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Megan Giacini
Dr. Guenzel
ENC 1102 A003
June 5, 2014

A (rather lengthy) Rhetorical Analysis of:
Why Science Majors Change Their Minds (Its Just So Darn Hard)


Christopher Drew, a reporter for the New York Times, wrote the article Why Science
Majors Change Their Minds (Its Just So Darn Hard). This was written after President Barack
Obama appeared at the White Houses Science Fair. Politicians were showing interest in the
number of college students graduating from STEM or science, technology, engineering and
mathematics majors. When comparing the graduating rates of STEM majors versus liberal arts
majors, liberal arts majors are exceedingly higher than STEM. Christopher Drew is an
investigator reporter for the New York Times newspaper. He is known for covering stories on
military technology. Since 1996, he has either wrote or helped write over four hundred articles
and since 1995, has worked for The Washington Times or New York Times. Drew is also the co-
author of the best selling book Blind Mans Bluff.
The article Why Science Majors Change Their Minds (Its Just So Darn Hard), is
written about colleges STEM students and how some faculty from colleges view the low
number of STEM students. The author claims many students loose interest in the sciences after
taking some core classes freshman year; also that this is due to the majors being difficult,
growing more complex, and students lacking in math preparation or not motivated enough to
take the classes seriously. The discourse community the article is written for are the people who
are in the position to help solve the problem the author pointed out. For example: college
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officials, incoming freshman students, schoolteachers, and politicians who can spread the articles
message. Drews main goals was to inform the people on the fact that a large number of students
are switching from math and science majors, thus leaving a gap in engineering fields and other
related fields. I find, as a reader, that the article is very persuasive. It gives the reader a feeling of
motivation to want to fix the situation the writer pointed out. The intended audience would be
compelled to help. Whether it is teachers thoroughly checking students understand the basics of
math and science, increasing college students motivation to stay in or join STEM majors, or
officials creating programs to increase or maintain enthusiasm in these subjects. A weakness
would have to be where the author does not cite source of a statistic he wrote or citing it after the
statistic making the reader search for it. Another could be that almost all of the sources come
from interviews with people. Drew could have included a couple of other types of sources to
change of the flavor. A definite strength would be the way the entire article transitions or flows
from beginning to end. He never once stated his opinion on the topic. He only informed his
audience about his niche, but in a way that will make them want to do something.
The publication of the article was on The New York Times website under the United
States education category. The newspaper company first came into existence in 1835, New York
City and joined the Internet in 1996. Two day after its Internet release, it was put into the actual
paper that could be picked up. The intended audience would be the college officials and
directors, students, schoolteachers, and politicians. This is because as a person reads the article
they will notice how the students are changing majors, how colleges view this matter, and how
top state research universities have added at least a splash of design work in the freshman year,
results in students gaining some experience and increase motivation. All of these things are
related to education. People who are in the education field are in the position to influence what
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the author is trying to motive people to achieve. That is an increase in the number of graduating
STEM majors. Besides the indented readers, the audience would include the casual browser of
The New York Times online. These people would probably be adults who like to be up-to-date
on current events. This is because they would have to take the time to look up the website and
click through the articles. Other audience members would be the people who picked up the paper
to read as they commute to work, relax and read the paper on their own time, or are wasting time
while waiting to go somewhere or do something. These people would be the actual audience
because how else would the article be read? The kinds of readers mostly excluded would be
younger generations including, but not limited to children and young adults. For the children and
teens, they are most likely focused on their personal goals than worried about the future
graduating classes of colleges. That is why the educators are the intended audience; so they are
able to influence the coming generation to pursue and be motivated to take STEM classes and the
difficult relating majors in the colleges they will attend.
To achieve the purpose of motivating his audience to take action, Christopher Drew had
to appeal to pathos or the intended readers emotions, values, assumptions, and sense of identity.
He begins with talking about the president and how Obama was sending a message about science
to kids and leads into politicians and educators anxious about How will the United States stack
up against global rivals in innovation? Drew makes the assumption that the uninformed
educators also care about the future of the United States of America in regards to increasing its
modernization; making them feel, as American citizens, they should read on to see if there are
way for them to help their countrys future. The writer then goes on to write for the fifth
paragraph For educators, the big question is how to keep the momentum being built in the lower
grades from dissipating once the students get to college. The teachers, college professors and
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administrators were then supposed to think along the lines of Hey, Im in the education field.
Maybe I can help. This line appeals to their identity, emotions, and their personal moral of
wanting to help others. The quote in one of the last sections (10
th
to last paragraph) also can
cause the readers to think. Arthur C. Heinricher, the dean of undergraduate studies at Worcester
Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts said early engagement, and letting them see they can
work on something that is interesting and important, is a big deal that hooks students. This
again appeals to educators sense of identity. It leaves the readers with a small step they could
take to help. Drew most likely assumes the idea of early engagement and work ethic will be
planted it his intended audiences minds as they finish his article. His comments, transitions, and
quotes compel his readers to take action while he in fact only informed his audience on the
problem presented.
As stated before Drew begins with talking about the president and how Obama was
sending a message about science to kids and leads into politicians and educators anxious about
there not being enough engineers and STEM graduates. The article continues with a possibility
of why there is a lack of STEM graduates and a statistic to back it up. This leads to a thought
provoking statement then a quote from a college professor. The pattern of statement then a
statistic or quote, then, sometimes, another statement is the basic structure for the reading. The
structure makes an argument and goes on to back it up. This leads to a provoked thought and
another statement. The articles last segment is what a specific college has recently done to
engage their students and giving them experience in their fields they want to pursue. The basic
structure seems a bit bland when picked apart, but it does cause the readers to initially be pulled
in and stay compelled to finish the article. As stated in the introduction, the author claims or
assesses many students loose interest in the sciences after taking some core classes freshman
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year. The reporter then backs this up with a statistic from the University of California at Los
Angeles, Studies have found that roughly 40 percent of students planning engineering and
science majors end up switching to other subjects or failing to get any degree. This quote
informs the audience that what the investigator says is the truth. Thus in informing the audience,
but also persuading them that something needs to change.
Christopher Drews quotes included in the article greatly influence his audience to feel
motivated to help innovate the education system to prevent students from dropping STEM
majors. His lack of citing source one time was covered up by the overall flow of the article. If
the audience members step back to analyze the quotes, they may wonder what else was spoken in
the interviews. Overall Drews cunningness to sound completely informative, but in reality was
being persuasive would really influence his intended audience.

Work Cited
Drew, Christopher. "Why science majors change their minds (Its just so darn hard)." New York
Times (2011): 51-52.