Hadeed

Hamad Hadeed

Second draft

P. Thomas
Course: 1101-103
10 / 24 / 2014
Education
Education is the chord of success that everyone is seeking for. Education also is the life that
gives people opportunity to live. It is also the wheel of development that we cant reach what
we have now without its contribution. Education enhanced people in their scholarship levels.
Education generates to communities a lot of intellectual people who can raise their nations
sovereignty. The word education has a lot of senses that gives the person who even heard it
for the first time think that this word has a serious meaning. When I heard this word for the
first time, I thought meant something that is so important. Education is an enormous word
that has a lot of meanings to embody; moreover, it represents civilization, renaissance and
revolution.
There is a blog entry that appeared in the Washington Post, on April 29 on the year
2014 is entitled, How well educated is your home county? The blog is written by Reid
Wilson who is the editor of the Washington post 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, in a bid to show them 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

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for the general audience for whom the piece is intended. There has been no use of stylistic
devices in this entry although the main argument of the writer, which is that economic
prosperity is in a way dependent on the level of education of the populace, has been well
explained. In my view, the writer is trying to encourage people to get higher education and do
away with the notion that one does not need to hold a degree for him to be successful. The
writer may succeed in his motive but there are those who will give the 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 thwarted reforms in 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
resilience in her work as a teacher and in the end the results 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 of having discussed about a school
district board the previous week. The appeal to the audience is that there is need to embrace
hard work in education, in order to bring in reforms. The story is geared towards showing a

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real life example that can be said to be the embodiment of hard work. This genre responds
well to the rhetorical situation of the importance of hard work by 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 you tube 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 casually. 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. They are 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 2012with 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 writer
who is also the presenter and the viewer.
This genre is presented to the audience in the form of a poetic video, whose 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 while the latter gives people information that they are likely to
forget the moment they leave school, the former equips people with the skills they need to be
successful individuals. In the presentation, repetition has been employed greatly to give
weight to particular ideas. For example, the words education is the key have been repeated

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twice. Allusions have also been made to great people such as Malcolm X, who became
famous for what he learnt in prison and not what he was taught at school.
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 the 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 of them to
believe that what the young man is talking about is indeed true (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 about 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 metaphorically to mean the entity of rationality and reason (Buckley 2-4).

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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 noteworthy to say that the clarity 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 a nutshell, the topic of education has been well featured in the four genres
discussed above. Each of the above genres has its 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