Running Head: COLLEGE EDUCATION

College Education: General Analysis of a Newspaper Article and YouTube Video

Jonathan Emmanuel Acosta
University of Texas at El Paso










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College Education: Genre Analysis of a Newspaper Article and YouTube Video
College education is one of the many aspects that a majority of people in this country is
considering to be required elements to be successful in life. Due to the idea of the great
importance of obtaining a college degree, it has caused increasing amount of people to attend
college to be ahead in their lives. Statistics have shown that the people in the workforce who
have a bachelors degree are more likely to obtain higher salaries and benefits than those with
just a high school diploma (WSJDigitalNetwork, 2013).Though there are advantages of having the
title of owning a college degree, there are disadvantages as well. People on the con side of
college education argue that college is not worth it due to the growing number of student debt
loans and the high unemployment rates for college graduates. Arguments pertaining to college
education have caused high school/college students to question if college is worth it.
For the public to notice or keep up with controversy of college education, a variety genres
have been published or created that inform about the issue (Selingo, 2013)(WSJDigitalNetwork,
2013). The two genres that this genre analysis will focus on; a newspaper article from The Wall
Street Journal and a YouTube video that is also from the same source as the newspaper article.
The newspaper article from The Wall Street Journal is titled as The Diplomas Vanishing Value
and is written by Jeffrey J. Selingo while the YouTube video is uploaded by The Wall Street
Journal Digital Network with an unknown producer even though the person in the video talking
to the viewers is named Jason Bellini, an American journalist. Both of these genres have
different opinions on college education which the newspaper article argues that bachelors
degrees are not much beneficial to college grads anymore as associates degrees are becoming to
win over bachelors degrees while the YouTube videos exclaims that college is worth it though
focusing more on bachelors degrees than associates degrees. This general analysis essay will
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analyze the areas of both genres that they use to allow their points to go across to their audiences,
and the areas that will be analyzed are the genres audiences and purposes, rhetorical issues,
structures, and styles/languages.
Audience and Purpose
For the first genre, the newspaper article, the intended audience is anyone who is about to
or is already involved with college; for example, a high school student who is about to graduate
within a few months and has to make a choice of where to go to college and a college student
who is in a four-year university and the student is already thinking that spending four years in
college is worth it. The purpose of the article is to inform the audience that a bachelors degree is
losing its value in the workforce as many college grads with a bachelors degree are not
becoming as successful as they want to be, however a degree from a community college is
looking promising. Since the audience people are likely to be college and/or upcoming college
students then they can relate well to the genres purpose. The audience must have already known
that with a college degree, they can earn higher earnings than with just a high school diploma.
However, they want an explanation of how a degree earned from a technical college or
community college end up being a better choice rather than a degree from a four-year university.
For this genre, the audience can spend about 5-8 minutes of reading since it is a newspaper
article and that the article is straightforward, which the audience can fully understand what the
author is trying to say.
Like The Diplomas Vanishing Values, the intended audience is the same for Is College
Worth It? The YouTube videos purpose is to persuade upcoming and current college students to
reach for bachelors degrees and to make it clear that college is worth it. The audience knows the
benefits of attending college and earning a bachelors degree, but they want to know if obtaining
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that degree is worth the time and money to come across that point since many of them question if
they should take out student loans. The video lasts about 3 minutes, but it can allow its audience
to spend around 5 minutes to recall the charts and tables that would be displayed in a few parts in
the video.
Even though the audiences are about the same since they will be looking for answers
about the importance of college, the purposes of both genres are somewhat different from each
other. One genre is informing its audiences that community colleges might be a better choice for
education because of the risks of attending a 4-year university, while the other genre is
persuading its viewers to attend college and receive a bachelors degree.
Rhetorical Issues
The Diplomas Vanishing Values already gains credibility since the source of which the
article belongs to is known as The Wall Street Journal, a very well-known newspaper company
that focuses on business and economics. The genre also gains credibility through its uses of
examples and statistics that are displayed throughout the authors article. Another reason that this
genre gains incredibility is the author himself. Jeffery J. Selingo, the author of the written genre,
is an author, columnist, and speaker, who has spent his journalism career covering colleges and
universities worldwide (Selingo, 2014). In his website, it is stated that he has had his works
being posted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The
Huffington Post, which are very well known newspaper/news aggregator companies (Selingo,
2014). Due to these facts about Selingo, the readers find the article very credible, since the
author is well familiar with the issue of college education (Selingo, 2013). The YouTube video,
Is College Worth It?, also gains credibility since it is uploaded by the same source as the other
genre, though the ethos is not as strong as The Diplomas Vanishing Values since the reporter,
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Jason Bellini, is not as familiar with the topic of college education as Jeffrey J. Selingo. Bellini
states key points along with statistics, charts and tables to prove his argument of the importance
of college, enabling the video to gain credibility. The fact that he is a video reporter and senior
producer at The Wall Street Journal (Jason, 2008), the YouTube video portrays greater
credibility though not as high as the article genre (WSJDigitalNetwork, 2013).
Both genres have somewhat different usages of pathos to get across to their
readers/viewers. The author of The Diplomas Vanishing Values attempts to shock its readers that
earning a bachelors degree is not what it cracks up to be (Selingo, 2013). The author explains
that those with bachelors degrees are not much likely to be more successful as those with
associates degrees due to college graduates with bachelors degrees having to suffer through
devastating student loans compared to those who have graduated with associates degrees. The
author also includes his facts of how college grads with bachelors degrees are earning less
money than employees with associates degrees on the first few years in the workforce. Selingo
is evoking the shocking emotion to persuade his readers that going to community college might
be more beneficial than attending a four-year university (Selingo, 2013). Unlike The Diplomas
Vanishing Values, the YouTube video displays the emotion of relief and self-realization that
going to college and earning bachelors degree is worth attempting it. The video opens up the
eyes to the viewers that with college degrees come student debt. The problem can be fixed with a
careful payment plan. This allows the viewers to see that college is indeed important to attend
(WSJDigitalNetwork, 2013).
Both genres have used logos to allow their points to go across their readers/viewers,
however, one of the two genres has proven to have stronger logos. First, in The Diplomas
Vanishing Values, Selingo usually states certain facts that pertain to college. Such facts include
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how student loan debt is increasing more than ever, reaching around one trillion dollars (Selingo,
2013). Earning a degree from a community college is more likely to lead to higher salaries than a
degree from a university in the first couple of years (Selingo, 2013). For example, a man who
transferred from a university to a community college and later earned an associates degree is
now earning more money than those with bachelors degrees and work for the same company
(Selingo, 2013). On the other hand, the Youtube video,Is College Worth It?, displays a huge
amount of logos as seen throughout the video. The evidence in the video are: statistics, table and
a pie chart presented at the end of the video. The statistics are shown throughout the video which
state that having a bachelors degree is more beneficial than just a high school diplomas. The pie
chart presented in the video explains the comparisons of the chances of getting a job with a
bachelors degree and without the degree and shows bigger chances for those with the degrees.
In the middle of the video, a payment plan is displayed to show the viewers that it is possible to
fix the problem of student loan debt, arguing that college is worth it (WSJDigitalNetwork, 2013).
Even though there is more usage of logos in Is College Worth It?, evidence in both genres are
reliable.
Structure
Diplomas Vanishing Values is structured as in any other newspaper article, but this article
is organized well, allowing its readers to comprehend what the author is saying. The article is
divided by paragraphs that enables readers to be comfortable while reading. Selingo starts off his
work with a background information of the issue of college education and later states the benefits
of earning an associates degree rather than a bachelors degree, along with proving the example
of the man who graduated from a community college instead a university. There is not much
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limitations on this genre other than to keep the piece at a medium length along with professional
fonts to keep its readers focused on what the author is trying to say (Selingo, 2013).
The YouTube video on the other hand follows a different format, still professional to
allow its viewers to understand the message inside of the video. The video is first of all short
which allows its viewers to watching it faster than the people reading Diplomas Vanishing
Values. In the beginning of the video, Bellini already states that college is worth it. Throughout
the video, a question pops up at the screen which then Bellini answers by explaining and his
short explanations are displayed around him on the screen. The video is basically divided by its
questions and answers and display of charts, statistics and table, which allows its viewers to
better understand of what Bellini is explaining to them. The only limitation of this genre is to
keep the video short in order to not bore its viewers and help them stay focused and entertained
since the audience can be anyone just browsing through the web even though the audience
should be anyone involved or about to be with college (WSJDigitalNetwork, 2013).
Style/Language
Diplomas Vanishing Values has no color scheme except black and white, but the purpose
of that is to keep the article in a business-like or professional format for the readers to find the
article credible. The author does provide an image that displays a few recent college grads who
walking to nowhere, indicating the risks of earning a bachelors degree. Lastly, Selingo provides
a video in the middle of the article that explains how student debt loans are increasing every
year, and how they can negatively impact college grads.
Is College Worth It? however, has a format that is easier on the eyes of the viewers. Even
though this is a video, there are noticeable texts shown throughout the video. They show up
around Bellini as he mentions the evidences of both pro and con sides say about the issue of
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college. The fonts are white and big enough for a viewer to easily notice them without having to
stop the video.
Both genres have differences between each other, while also containing similarity
characteristics such as the language and the specialized vocabulary they use. The language in
both genres are very formal as there are no usage of slang words or simple words that can be
used in a conversation. Both genres use formal language since they both explained their
information in a business like matter. They use specialized vocabulary that relates to the
economy and college education such as degrees, unemployment, debts, loans, internships,
salaries which they cause the language to become more formal, thus causing the audience to
notice the professional settings in both genres and acknowledge the purposes that they both have.
Conclusion
As these two genres are now analyzed, they have different uses of rhetoric, structure and
style/language to convey their messages to their audiences. Though they do have differences
from each other, they both are effective in portraying their purposes as their evidences are
reliable and have credible sources. They do have similarities with each other even though they
have different views on the issue of college education. However, at the end, the YouTube video
Is College Worth It? is the more effective genre due to its well uses in the four areas that are
analyzed in the essay. It leads viewers to better understand the importance of attending a 4-year
university despite facing student debt loans which can be solved with steady payment. Even
though Diplomas Vanishing Values is less effective than the other genre, this genre gives a
positive look to community colleges and with these two genres, the audiences can feel
comfortable to attending whichever education they want.

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References
Bellini, J. (2008, June). Jason's bio. Retrieved from http://www.jasonbellini.com/

Selingo, J. J. (2013, April 26). The diploma's vanishing value.The wall street journal.
Retrieved from
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324874204578440901216478088

Selingo, J. (2014). About. Retrieved from http://www.jeffselingo.com/about/

WSJDigitalNetwork. (2013). Is college worth it? [web.] Available from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItSFsbCSw9Q