Dami Kim

Analysis Essay 2

Period 2

Exceptionally not Exceptional

Professor Rebecca Shuman, through the usage of repetition, anacoluthon, and an overall sarcastic

tone, develops her argument on how students face difficulty accepting their letter grade do to the culture

of universal exceptionalism that they are surrounded in.

Professor Schuman is more than aware of how students weigh their academic success: obsessing

over As and despising any other grade. Disregarding the fact that not everyone can be the best at

everything, students constantly expect their teachers to have empathy and gift everyone with the grade

that they want. However, Schuman argues otherwise. In paragraph five of her excerpt, she constantly

repeats the word exceptional while breaking down the requirements for each letter grade: C being the

minimum standards, B meaning the student performed well at completing their tasks, and an A for the

few exceptional students who demonstrated outstanding quality in their works. However, students are

discontent with the grade they received based on their performance, blurring the lines of this grading

scale. The redundancy from her use of the word exceptional emphasizes her point that although every

student would like to receive and A, exceptional performance strictly means exception to the norm. In

other words, their excellence just stand out from the majority of the students. Shuman has no problem

rewarding the students who proved to have outstanding works with an A; however, she blantly points out

the fact that the problem occurs when every student begin to settle on nothing less than that letter.

She does not blame the entitled behavior on the students. Professor Shuman is well aware that

these students were raised inside the culture of universal exceptionalism where everyone is told that they

can achieve anything. The concept of grade grubbing in the last paragraph demonstrates her point. She

clearly demonstrates the difference between expectations and reality by using anacoluthon. Although

students feel that they need an A, is is obvious that they simply just want it. Asking for a desired

grade is a problem for it is, in reality, no different than demanding, a praise for their mediocre
performance. By breaking up her sentences, she not only shows contrast between the intentions of the

students compared to the outcome of their actions, but also creates a sarcastic tone that adds a sense of

irony of how society likes to deem everyone as a special snowflake. While constantly being drilled with

a sugar-coated lie that everyone is remarkable, the idea that anything less than the best is failure is also

imposed. Torn between these two opposing concepts, students grow up believing in a universal

exceptionalism, but are soon struck with disappointment when they realize they may not be as special as

they thought they were.

Rebecca Shuman does not fault the students for manipulating the grading system but rather

presents the negative effects that universal exceptionalism brings to ones perspective of their capabilities.

Her humorous argument displays how blantely obvious problems are not often not addressed and that

students must learn to accept that their concept of achievement is based on complete delusion.