Blue Collar Boomers Take Work Ethics To College

In her article “Blue-Collar Boomers Take Work Ethics to College”, Libby Sander, a reporter with the Chronicle of Higher Education, employs all three rhetorical strategies, pathos, ethos, and logos, in informing her audience of the uptick in enrollment of baby-boomers enrolling in higher education. Using the stories of the emotional stories of several baby boomers in heavy labor jobs, Sander begins her article using pathos to argue why there is an increase in boomers enrolling in college. For example, Sander describes the toll that heavy labor jobs have taken on Russel Kearney. Kearney, a former Wonder Bread delivery truck driver, states of the ruptured disk in his back “it felt like my spine was cut in half” adding that he “[just] couldn’t do it anymore.” Sander further explains that while Kearney can not handle the tolls of his heavy labor job, he still wants to work, requiring that he enroll in further education. Sander’s first argument is clearly a pathos argument, appealing to the emotions of the reader while telling the story of why boomers, specifically Kearney are enrolling in higher education.

Sander uses statistics such as a study conducted by the MetLife Foundation that found 66 percent of adults age 50-59 planned on working past retirement age to explain the rising situation. Furthermore, Sander uses scholars with relevant groups such as the Council of Education, to the boomers who are enrolling in college to inform the reader of the rise in boomers enrolling in college. This is the most significant part of her argument as it gives a face to the statistics she just presented, weather that be a scholar in the field such as community college presidents or the boomers who have enrolled in higher education such as Russel Kearney, whom Sander uses to begin her