Huong 1
Nguyen Thi Quynh Huong
ID: 1517710065
Instructor: Vu Thi Diem Phuc
Writing 2: Rhetorical analysis
March 22, 2017
Education is the road to success for most people in the world. For many students nowadays,
higher education is considered as merely a conduit for a high-paying first job. However, in the
article “Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?”, published on August 22
nd
, 2011 in Issue
74 of The Oxford American, the Professor Mark Edmundson aims to convince students that
rather than using “university education” for “a means to an end” with the “end” being a good job,
students should instead focus on receiving a meaningful education that will help them define
themselves and later allow them to receive a fulfilling job.
To achieve his purpose, Edmundson begins the argument by claiming that one has to “fight
against the institution” to get a good college education. He points out what is wrong with college
education nowadays: the effort people put into teaching and studying is just at the bare
minimum, for college to them is just a bridge leading to more important goals. Then, the author
also claims that students are built up by so many people around: they are made to be “father’s
son” or “mother’s daughter”; colleges want them to be “well-rounded students, civic leaders,
people who know what the system demands, how to keep matters light […]”. Being shaped by
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- Winter '17
- Rhetoric, Edmundson, Professor Mark Edmundson
