The use of pathos involves Moore alerting us to this problem by using a blunt tone, convincing traders of the ridiculous situations produced in our American education. Ethos is shown throughout the entire paper as Moore shows his credibility as a writer. Not only was he a student in the school system that he is ridiculing, he was also the School Board President at the age of eighteen. This fact shows us how Moore was very interested with education at a very young age, even though he didn’t have some of the best experiences throughout his school career, and didn’t even graduate from college.
He also uses many Interesting facts to show his express In this subject. He knows that ninety-nine hours are spent reading books per year, and that only eleven percent of people bother to read the newspaper (Moore 133). This Is Just one of the many facts more produces over and over in every part of the article. Moore gains respect from many of his readers by showing how much information he knows about our education system. Not many people can say that they know some of the facts he can quote probably everyday of his life. His credibility seems limitless because of all the statistics he uses throughout his argument.
Moore also uses pathos as he expresses his opinions in a very blunt kind of manner. Do you feel like a nation of idiots? ” Moore says in the opening paragraph (132). This sets the tone from the beginning. We know after reading this that his writing is going to be very frank and full of in-your -face comments. Moore uses this language choice to appeal with the emotion of the readers and enhance his argument that education in America is full of broken down public schools and closed libraries. Throughout the entire article, Moore uses the “Quest,’Answer approach numerous mums. How did I learn this statistic? Well I read it. ” (133). This Is Just one of the appearances of this strategy. In this certain one, satire Is also being brought into play. The “Question/Answer” tactic is used to make the readers think, just not too hard. When you see a question stated, you are always waiting for the answer, and Moore immediately gives it to his readers. As mentioned earlier, satire is present in Mores description of American education. Sarcasm is used in almost every paragraph of this article. He is sarcastic about George W. Bush, teachers. Talk show hosts, and many more things.
He uses satire to ridicule or denounce whichever subject he may be talking about. The main thing Moore likes to insult is the Bush Administration. Time and Time again you will see something satirical regarding them. For example, President Bush is never regarded in 1 OFF The way Moore addresses our president shows how poorly he thinks of him, and shows what little respect he gives him. Moore also likes to poke fun at the Ivy League schools in America. He proves with many statistics that the top students attending these schools don’t even know some simple facts that should have been learned during their high school term.
A whopping forty percent of students didn’t even know hen the Civil War took place- even when given a wide range of choices (134). Moore brings this situation to our attention to show everyone out there that Just because you received an education at one of these schools, it doesn’t automatically put you higher than everyone else. Bush attended Yale and Harvard, so this is Just another way Moore is downgrading President Bush. As Moore is ranting on about how bad the education system is becoming, he targets many people, but is generally speaking to very broad audience.
The audience for his article is not a specific group, but pretty such anyone that can read what he is writing, and thoroughly understand it. He wants everyone in America to understand how bad are school systems are becoming, not Just a few people to understand. It is a chain reaction. Parents went to school, and then their children went to school, and years later their children would go to school as well. So as he is blaming the Bush Administration, he is not Just speaking to them, he is speaking to everyone, so that maybe someone will finally do something about it, rather than Just sitting around and watching the problem get worse.
Moor’s purpose for his readers is to explain and inform them about how rundown schools are becoming, how students are being taught out of ten year old books, and how schools are opening for the year without a principal in charge. There are many things Moore names to show how education in America is lacking in many ways. To do this, he uses a lot of interesting facts about school systems, and spits out facts and figures faster most other people could ever do. Moore uses a very unique style of writing, consisting of a blunt satirical tone, constantly ridiculing the Bush Administration for the problems in schools.
With the constant scorning of our president and his administration, we learn where Moore really feels the source of the problem is coming from. The use of Ethos and Pathos are also used to grasp the audience’s attention and interact with their emotions. Moore is very descriptive in his writing and describes many situations where something could be done to help better some of the major issues in American school systems. With Moor’s expertise in this subject, he writes an article that is full of ridicule and teasing, yet has a purpose clearly stated with much data to back it up. Works Cited
