Durolin 1

Vernese Durolin

Professor Gardiakos

ENC 1101

2 February 2021

Unit 1: Navigating Sources That Disagree

Education is a powerful weapon within someone. It is vital to one’s prosperity and

wellbeing. Nelson Mandela once stated, “Education is the great engine of personal development.

It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a son of a

mineworker can become head of the mine, that a child of farmworkers can become president of a

great nation.” Education can be seen as an important aspect of life in order to be successful,

however, how can one reach such success when education can be very extravagant, leaving one

in debt. The inquiry on whether or not education should be free straddles throughout the air

leaving many with different oppositions to the matter. The dispute arises declaring that free

college would only create more problems than it would solve, that it will not help resolve the

standing issue of student debt, and, some may agree, that students who pay for their college are

more driven, studious, and self-reliant than students who have free education. On the other hand,

there are others who would disagree with this, stating that free college would increase the

number of students who are able to attend, it would improve both the economy and society as a

whole, and that it would widen the workforce. Despite this, three sources pose their own

viewpoint on the matter and utilize precise rhetorical strategies to fabricate their different

discourse based on the issue. Elements such as motivation, ecology, the five canons, and many
 Durolin 2

more all come into play to demonstrate how the sources discourses’ differ from each other. In

order for readers to answer this question on their own, and navigate through these different

sources it is important to analyze them rhetorically.

Every rhetorical situation is followed by some sort of motivation, even though they are

never clearly stated. Rachel McGuire composes a youtube video, “Should College Education Be

Free? Yes!”, to express her opinion on the matter of free education. She makes use of different

rhetorical strategies to make meaning of her discourse. The question is what exactly is McGuire

trying to accomplish by creating this video?. Her title says it all. The words “Should College

Education Be Free? Yes!” Not only gives the reader a sense of what they are about to read, but it

also explains her objective for the discourse. She also includes an exclamation mark in her title

which emphasizes a strong feeling or emotion towards the subject. At the beginning of the video

before going into depth about the topic, McGuire talks about herself. She states, “In April 2013, I

began applying to various universities in the state of Illinois and began the process of filling out

scholarship forms... 4 years and approximately $80,000 later, I now have a teaching degree…”

The need to identify with the readers can be seen as the purpose behind this introduction. Stating

how she personally paid for education allows the listener to identify with her, as opposed to

someone who did not attend college, and did not have to go through the struggles of debt that

came along with it. This can also be known as pathos as McGuire shapes her character in a way

she wants the audience to connect with and empathize with them.

Furthermore, this interaction that McGuire seeks with the listeners takes place in a

classroom. The effect of placing the rhetorical ecology in a classroom shapes the interaction as a

whole. Why a classroom? Why not have the interaction in a bedroom? Or even outdoors?.

Setting the scene in a classroom pinpoints the idea revolving around education. All of these
 Durolin 3

aspects can also relate to the five rhetorical canons that are involved in composing any text or

discourse; Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, and Delivery. Both invention and

arrangement primarily deal with composing. Deciding what should be said first, and how to say

it. McGuire first talks about herself then talk about the discourse. She uses transition words such

as “To begin, Moreover, In conclusion, etc” to help carry the readers from one idea to the next.

Next is style. As already stated they place the ecology in a classroom. McGuire also clearly

states her words and phrases throughout the entire video. We are also able to see her facial

expression and notice her body language as she speaks. It is seen that smiles when she says

words or phrases with a positive connotation. She states “If we allowed students the financial

freedom of pursuing their passion, interest, or knowledge in a certain field, we could promote a

happier country, and in return, students feel more motivated to improve our current way of

living” with a smile on her face rather than words with negative connotation where her body

expression exhibited something opposite. McGuire memorizes her speech to deliver to the

audience making it more effective because it enables McGuire to maintain eye contact with the

audience, subsequently, the camera, rather than reading off of a script. Finally Delivery, and in

this case, McGuire chooses to deliver her discourse through a video. McGuire’s video would

appeal to an audience who has the same viewpoint as her based on the argument, rather than

those who disagree with her.

In contrast to McGuire’s youtube video, Above The Noise, a youtube series for teens with

host Myles Bess as the speaker, also produces a youtube video, “Is Free College As Good As It

Sounds?” to throw light on the exigence of the discourse. Without a doubt, the Above The Noise

video contradicts McGuire. First, based on the title, Bess is introducing a rhetorical question that

is yet to be answered. Skepticism can also be seen through this title because the idea of “It's too
 Durolin 4

good to be true” puts doubt towards the belief that free college is as good as everyone makes it

out to be. Before going into depth to analyze Bess’s video, a question readers ask themselves is

what is Bess’s motive behind the creation of this video? What does he hope to gain from this

interaction? An obvious answer would be the hope to gain more subscribers and likes rather than

dislikes for his discourse. In the beginning, Bess jumps straight into the objective of the video.

Compared to McGuire’s video, Bess’s video includes images, engaging graphics throughout the

video. Images such as memes that relate to the exigence and graphs help further the thought

behind what is being said. An upbeat sound is also played in the background as he speaks. By

including these elements Bess is allowing the readers and listeners to interact with the video

rather than just sitting and watching someone speak, which was exhibited in McGuire’s video. To

support the exigence Bess also included statistics with dates. How does this affect the making of

this interaction? To help further his point which allows the user to appeal to logic. However it

does not stop there, ethos is also demonstrated by providing data because it increases the

perceived credibility of the information coming from this particular video. By including statistics

Bess allows the reader to not only trust him as a rhetor but to also trust the information he is

presenting. Unlike McGuire, Bess is viewed as unbiased to the matter. He excludes from using

words such as “I” or “Me”, leaving it to just factual information. What does he achieve by doing

this? Although it is not clearly stated Bess is enforcing the readers to answer the question, “Is

free college as good as it sounds?” By eliminating any opinions he has, the listeners are left to

come up with their own perspectives and viewpoints based on what he is saying. While on the

other hand, McGuire gave her viewpoint on why college should be free, leaving the listeners

little to no room to think about the question within themselves.

 Durolin 5

As stated earlier, Bess includes an upbeat sound while speaking throughout his discourse.

This observation can roll into who Bess intended target is for his audience, in this case, it can be

seen that Bess is targeting a younger audience because they would be more appealing to the

energy in the video created by the optimistic tune he takes advantage of. Despite this, Bess’s

Audience consists of 52.9k subscribers, however, it is not limited to only that. Any user who

utilizes the platform youtube can also be considered an audience. Additionally, youtube can be

considered as a rhetor for both sources because although youtube did not contribute, the platform

itself will be affected by the overall effect of the discourse from both videos making them 'part of

the rhetorical ecology and therefore rhetors just the same' (Downs,378). Both videos can be seen

to have the same constraints. For example, because their videos are on youtube there are

guidelines created by Youtube that they have to follow before uploading content on their site. For

example, including sensitive or violent content, hate speech, and many more. Bess’s video

includes a song in the background, a constraint with this would be the issue of copyright

violation if the music is not created by the user himself, or does not have authorized permission

to utilize it.

Last but not least, this last source differs from the previous two because it is an article

rather than a video, created by Vince Norton. Before scrolling down to the beginning of Norton’s

article, he inserts a picture of a broken light bulb with the title “Why Free College is a Bad Idea”

underneath it. What effect does this photo have on the discourse? A broken light bulb can

symbolize many things. For example, it can represent a loss or let go to transition into something

better. However in this case what does it signify? As many are aware of a light bulb symbolizes

an idea. In this case, the light broken helps strengthen the tile that the idea of free college is

“broken” or bad. Norton’s narrative about himself and inserted at the end of the article. Different
 Durolin 6

from McGuire’s discourse, he does not try to connect with the readers in the beginning but rather

at the end. Why? Maybe connecting with the readers and having them identify with him is not a

priority to Noton. Despite this, throughout the discourse Norton’s tone can be viewed as very

‘sarcastic’, for he states, “Governor Cuomo has expanded the concept to most four-year state

schools in New York. Free college – How fortunate for New York residents. Or should I say, how

unfortunate?... Students will enroll at a “free college” and borrow money for the cost of

attendance. Then, they will drop out and have a student loan – but no skills. Brilliant.” There can

be many reasons why an author chooses to utilize sarcasm throughout their writing. Reasons

such as to add humor, to add variety to their writing, or to just make the reading more interesting.

However, what was Norton's purpose? The use of this helped build Nortons’ character. It can be

seen that Norton does not find the subject to be worth talking about. Using irony to convey

contempt or even the opposite, allows the reader to further see where Norton stands regarding the

exigence. In continuation, Norton also incorporates a great number of questions in his writing.

The result of this helps the reader to think out loud, helps them build their critical thinking skills,

improves their recall, and helps reveal the author's interest.

Furthermore, Norton includes a vast amount of hyperlinks. This allows the reader to

easily jump from section to section in a neat manner. It also allows the reader to be engaged with

the reading. He also organizes his thoughts by including bold words as he transitions from idea

to idea. There is more than one rhetoric for this particular source. Vince Norton is one, and

corporations that the article is on, Norton Noris, can also be seen as a rhetor because they

influence the ecology as a whole. The audience is residents of New York, as he states, “ New

York Times reported that Governor Cuomo was following the lead of Oregon and Tennessee and

unveiling a proposal to make public college free to New York residents under a specific income
 Durolin 7

level…” However, those who agree with Norton points can also be viewed as his audience.

Norton constantly refers to the New York Times. By doing this credibility is enhanced

throughout the discourse because New York Times is a well-known American daily newspaper

that is based in New York City with a worldwide collective of readers.

In conclusion, all of this applies to the question that is being debated, whether or not free

college is a good idea. Each of the rhetorical elements that are mentioned comes into play in the

analysis of these three articles, which all present different points of view. This is an important

factor when people are reading and deciding on where they stand on the question of free college.

Analyzing rhetorical situations and their constituents can be critical to understanding the

meaning and motive behind the interaction that is taking place. Concepts such as audience,

rhetoric, ecology, constraints, and many more, help shape the discourse and illustrate how each

source differs from one another. They all utilize their contrasting purpose and motivation to

accomplish the exigence. Aristotle once said, “Rhetoric is useful because truth and justice are in

their nature stronger than their opposites; so that if decisions are made, not in conformity to the

rule of propriety, it must have been that they have been got the better of through fault of the

advocates themselves: and this is deserving reprehension.”

 Durolin 8

Works Cited

Bess, Myles, director. Is Free College As Good As It Sounds? YouTube, Above The Noise, 21

Mar. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeThhqpZ9oI.

Downs, Doug. “Rhetoric: Making Sense of Human Interaction and Meaning-Making” Writing

About Writing, edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford/St. Martin’s,

2014, pp. 457-483. Print.

McGuire, Rachel, director. Should College Education Be Free? Yes! Youtube, 15 Jan. 2021,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJnWgiLaSAc&feature=youtu.be.

Norton, Vince. “Why Free College Is a Bad Idea.” Norton Norris, 16 Mar.

2018,https://nortonnorris.com/free-college-bad-idea/.

https://youtu.be/kJnWgiLaSAchttps://youtu.be/kJnWgiLa

SAc