that even on the edge of the abyss, it is possible to dream exalted dreams of compassion; that it is possible to be free and strengthen the ideals of freedom, even within prison walls; that even in exile, friendship becomes an anchor.” Compassion is not something that is easy to understand, or even easy to show sometimes. The Holocaust was a difficult time to comprehend: how could one man have so much power and hate towards a society of people that he started a genocide? There may never be the right emotional explanation to describe the disturbing events that happened during the Holocaust, but Elie Weisel was able to share his. His message was that compassion and friendship can refrain someone from sinking so deep into a dark sea like the Holocaust.
Success. Seven letters, two syllables, and essentially, the goal of almost every person to walk the planet. The interesting thing about success is that it isn’t a set in stone goal, but an ideology. With each person, success is redefined, argued, and tried. Success comes in different forms and levels, but at the end of the day every person who has been deemed successful mentions one word: failure. Yet, it isn’t failure in of itself that produces success, but the determination and desire to work through it. Failure can only indoctrinate when an individual decides to work past it and improve from it. Often, however, the strenuous process of failure and grit is glamorized, and the true factors that play into success are forgotten. For example,
“What I must do, is all that concerns me, not what the people think.” (Emerson, 552) demonstrates that Emerson wants individuals to discover their true self that have unique way of thinking and should have a strong sense of self; The strong sense of self is also presented by “A great man is coming to eat at my house. I do not wish to please him: I wish that he should wish to please me.” (Emerson, 555) while stating that nobody’s ideas should be less valued. Through “The one thing in the world of value, is, the active soul, --the soul, free, sovereign, active.” (Emerson, 539) he shows his preference of resisting influences thinkers in past brings because he believes individuals nowadays can come up with better ideas and reading old ones will hold creativity back. In case that Emerson sticks with the stand that everybody can look into themselves carefully and bring up brand new and great thoughts to contribute to the world, he has no compassion toward poor people. If each individual has ability to be self-reliant, and then the only reason why poor people are poor is that they do not even try to manage their destiny. Therefore, unlike Franklin, Emerson questions “Are they my poor?” (Emerson, 552) to blame poor people.
I believe that the purpose of education is to produce the next generation of leaders who are intelligent and have great character. This idea is supported in the article “The Purpose of Education” by Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist who fought for black and white people to have equal rights in America. He writes about the true purpose, and meaning of education in the article by saying, “Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction (MLK1).” This quote from the article explains that being academically educated is very important. It will help people stand up, be a leader, and take charge to make the world a better place for everyone. That gallant leader will argue against the fallacy, lies,
In his speech, “A Talk for Teachers”, Baldwin successfully illustrates a blunt and realistic scene that plays to the audiences’ patriotism and anger in order to legitimize the internal struggles of African American students and inspire teachers to recognize them. He describes in his speech how, in America, the education of the black students’ past “is nothing more than a record of humiliations gladly endured” and “that the value he has as a black man is proven by one thing only – his devotion to white people” (Baldwin 124). The author is able to challenge the idea that the America is a land of opportunity for all, while simultaneously defining the reason that this ideal does not pertain to African Americans. Because he provides the phrases,
Emerson seem like through-out this essay that he had an inner-circle of friends or community which he relied on as his resources. When going across some stuff it seem like the kind of self-observation and reflection to Emerson’s inner circle was not the self-conscious variety.
Emerson does this uniquely through the rejection of our history's influences and encouraging the creation of new history. This is best exemplified in the following quotation in which Emerson states, “Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon have given, forgetful that Cicero and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote these books” (Emerson, 472). Through this quotation, it is important that Emerson's audience is able to recognize his reference to these notable figures. This is because Emerson alludes to them as great influencers and also to help illustrate the importance of man and time (whether that be past, present or future). Emerson’s mention of Cicero, Locke, and Bacon, are meant to serve as exemplary knowledge that American’s were founded on (and should be aware of), most of which are external influences. This helps prove Emerson's concern for our nation’s reliance on other’s work, rather than pride in our own accomplishments. Through this allusion, Emerson’s draws on these influential figures in order to depict their own cycle of influence through “Man Thinking”. Through his audience’s ability to recognize these allusions, they can familiarize themselves with not
The sole propose of Emerson’s speech is to give awareness to the students and make them learn to be independent. Learning and creating, not just copying others as just copying does not make people civilized. It is how an individual makes use of the opportunities offered to them. Appreciate and utilize what we have, never compared with others knowledge. Learn from other but never copy from them. He was trying to change the American scholar’s attitude rather than the education system of American during that time. He was insisting American scholars to explore one’s knowledge and ideas and to be independent scholars. He says they should be “Man thinking not mere thinker”, as it should have to be based on an inner spirit of self-reliance and during the time of his speech many man have lost efficiency among them self, the world began with a single man and that man was divided into several other men so that a work can be comp...
The education of children has existed since the beginning of time as parents have taught and molded their children into the young adults they desired them to be. Initial training of children was not in a formal setting, although history would see numerous settings, purposes, and methodological changes. Philosophies of education have also changed through the years as various voices have seemed to grasp the purpose of educating the next generation, thus laying out objectives to reach those goals of teaching children.
Walking into a classroom in which the student can become inspired as a result of a teacher’s excitement and knowledge of their subject is an amazing and unique experience. This desire to learn and delve into the deep corners of a subject is a result of both the teacher and the student playing their part. The teacher, however, (very much like a parent) sets the tone for the interaction. As students become older, they are expected to play a larger role in their education and have to be more adamant about fulfilling their desire for knowledge. When children are younger, however, the teacher greatly impacts the child’s outlook on learning and, if the student is lucky, will inspire a sense of curiosity in the student. What's more, teachers have the job of imparting knowledge into minds of all ages. Teachers and students have the possibility to form tight connections based on ...