Hadeed

Hamad Hadeed

Third draft

P. Thomas
UWRT 1101-103
12/8/2014
Education
Education is the core of the success everyone is seeking, education is the essential
tool that gives people opportunity to live a better life. It is also the wheel of humanitys
development and without it we would not have been able to reach what we have. Education
enhanced people in their knowledge levels. Education generates intellectual people to help
communities a lot and can raise a nations development. When I heard this word for the first
time, I thought it meant something important, it carries certain weight that cannot be ignored.
Education is a big word that has a lot of meanings. It represents knowledge, advancement,
civilization, renaissance, revolution among many other meanings.
There is a blog entry that appeared in the Washington Post, on April 29, 2014 How
well educated is your home county? Reid Wilson, the author, is an editor for the
Washington posts section called Read in. He is a man who is confident, full of energy and
enthusiasm and above all a great mind. The writer is communicating to the American
population the importance of education by showing the relationship that exists between it and
economic development per county. To make the presentation more appealing and easy to
understand, the writer has included a map showing the counties and the percentage of the
citizens who hold a bachelors degree. The authors tone is didactic throughout the blog and
his choice of words is plain, with no jargon that is characteristic of many writers. This choice
of words is very appropriate for the general audience for whom the piece is intended. There
was not any use of stylistic devices in this entry although the main argument of the writer,

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which is that economic prosperity is in a way dependent on the level of education of the
population, has been well explained. In my perspective, the writer is trying to encourage
people to reach for higher education levels and do away with the notion that one does not
need to hold a degree to be successful. The writer may succeed in his motive but there are
those who will argue giving examples of great people who never graduated from any college.
An article by Jim Newton on April 25 2011 in Los Angeles Times website explores
the magic of hard work in education. The article is about Elyse Colgan, a teacher who has
displayed hard work and a passion to reform the failing schools of Southern California. This
article is presented to the audience in the form of a narration, with the writers tone being
contemplative on the issue at hand. The writers voice is heard in the text as one who has
great interest in the improvement of the education standards in the state. The writers choice
of words is scholarly. This is displayed when he describes Colgan as bright, articulate and
effervescent. The writer has used the style of fragmentation especially in the introductory part
of his article. The writer also uses the style of introducing direct speech in his narration. For
example, Colgan is quoted as saying, I will show up every day. This helps to avoid the
monotony of indirect speech (Colgan).
The major argument presented in the article is that hard work in education always
bears fruits. This claim is very clear, based on the story given of a woman who exhibited
strength in her work as a teacher and at the end the results were dramatically improved. The
credibility of the writer is not in doubt as it is evidenced in the article, the writer has great
experience in writing about the same topic. He talks about having discussed about a school
district board the previous week. The appeal to the audience is that there is a big need to
embrace hard work in education, in order to bring in improvement. The story is geared
towards showing a real life example that can be said to be the embodiment with hard work.
This genre responds well to the rhetorical situation of the importance of hard work by

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showing that without it nothing can be achieved. In comparison with the blog entry discussed
above, the article in the Los Angeles Times has expressed its argument by the illustration of a
story, giving more weight to the writers argument. This genre is organized in form of
paragraphs with a mixture both short and long sentences (Colgan, 2011).
A video accessed from youtube talks about why the protagonist hates school but loves
education. It is a poem but expressed in the form of a video. The video is set in what appears
to be the entry of a lecture hall probably in a world-class university. The man reciting the
poem is dressed casual and there are alternating episodes of coloured theme and black and
white. In the background, students can be seen walking up and down the staircase. Some are
headed for the lecture halls while some are leaving carrying huge books and umbrellas. Some
lyrics appear on the screen in bold letters when the writer wants to emphasize a particular
point. The video was published on 2nd December 2012 with the writer being an educated
young man who believes that he now understands that there is a difference between schooling
and education (Breaks). He says that he now knows that the latter is more important and that
they do not always have to go hand in hand. The participants are the presenter and the viewer.
This genre is presented to the audience in the form of a poetic video, the tone is as
condescending as it is patronizing. This tone is directed towards the society, which has failed
to encourage the importance of education and has instead focussed more on schooling. It is
the view of the author that the normal way to go to school gives people information that
they are likely to forget the moment they leave school; that instead the system should equip
people with the skills they need to be successful individuals. In the presentation, repetition
has been employed greatly to give greater weight to particular ideas. For example, the words
education is the key was constantly repeated. Allusions have also been made to great
people such as Malcolm X, who became famous for what he learned in prison and not what
he was taught at school.

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The main argument in the video is that the people need to value education more than
schooling. The message has remained clear throughout the six-minute video. One cannot
question the credibility of the author since as he explains he is a young man who has gone
through the education, system and therefore understands the core of the problem. However,
one could argue that this is just a young man who hates school, and is trying to use the
examples of great men to justify his claim. It is therefore left upon the reader, to decide which
of the two sides appears true and appeals to their innermost self. The types of facial
expressions and gestures used in the video however are more likely to convince them to
believe that what the young man is talking about (Breaks). It is therefore my opinion that the
visual genres have an edge over other genres due to the appeal they have on their viewers.
The final genre reviewed in this essay is a peer-reviewed article that serves to explain
about higher education and knowledge sharing. The article is authored by Sheryl Buckley and
was published in the University of South Africa School of computing in the month of August
2012. It is written in the form of a report, showing results of a research that was conducted.
The voice that is heard is that of the author and other writers who have contributed to the
same topic before. The tone of the author is condescending towards those who believe that
universities have the monopoly of knowledge. The choice of words in the text is scholarly.
An example is the use of academic referencing style and words such as intellectual
development, scepticism and autonomy (Buckley 5-7).
The aspects of style used in this text include repetition and metaphors. The words
community of practice are repeated many times perhaps to give them more emphasis. Ivory
tower is used as a metaphor to show the meaning of the entity of rationality and reason
(Buckley 2-4). The main argument is that universities should not be treated as a monopoly of
knowledge but rather as a participant in knowledge sharing. The credibility of the sources is
undisputable since it mainly comes from scholarly articles. It is worth to say that the clarity

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of the main idea has been maintained throughout the text. The writer is trying to encourage
universities to participate, in the sharing of information with the community. The writer has
even provided statistical data to support his view. Compared to other genres, the peer
reviewed article carries some more weight since it is conducted in a very professional
manner, and has also provided academic sources. The sentence structure is a mixture of both
long and short ones.
In conclusion, the topic of education has been well featured in the four genres
discussed above. Each of the above genres has their own share of appeals and shortcomings.
None can claim authority over the other. They have all succeeded in the effort of bringing to
the attention of readers and viewers the importance of education.

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Works cited
Breaks, S. (2012, Dec 2). Why I hate School but love education: The spoken word. Boston.
Buckley, S. (2012). Higher education and knowledge sharing: from ivory tower to twenty first
century. Innovations in Education and Teaching International , 333-344.
Colgan, E. (2011, April 25). Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 12, 2014
Wilson, R. (2014, April 29). www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/.../how-well-educate. Retrieved
October 12, 2014