Kurt Wiesenfeld’s article “Making the Grade” discusses his concerns with students wanting to “trade in” their poor final grades for new ones. I first read the article as a student and I did not feel compelled to act or think differently as a result of reading the article. I also read the article from the perspective of a future teacher and I agreed with Wiesenfeld for not wanting to reward students for unearned efforts. However, this idea seems like common sense, and, again, I did not feel the need to act or think differently as a teacher. This article lacks Aristotle’s pathos because of its inability to persuade the reader one way or another. Even a student who has asked a professor to improve his or her grade would not feel remorse for their request after reading this article.
One other issue I had with “Making the Grade” was that after reading the article with not only a student’s point of view but also a teacher’s, I had difficulty deciphering who the article’s intended audience was. After reading the article a few more times, I decided that the author is writing to other teachers asking them to ignore their students’ outlandish requests. However, I think that writing an article directed at students who make these pleas would be more rewarding, since that is where the problem starts.
It probably sounds like I did not enjoy the article. However, I really did like the points that Wiesenfeld made! I just feel that he could have been more persuasive and used values that other teachers hold to make his points seem more valid.
2 comments:
I really like the way you looked at both perspectives of the argument. As readers, or the audience, it is very easy for us to be biased and only think of one side. This helps your analysis.
Short, but sweet. you focused on the rhetoric of the article and saved the summary. I like your analysis that maybe Wiesenberg needs to rethink his target audience.
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