Professor Garrison starts off the essay “Why Am I in College” by capturing the attention of the reader with an eye-catching on the importance of education to one’s life. The use of keynote quotations from acclaimed persons holds the reader at captivity and heightens the interest. He goes ahead to incorporate his reader by giving him a role in the essay by virtue of asking him to shift from the first person to the second person. This is sustained by the rhetorical questions that the professor possesses as he introduces the main topic that he is tackling. By introducing his subject in question form, the writer acknowledges his readers’ knowledge of the subject matter. Furthermore, he makes the readers own up the topic due to their direct involvement and concern in it.
Garrison’s first argument on education depicts his thoughts on the intention of education. He goes ahead to justify it by quoting a philosopher and, in the process, invoking the name of God (Whitehead 74). Roger then departs from the spiritual atmosphere he has created to bring in a real-life experience. This is a clear strategy to cut across his readers and accommodate all of them in his work. In addition to that, he gains ground by highlighting the keywords in his literary work and draws the line between them.
The writer then takes away the essay from the reader and personalizes it by giving a personal example. However, this is after he has already colonized him into his work territory, and the chances of losing him are extremely minimal. The brief story also allows the writer to internalize the chief points that the writer has already mentioned. His personalized example also goes a long way in proving his point in regard to the education cycle being complete with the application of knowledge outside the four classroom walls.
The professor then drifts back to real-life examples to capture anyone who had drifted away. He also reverts to using rhetorical questions to set the reader guessing as he initiates his argument for education. He skillfully unravels the numerous benefits of college education and its subsequent short and long term impacts on an individual’s life. In so doing, the writer manages to convince the readers that college education is entirely beneficial and has no demerits.
Garrison continues to display his writing command by shifting gears and analyzing the cons of a college education. This catches the readers off guard but helps widen their thinking scope in order to make an informed deduction. His reasons for the shortcomings of college examples are emphasized by real-time examples. He, however, fails to talk about the failure to attain college education as his arguments are only based on what college education fails in doing. This limits the options of the reader in regard to making a concrete and wide-ranging conclusion.
In his conclusion, Professor Garrison endeavors to refresh the memory of the readers by highlighting his key points. He reinforces them by use of quotations and allusions to real-life occurrences. The writer then departs from his light approach to issues and directly addresses the writer and making them aware of their responsibility toward ensuring education serves its purpose. This move by the professor awakens the reader and makes them realize that they have to tale the initiative. It is a timely move-in reminding them because, at this point, the writer does not run any risk of losing the audience. This is because these hard-faced facts come in the final sentences after he has driven his entire points home (Whitehead 74).
Work Cited
Whitehead, Alfred. The Aims of Education. The Macmillan Company, 1929, 74.