Rhetorical Analysis: How Schools Are Killing Creativity

738 Words3 Pages

Lack of Creativity in Education Creativity and abstract thinking are seen as the basis of education, but more and more, these skills are being lost, and even discouraged, in the classroom. Fourteen-year-old Line Dalile, in her essay, “How Schools are Killing Creativity,” uses rhetorical strategies such as metaphors, ethos, and rhetorical questions to strengthen her claim on how schools are discouraging creativity in the classroom.
Dalile uses a bold metaphor at the beginning of the article that strongly introduces her ideas on creativity in education. The metaphor is as follows,“.. it is destroying our fascinating, curious minds.” (Dalile 1) Saying something so bold early on in the essay lets the audience know that she is 100% backing the topic. Not only does it show the audience straight up how she feels, but it also makes …show more content…

While ironic, the truth is that these organizers are quite common. The idea of structure and order is so enforced that even the things that should be done creatively, are organized and broken down into columns. Dalile says, “How do we expect students to be creative if teachers give them the outline, the title, and the structure of the “creative writing assignment?”” (Dalile 4). This rhetorical question is powerful because when readers finish reading it, many will think “Huh, yeah, that doesn’t make sense,” or even think of their own ideas to answer. This gets readers actively engaged and thinking about what Dalile has said. The great thing about a rhetorical question in a paper is that there is no specific answer. Many readers may think the same, but so many people can brainstorm and interpret the question in their own ways, coming up with many different solutions. Without even knowing it, the reader has almost been tricked into getting involved with Dalile’s paper, due to the fact that her rhetorical question is so