Summary Of The Shriver Report

In a partnership with the Center for American Progress, the Shriver Report released “Higher Education: Interrupting the Cycle of Poverty” in 2014 by Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón. The Shriver Report is part of an initiative by Maria Shriver for women’s empowerment. In this report Dr. Padrón argues that through higher education and support programs, the Miami Dade College has helped to eradicate a cycle of poverty from women in low-income families (p. 1-2). Federal and state programs get women back on their feet to be able to obtain a higher education and economic stability, and these are made accessible by the Miami Dade College (Padrón, p. 2). These opportunities have been able to promote education, cultural enrichment, and to set higher standards

Padrón had argumentative fallacies, which are arguments that are flawed by their nature or structure (Lunsford & Ruszkiewicz, 2013, p. 74). One of these fallacies is of ethical argument, and it is known as “stacking the deck.” This fallacy consists of showing one side of the story, which is the one in their favor (Lunsford & Ruszkiewicz, 2013, p. 81). Dr. Padrón stated a great deal of facts supporting why higher education breaks the cycle of poverty, and how Miami Dade College can get their students into the job market. However, he doesn’t include how other colleges are “breaking the cycle of poverty” and if they’re successful at it. In addition, men are not considered in his claim that college education removes poverty, as statistics shown are mostly aimed at the feminine

Padrón stacked the deck in a way that supported his argument, but did not consider alternatives. Taking that into consideration, this creates a chance that the target audience will be suspicious of his intentions. Nevertheless, his use of logos was effective and each fact was never misleading or went unexplained. The only drawback to his use of facts was that it outweighed pathos and ethos when it came to content. It can be difficult for the audience to maintain their interest while reading statistic after statistic. This heavy use of logos was ultimately necessary to support his claim, since it is a report after all, but it took away from the effectiveness in the