Berry 1

Raymond Berry Jr.

Professor McDonald
English 102-13
February 8, 2016
A Growing Problem
Student loan debt could be considered Americas next big dilemma. As time has
progressed, the total and average U.S. student loan debt have both continued to
increase. Last recoded in 2014, there are 40 million borrowers with an average balance
of $29,000 in student debt, the U.S. total is more than $1.2 trillion. The first source
represents the typographic genre, it is a CNBC article named The high economic and
social cost of student loan debts, written by Kelly Holland, a business journalist. The
second source represents the oral genre, it is a plea by Bernie Sanders, a 2016
presidential candidate and Vermont Senator (D), on behalf of Elizabeth Warren,
Massachusetts Senator (D), to propose Amendment 652, to refinance existing student
loans and bring down the high interest rates bringing down Americans. They are
accompanied by other members of the Senate representing the Democratic,
Republican, and an Independent parties. Both genres demonstrate that student loan
debt is a problem that needs a solution, but the typographic genre is more effective than
oral.
The CNBC articles intention was to raise awareness to the student loan debt
dilemma to Americans that have inquired one or may in the future. In the plea, the
intentions were to inform and persuade. Inform by allowing Americans to know that
legislation is being presented to solve the debt problem by posting the proposition on
youtube. Persuade by proposing the amendment to the other senators to convince

Berry 2

Raymond Berry Jr.

Professor McDonald
English 102-13
February 8, 2016
them that Amendment 652 is the solution, also through allowing the senators that
support the legislation to give their standpoints. With these sources reaching out to
young and middle aged adults, and young people that plan on attending college, the
audience knows that college is extremely expensive and there are a large amount of
people that need loans to attend. They want to know what is being done to make
college more affordable because more people will be able to attend college and join, if
not surpass the middle class. In these genres, very little specialized vocabulary was
used and both sources were strictly formal. This would encourage the audience to stay
engaged for longer amounts of time because they arent dwelling on what they dont
understand rather than what is being presented to them.
Both CNBC and the U.S. Senate are very credible sources and used rhetorical
devices well. CNBC has been reporting news for 26 years, while the U.S. Senate is half
of the U.S. governments legislative branch. In the CNBC article there were several
credible sources that the statistics were pulled from, such as the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau, Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control, and the National
Bureau of Economic Research. During the plea, Senator Sanders said he spoke with a
young woman who attended college to become a primary care physician and left
medical school with $300,000 in student loans. He wanted the audience to feel
sympathetic for the young lady deeply in extremely deep debt. It was also used to his
advantage because it informs the audience of how awful the debt is for some people.
The CNBC article used pathos when statistics from the Center of Disease Control

Berry 3

Raymond Berry Jr.

Professor McDonald
English 102-13
February 8, 2016
(CDC) and the Census Bureau were presented. The CDC stated, The birth rate among
women aged 20 to 29 is now at a record low, and has been declining since at least
2008. The Census Bureau stated, homeownership has plummeted among Americans
under age 35, from 43.3 percent in the first quarter of 2005 to 34.6 percent in first
quarter of 2015. CNBC uses this well because those in student loan debt are now
forced to push back living their lives the way they desire after college. The CNBC
article and the plea were both well rounded in their use of rhetorical devices.
There are several differences between the two genres, but three will be
presented. The first is the structure, CNBC article was structured through cause and
effect. With each statistic stated, Kelly Holland had an explanation on how it affected
those in deep student debt loans. The plea was structured with the most important
people speaking first then those accompanying spoke after. The second was the time
constraint, each speaker in the plea was on a time constraint. The CNBC article didnt
have a limit, it was pretty lengthy. The last was the presentation of statistics, in the
CNBC article there were several charts being presented, whereas during the plea, it
was up to the audience to believe whether the speakers statements are true or false.
Both genres did very well with getting the point across that student loan debt is a
major dilemma, but the most effective genre is typographic. It is more effective than oral
because the presentation of information can be organized much. It is easier to reread a
section than it is to rewind a video to try and understand what the speaker is saying.

Berry 4

Raymond Berry Jr.

Professor McDonald
English 102-13
February 8, 2016
Statistics are also more credible when you see the source, or chart rather than hearing
a person state it.

Berry 5

Raymond Berry Jr.

Professor McDonald
English 102-13
February 8, 2016
Bibliography
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa2pbOVYDf8
http://www.studentbodyofamerica.org/possible-solutions-to-the-1-trillion-student-debtcrisis