Rhetorical Analysis Of The Tethered Generation By Kathryn Tyler

Have you ever thought of reading a guide about how to deal with a certain group of people, at work? Would you read it if it was written by someone with experience in your field? Well, Kathryn Tyler, a Generation X freelance writer with a background in human resources and training, wrote “The Tethered Generation,” which was published on May 2007 in HR Magazine, an article that suggest that human resources professionals should learn how to manage, ahead of time, incoming millennials, us, in the workforce. What would you think, millennials? Tyler is able to reach human resource professionals, the readers of HR Magazine in a way that compels them. She uses personal anecdotes, research, statistics, and emotional appeals that anyone who reads the

Tyler’s use of short paragraphs, sub-sections, and bullet points in her article which makes it appear to be a guide or a textbook. This structure makes her argument strong and composed because not only does she criticize us she also gives suggestion on ways human resources professionals can touch upon certain behavior and traits that we might have a habit of doing. Tyler’s writing style is not formal at all, it is almost colloquial, which gives readers a feel of a one on one conversation with the writer; but on the other hand her format is very formal. She uses contractions, which are typically used either when speaking or in written dialogue. Tyler also asked questions in her article, thoughts that might be in her head or in her audience’s head as they read, that help the readers understand her argument. “What would be wrong with young people using cell phones and IM to keep mom and dad abreast of their every move,” (479) she starts off in her seventh paragraph leading to a conclusion that technology and being so connected to our parents is changing the way the parts of our brain, “specifically the prefrontal lobes, which are involved in planning and decision making,” (479) have been developing. In the subtitled section “How to Prepare for the millennials,” (481) Tyler, like in her other sections, is

Although all her examples, evidence, and points make her writing more effective it also becomes problematic for other, unintended audience members, and to the way society might begin to portray Millennials. Tyler ends her article by stating that millennials are “intelligent, well-educated and quick to draw remarkably accurate conclusions,” (482) but when she uses words like “deal,” (482) and “prepare” (481) that have negative connotations, it alludes that we are a burden and that people need to be concerned. Not only does she mention Helicopter parents, but she also doesn’t hold the older generation accountable for raising millennials the way they did or still do. The article, although it is well written and makes many frank points that many of us do, becomes problematic when we consider that not all people are the same. Every person is an individual and unique, not only are people individuals, but also in this day and age many people, older and newer generations, do the things that we stereotypically do. In Eve Tushnet’s “You Can Go Home Again,” (495) she mentions that though it might seem wrong to have parental financial and emotional support, for us millennials, it is actually beneficial because bills are almost none existent and food is always on the table. “I fled back home,” (497) Tushnet stated in her concluding statement allowing people to see that even older generations have done or do it, it is not only a millennial thing and