A Rhetorical Analysis Of E. B. White's Essay Education

In the essay “Education,” written by E.B. White, two educational philosophies are evaluated in attempt to inform America about the contrasting forms of schooling offered to our nation’s children. Author Jack Selzer pursues a rhetorical analysis of White’s essay, taking credibility, fairness, and overall quality of the essay into consideration. White’s style of writing, language usage, and persuasive tactics are all components that factor into the effectiveness of the essay, and therefore, are some of the main facets evaluated by Selzer. Selzer’s analysis is extremely accurate, and is essentially identical to my analysis of the essay. In his rhetorical analysis of “Education,” by E.B. White, Selzer describes instances where White confesses

Selzer reports on specific illustrations that White paints for the readers, such as the instance where he compares the country school teacher to an ideal mother, yet allows the city school teachers anonymous identities. Selzer describes this as appealing to the readers’ emotions, or pathos. I related this back to the section of my analysis where I specifically investigated White’s descriptive statement about the city school. White describes the city school bus as “the flashy vehicle was as punctual as death.” This expressive statement establishes a hostile image that the reader will then subconsciously associate with the city school. Selzer describes descriptive phrases like this as a powerful way to deceive the readers into perceiving the essay as a descriptive essay, rather than a persuasive essay. By doing so, readers will be less likely to be turned off by the argument, while also recognizing the speaker as

By using a tactful approach to the arrangement of the essay, White is able to place a positive perception of the country school into readers’ minds at both the beginning, and the end of the story. This is something I had not taken into consideration during my original analysis, yet while reading Selzer’s take on this persuasive tactic, it struck me as extremely accurate. I reflected on the first time I read “Education,” and recalled the way I began the story with a sense of favor for country schools after reading White’s initial description of his “increasing admiration for the teacher in the country.” White then reinforced that positive image into my head by closing the story with his son’s positive description of the country school, leaving readers with a conclusive image that emphasizes the illustration he chose to begin the essay