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A Visual Text Analysis

734 Words3 Pages

College is a monumental time in the life of the students attending it. It has for many been viewed for a long time as a right of passage from childhood into adulthood. Thus, the idea of what college is and the public discourse surrounding college has invariably been apart of the way our society views the university as a whole. These modes of communication vary from written works or visual works to some combination between them as is typical of a website. Each of these mediums of communications add a unique perspective to the public discourse of higher education. All mediums come with positive and negatives; however, all mediums are clearly not created equal. Due to the need for visual texts and websites to rely on eye-catching and entertaining …show more content…

This promotional poster shows a gigantic red solo cup in the center with five students cheerfully smiling sitting in it like it’s a hot tub. There are also three other students surrounding the red solo cup. On the cup below the show title Greek, is the message “college. it’s a rush.” This message clearly is contributing to the public discourse of higher education in a very specific way. More specifically, this message is unquestionably insinuating that college is one enjoyable, continuous four year party. This text portrays this message through the use of the red solo cup. In American culture, the red solo cup is synonymous with a party and drinking an alcoholic beverage. Naturally, students shown relaxing in the red solo cup are shown having a fantastic time while smiling with their hands raised in the air in a celebratory fashion. This implies multiple things about stereotypical college life. First, this suggests students are at the university first and foremost to party while academics are not the main focus of these students attention. Second, this suggests that greek life is in some way required to fit in or be a an alleged normal college student. This persona of college, while applicable to some is far from the truth for the majority of university students. The overall problem with this text and visual texts in general is that they support the enjoyable and entertaining portions of university life while simultaneously ignoring the aspects of higher education which are less glamorous. The issue with this is that this contributes to a public discourse in which the discourse is not representative of the facts of the situation. This, in turn, leads to unrealistic expectations of college for a majority of students entering the university system. Naturally, the Internet has extended the nature of visual images to the combination of

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In the article, “College Pressures,” William Zinsser discusses the many struggles college students face while trying to focus on their studying. He convinces the reader of his point by using different types of rhetorical strategies. Zinsser’s usage of the rhetorical strategies such as getting straight to the point, quoting, paragraphing, the use of word pictures, and choosing a title was effectively done in his article to persuade his reader of the struggles faced by college students. The author did not waste anytime getting to the main point in his article, which is effective because it makes me interested in what he had to say.

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Liz Addison’s essay, “Two Years Better Than Four,” was first published in the New York Times Magazine back in September of 2007. Addison went to two community colleges and majored in biology; earning her degree in 2008. In her essay, she is responding to Rick Perlstein's article “What’s the Matter with College?” in which he claims, “College as America used to understand it is coming to an end” (211). Addison refutes Perlstein’s claims by saying, “My guess, reading between the lines, is that Mr. Perlstein has never set foot in an American community college” (212).

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“America’s university system is creating a class-riven nation. There has to be a better way,” starts Murray (235). Are Too Many People Going To College is a piece written highlighting alternatives to traditional education, as well as the repercussions we are facing as a society as a result of the strict guidelines of traditional education; a point that is spotlighted throughout the piece is the subject of Liberal Education and the core knowledge that we as a people should maintain, as well as the flaws of college as an establishment. Though the title and points made in the writings of Murray may lead one to believe he is standing against the college establishment, it is clearly stated from paragraph one that he believes more people should be

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Liz Addison’s essay, “Two Years Better Than Four,” was first published in the New York Times Magazine back in September of 2007. Addison went to two community colleges and majored in biology; earning her degree in 2008. In her essay, she is responding to Rick Perlstein's article “What’s the Matter with College?” in which he claims, “College as America used to understand it is coming to an end” (211). Addison refutes Perlstein’s claims by saying, “My guess, reading between the lines, is that Mr. Perlstein has never set foot in an American community college” (212).

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As a college professor herself, Pharinet is a first-hand witness to the difficulties college students face. College brings academic and financial challenges that not all people are made to cope with. Pharinet acknowledges how, “the cost of college

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While the ever increasing pressures and cost of a college education seem to be a recent event, they problems have persisted for many decades. In 1979, William Zinsser wrote “College Pressures” in order to portray the daily struggles of college students and argue how students see college differently in the modern era. Zinsser stresses how college has changed from being an institute purely focused on higher learning to one of almost strictly vocational purposes. He argues that modern students equate college degrees more with higher paying jobs than as a symbol of knowledge in a specific field, and that these pressures to succeed greatly impact the student’s health. Through my own college experiences, I can certainly verify that college is more

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“College in America” Caroline Bird thinks that a college education may not be the best choice for all high school students because college education does not bring about social equality, it does not benefit them financially, and it is not guaranteed that college will lead them to an elite profession. First of all, high school students are expected to bring about social equality through four rigorous years in college. However, college is an expensive way to categorize the highs and lows in society. It is pressuring to younger students to pursue a higher education that only a few could achieve, and is also difficult for them to established an identity in society. Second, a college education does not benefit the youth financially because it is

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Throughout the essay, Charles Murray stresses the idea that college is the wonderland of finding oneself and to find the career that one would want to follow for the rest of their lives. “College is seen as the open sesame to a good job and a desirable way for adolescents to transition to adulthood. Neither reason is as persuasive as it first appears.” Murray, C (2008) Practically spoken, this is not normally the case. College is a fair amount of work, much more work than one would normally acquire through any course of a high school or secondary school setting.

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Is college still important and relevant? The question is answered and confirmed when Liz Addison, author of “Two Years Are Better than Four”, wrote a counter argument in order to disprove the opposing views of Rick Perlstein, the author of, “What’s the Matter with College”. The topic that is being brought to light is the subject of whether or not college still matters. Perlstein that college is no longer what it used to be. It was after reading Perlstein’s article that Addison masterfully wrote her counter argument which successfully contradicted the opinionated, inaccurate views of Rick Perlstein.

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College, and college life is something you think that never ends but something that comes to an by a snap. As we come into college, we join in multiple activities and organizations to get involved. One of the highly-participated or known to be organizations on campuses are Greek life. For some students, Greek life is something new, but for others it was known as they become seniors, or from their sibling and cousins. A myth or fact of brotherhood and sisterhood?!

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