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Barbara Ehrenreich's Argument Essay

704 Words3 Pages

Over the years, the loss of credibility in the once widely propagated benefits of a higher education degree has become heavily criticized by avid education reform advocates. Political writer, social critic, and essayist, Barbara Ehrenreich, in her satirical essay, "College Students, Welcome to a Lifetime of Debt!", ironically exposes the consequences of the ever-increasing cost of education on post-secondary students ' societal role as debtors. Ehrenreich’s purpose to provoke her audience, mainly comprised of college students and their parents, into questioning the condescendence and despicable practices of post-secondary institutions is achieved through the employment of a sarcastic and humorous tone. By means of an appeal to pathos, the author clearly communicates all of her points and intentions, as well as brings out the eye-opening absurdity in this ever so trivialized situation. Nevertheless, the lack of supporting statistical evidence, alongside the overuse of commonsense and fallacious arguments, undercuts the essay 's effectiveness and the credibility of Ehrenreich 's arguments.

Ehrenreich commences her mockery of the contemporaneous educational system by evoking a fictitious University, Fleece U., to …show more content…

Unfortunately, the validity of many of these potentially powerful arguments diminishes as she neglects to reveal raw, accurate statistics and their sources. In this sense, important information such as the fact that many "[…] promising graduates are now, three or four years later, working for $8-12 an hour […]", becomes easily overlooked by critical readers, faulty of the necessary information to analyze and deliberate upon the data originally presented. Consequently, Ehrenreich 's practice of imposing such reasonings upon her public doesn 't resonate well with the vast audience of critical, well-educated and curious

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