I have chosen to reread and go over the article by Gideon Burton, "Dear Students: Don't Let College Unplug Your Future."
The Author's intent is to motivate students to be creative about their education. To think outside the box. Burton talks about how college professors are falling behind the digital era. Students need to use these new media tools to help better themselves. Burton's big point is not to focus on the grades, or the diploma, and that college is not the only option. He says that its not the diploma that speaks for you, its your work and actions that reveals who you are. He tries to motivate the students to get more involved through the uses of new media
Gideon Burton uses many different tools and strategies to help his article. First of all he uses ethos, pathos, and logos through italics and capital phrases throughout the article, so that they standout, and connect with the reader. He uses imagery throughout the article. For example when he says, "This alternative to college credentials is a huge as the Stay Puft marshmallow man from Ghostbusters and he's towering over the skyline right where town meets gown: online identity." This is clearly an example of imagery. He uses metaphors as well, he relates transcripts, as your lifestream: blogs, social networks, and creative work.
The audiences reaction I feel is mixed. I agree that college can be quite useless, especially in this day and age. Students who go to big schools like Harvard, Yale, etc, and pay huge amounts of money, end up with debts of 200,000 plus by the time they graduate. They try to find a job, with a starting salary of 60,000 plus, and can only find a job with a starting salary of 30,000. They simply can not pay off their debts. We chose to go to school to become specialized in a certain area, so that they can get a job. That is why BYU is such a great place, because it has a high reputation and a low tuition rate, so students that need to learn so that they can get a job, will be able to educate themselves at a low cost.
Gideon Burton is a college professor at Brigham Young University. He believes everyone should have strong political views, but be respectful at the same time. He mainly teaches English 382. He has been a member of the English Department since 1994, specializes in Renaissance literature, the history of rhetoric and Mormon literature and criticism. He published the article January 6, 2009.
Yea! Someone else chose the one I did! I was getting bored with reading blogs about "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" (no offense people who chose that). First off wasn't this a great article? I love this guy writing style. I didn't do any research on him so it was fun to see that. I agree that he has great imagery. My favorite was the part about being like your grandma. I think Mr. Burton really wants students to make college work for them and not the other way around.
ReplyDeleteHuh, I didn't realize that Gideon Burton was a professor here at BYU. It does make sense that he's not a professor at a university like Yale or Harvard, though, since they cost so much.
ReplyDeleteHe does have lots of rhetorical tools and energy. It's a well written article. I feel he could have put more emphasis on counter arguments rather than just address them and then not answer them but just distract the audience (employers do check facebooks, and will reject you if they find anything - but Gideon doesn't really talk about that, just mentions it, then distracts the audience).
ReplyDeleteAnd while I don't agree that school is old-fashioned, evil, and that we should simply work and live on the internet, I do agree that SEVERAL aspects of current academia need changing...just not from an electronic point of view.
I agree with your opinion on the mixed review. While for us at BYU we read this article and feel great about ourselves, it must be a pretty difficult pill to swallow for Harvard or Yale students. I don't think this article would convince a Harvard or Yale student to transfer at all, I think they'd just scoff at it. Interesting to see how his main audience would react to this particular article.
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