Rhetorical Analysis Of Today's Grade Culture

2017 is set to make history as a record number of American students graduate from high school this year. The rise in diplomas has also led to a rise in people’s concerns over the fairness and standards students are measured by. As we witness a greater focus is being put on the traditional grading system some believe that the culture surrounding the grading has had a turn for the worst. Professor Rebecca Schuman, a critic of this change, uses rhetorical devices in her essay to make the reader aware of the problems today’s grade culture has on the educational system. Schuman first uses her personal stories as a high school teacher to ridicule the current grade culture. She begins by reading out some of the many concerned emails her student’s have sent to her and pointing out the one thing they all have in common: they are all about their grade in the class. With a sarcastic tone, she refutes and makes fun of their emails to focus the audience on her students’ egotistical attitude towards grades. Even though she uses an informal tone, which may ward off readers if used incorrectly, she justifies her tone by using her past emals as hard evidence of how incredulous her student’s

Consider how in the middle of the paper she makes it clear that C’s should be for students that meet minimum requirements, B’s for students that do a good job and A’s should be limited to those students who are truly exceptional. With this arrangement, Shuman is able to set a stage for her criticisms against teachers giving away A’s to students who at best deserve a B or a C. Therefore, she pivots from critisizing her students to lecturing teachers how things ought to be. Taking this into account, her definition makes readers aware of the lack of accountability in the part of teachers when they grade their students based on self-esteem rather than