1. Smith states his position in his title, and he developed his position in paragraph 3 when he says, “we are losing our appreciation for education as an investment and stewardship.” What does he mean? Paraphrase his thesis by filling in the following template.
Because a college education is so important, we must remind people why a college education should be pursued, and the benefits of having one.
2. In paragraphs 4 and 5, Smith presents evidence to support his thesis that a college education is a worthwhile investment. What evidence does he give?
He give statistics comparing the percentage of people who make up the unemployment and their education which reveal that the higher the education level the less likely it is that you’ll be unemployed.
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This made his argument stronger because since he is the president of a small liberal arts college he has first hand knowledge about about how college affects people on a personal level.
4. For the most part, Smith relies on appeals to logos and pathos: in paragraphs 4-5, he uses logos (facts): in paragraph 8-13 he appeals to pathos (emotion). Which of these two appeals do you find more convincing? Why?
I found his appeals to pathos more convincing because I saw specific details that allowed me to connect more with his argument. Statistics are just just numbers, and usually a face can’t be placed to them that allowed me to connect to that area of his argument.
5. In paragraph 3, when Smith says, “Concerns regarding students indebtedness and educational qualityquality are legitimate,” he is acknowledging an opposing argument, Why do you think he does not refute this argument? Do you think he should have done so?
I think he chose not to refute this argument in order to not offend his audience, but also because on a topic like this many people already have a certain opinion, even if it is irrational, and it would do no good trying to convince them of that. I don’t think he should have tried to refute this argument because it is one that some people probably feel strongly about, and it wouldn’t help his argument to refute it, but at least he acknowledged