R1 - Name Vu Bich Hang ID 1517710043 Class A1-FBE-k54-FTU...

Name: Vu Bich Hang ID: 1517710043
Class: A1-FBE-k54-FTU
20 April, 2017
Introductor: Mrs. Diem Phuc
#Rhetorical Analysis
Nowadays, students tend to put having a well-paid job after graduating first. It
might be the main reason why they choose to go to college. However, in Mark
Edmundson’s August 22, 2011 The Oxford American article “Who Are You and What Are
You Doing Here”, by showing his own college experience, he aims to convince, to
persuade freshman experiencing their first days in college that the only purpose of
college education should be to fulfill yourself, to find and follow your interest, to not
only understand everything you learn but more importantly question its value to you.
Students should think outside the box, eliminate those general concept “come to an end”
about higher education to find the way to reach success.
One of the main rhetorical elements Edmundson uses in his argument is the
way he structures his argument. He begins the article by claiming that students have
to “fight against the institution” to “get a real education”. He points out what’s matter
with college education nowadays: People think college is just a bridge leading to
more important goals. Students want the credential just because of the fact that it can
create a favorable condition for them to enter reputed school. They come to the class
without caring what happens. What they care about is diploma. Moreover, author
demonstrates that professors don’t pay full attention in teaching, students don’t want
invest in learning. It is due to the fact that their lives are elsewhere, “The professors
saves his energies for the profession, while student saves his for friends, social life,
volunteer work, making connection and getting in position to clasp hands on the true
grail, the first job”. After that, the author claims that students are sized up by people