Analysis Of Mary Sherry's In Praise Of The F Word

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In school, there are always those who do not understand the content in class, but get by with passing grades. In Mary Sherry’s essay, “In Praise of the F Word”, she writes about how in the American school system students get passed along without any consideration for their pace or skill level (Sherry, 564-566). Sherry also discusses how unprepared the American public is after high school and college (Sherry, 564). In, “In Praise of the F word”, Sherry also discusses her own son and one of his experiences in his high school (Sherry, 565). The content of “In Praise of the F word” was very persuasive, as Sherry effectively utilizes the aristotelian appeals. She uses ethos effectively to build trust in her message. The ethos or trust built in Sherry was effective in persuading the audience about her credibility. The examples used in Sherry’s essay relate to her own experience with the topics on hand. The …show more content…

At one point Sherry describes her experiences of being an adult literacy teacher as an ethos (Sherry, 564). The example of Sherry being an adult literacy teacher is an amazing use of ethos (Sherry, 564), Sherry encourages the audience to trust her opinions by showing that she sees first hand the students that are passed along during school. This puts Sherry in the shoes of a professional of sorts, and who does not trust a professional opinion. That, however is not the only point of ethos in “In Praise of the F word”. Sherry’s other example is her own experience of being a mother to a son who went through the American school system (Sherry, 565). This helps build of trust in her by revealing that she has also experienced how it feels being a parental figure to someone who was passed through school. It makes the older audience that have kids trust Sherry more as they relate to her, making her more credible to them. Sherry also uses other examples to make herself more