The article I will be writing about is “Should Everyone Go to College?” by Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill. Owen and Sawhill explains how going to college do not always work out for everyone because of financial situations, majors chosen, and occupations fulfilled. The point of this rhetorical analysis is to examine the text, identify rhetorical appeals, and to dive deeper into the text and what it is trying to say. Proving the author’s point and credibility is the reason for this essay, along with analysis of pathos, logos, and ethos.
The article starts off by stating differences in the earnings between high school graduates and bachelor’s degree holders and associate degree holders. The rates hold a major difference by thousands of dollars between all three levels of education. High school graduates and bachelor’s degree holders have a difference of $15,000 (Owen and Sawhill 1) whereas, high school graduates and associate degree holders have about a $7,000 difference (Owen and Sawhill 1). It then goes into how economic factors can play a role in why graduates go to college or not.
One major economic factor mentioned was the cost of college and how it prevents certain people from going to the college best suited for their major (Owen and Sawhill 1). The authors used a credible project by Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney which calculated the cost of a four-year degree to be $54,000 (Owen and Sawhill 1). This project used in the text support their thoughts on the economic factors that prevent people from going to college. Choosing this project also shows a representation of ethos in the text because their reference to the project made their argument more valid.
The first figure in the article shows “Earnings Trajectories by Educational Attainment” (Owen and Sawhill). It is a visual representation of Greenstone and Looney Project to show that people who achieve a bachelor’s degree on average earns more annually then people who only achieve high school diplomas. For example, individuals the age of 22 with a bachelor’s degree already make about $10,000 more than someone with a high school diploma (Owen and Sawhill 2). This visual representation shows numbers, stats that have been calculated, and it is easy to comprehend which is an example of logos in the text. The authors choosing to include this figure also goes with ethos again because it gives the article more credibility to the information provided in the paragraphs.
Next in the text Owen and Sawhill start to discuss earnings based on occupations taken up after graduating college. Owen and Sawhill say Anthony Carnevale “finds that 14 percent of people with a high school diploma make at least as much as those with a bachelor’s degree, and 17 percent of people with a bachelor’s degree make more than those with a professional degree (Owen and Sawhill 4).” The authors then dive into how college majors do not equal because of the earnings received afterwards.
This argument also supports Sawhill and Owen’s main idea of everyone should not go to college. They use “Anthony Carnevale and his colleagues at the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce (Owen and Sawhill 4)” to back up the stats in the paragraph and also the information in the article is a representation of work-life earnings based on occupation with a bachelor’s degree (Owen and Sawhill 5).
The numbers fluctuated depending on the occupation, for example architecture and engineering had 3.5 million dollars in earnings (Owen and Sawhill 5). Whereas education had 2 million dollars in earnings (Owen and Sawhill 5) which is much lower than architecture and engineering occupations. Using Anthony Carnevale and figure 4 to support Sawhill and Owen’s stats shows credibility, numbers, and logic which is also another example of ethos and logos used in the text.
So far Sawhill and Owen have captured and drew attention to some reasons why people go to college, or why the major they chose to pursue did not have the greatest turn out. The audience of this information would be anyone looking to go to college, return to college, or anyone trying to see how good of a turn out their major will have on their life. Anyone looking to attend college after high school graduation would benefit from this article simply because the credibility and stats show how well of a turn out majors have, not only on the person but also on the occupation desired by an individual.
People who wish to return to college also benefit from this article because Sawhill and Owen give numbers regarding how much more a person will make if they return to college to further their education which gives life an overall boost. Lastly, individuals looking to see how their major may turn out can take numbers from figure 3 which shows earnings based on major and also from figure 4 which shows earnings based on occupations desired.
Looking at the information provided by the authors and how it ties into ethos and logos shows how credible the article is as a whole. Owen and Sawhill providing so many examples of ethos and logos strengthens their argument by letting the readers know they make valid points and that they took their time to do other research to back up their statements. The authors refer to many other credible titles to support their information and even give visual representations, so their audience will understand exactly what they are trying to say.
Visual representation also let people who learn better by seeing things have an idea of what is going on as well. Sawhill and Owen choosing to do this can be paired with pathos by appealing to everyone and not just a certain group of people. They made the article have different types of information in different forms, so it can appeal to everyone.
The authors choosing to show pathos strengthens their article also because making it eligible for everyone to read it, expands your audience. Owen and Sawhill did not write a very technical paper to where only college graduates could read it. They typed the article so anyone with reasonable knowledge could read their article and get something from it. They typed the information in the paragraphs and gave charts and graphs, so you could see how the numbers were different.
Owen and Sawhill did not really use a lot of pathos throughout the article. Their main rhetorical appeals were ethos and logos. Choosing to not have pathos in their article can show some weaknesses just because pathos would have brought out the authors values on the topic. Pathos would have also brought out Owen and Sawhill’s emotions which could have made a connection with the reader. However, choosing ethos and logos strengthens the article by stating facts to the reader.
Providing the reader with factual evidence and numbers to evaluate the argument themselves gives the article a professional look which can be trusted by outside readers. Weaknesses to only having ethos and logos in the paper is not having a personal connection with the audience and not being able to tell how the author’s really feel about the argument.
In conclusion, the article showed different reasons why going to college is not for everyone. Money, competitive colleges, majors offered, and occupations after graduation of college all factor into whether college will benefit an individual or not. Therefore, with the proper information someone should be able to weigh their options carefully to make the best decision for their life.
