A Rhetorical Analysis of “The Education of Dasmine Cathey” Writer, Brad Wolverton, in his article “The Education of Dasmine Cathey” first appearing in The Chronicle of Higher Education, conveys the journey of a former University of Memphis football player who was poorly educated and how he struggled to be academically eligible. Wolverton’s purpose is to illustrate the widespread of educational shortcomings of NCAA athletes and the complicated ways athletes struggles gets brushed under the proverbial carpet. (Wolverton) In this article Wolverton utilizes a straightforward tone by using pathos to appeal to the readers with Mr. Cathey’s difficult situation also utilizing logos and ethos etc. to help make a presentable argument to which I will be analyzing. …show more content…
Cathey’s “My own little secret” story, which effectively makes an appeal to pathos that creates a sympathetic image to readers. Wolverton explains that Mr. Cathey didn’t read at his appropriate level and that he was reading books that were at a “First Grade, Level 1, Ages 6-7.” Also, having to read quietly so that none of his teammates wouldn’t hear him reading aloud (Wolverton, 117). Wolverton goal was to make the readers have some type of sympathy for Mr. Cathey. This strategy of using pathos helps Wolverton to persuade and entertain his readers and also helps to strengthen his argument at the end. In the article there was a rhetorical question Mr. Joseph Luckey, the University of Memphis’s director of athletic academic services, wondered how many of those students to let in. “What we’ve all got to decide,” he says, “what’s our breaking point?”