TOW Post #23- Article: "Don't Help Your Kids With Their Homework"

         

           In today's society, students are pressured to do their best because one thinks one needs to get the best grades in order to be successful in life. Unfortunately parents are not toning down this mentality and are actually encouraging it. A parent thinks that the more involved they are with their children's academics the better the grades will turn out to be. This orthodox American mentality is challenged in the the article "Don't Help Your Kids With Their Homework", written by author Dana Goldstein.
            Published in the magazine The Atlantic, this article addresses parents role in their children's academic lives. Goldstein brings up the conversation of how much does it really help the students when their parents are in the parent committee, helping their child with homework, having parent-teacher conferences, etc. She comes to the conclusion that these efforts mad by parents do not make a huge difference. In writing this article Goldstein's purpose is to reach out to parents and show that their over involvement is a waste of time and ineffective. Goldstein is able to achieve this goal by uses research data and personal analysis.
           Throughout her entire article Goldstein was able to incorporate data from research done by professors from Duke and University of Texas at Austin. The data found by these professors showed that "Most measurable forms of parental involvement seem to yield few academic dividends for kids, or even to backfire—regardless of a parent’s race, class, or level of education." Not only does this research directly supports Goldstein's purpose, it also gives her credibility considering her sources are  reliable. She also uses information from a certified sociologist  who discovered similar findings in the 1990's. After implementing these research findings she does not leave them hanging in her article.
            Goldstein is able to successfully achieve her purpose by weaving in her own analysis after stating the research findings in her article. For example towards the end she develops her "so what." she ties her supporting data into an overall conclusion that parents are still helping with their involvement actions but not with their children, but with the community. By using these two strategies of research data and personal analysis she is able to open the eyes of many parents. 

TOW Post #22- Visual Text: "In Turkey, Renewed Anti-Government Protests"

            In the past recent weeks there has been trouble going on in eastern Europe, including the country of Turkey. Many people are standing up. uprising against the government that the people don't approve of. Unfortunately these protests are continuing and have in some cases turned out to be violent. In the caption below this picture, it mentions how a year ago, Turkey was experiencing violent protests and a young 15 year-old boy, uninvolved with the protest, was bombarded with tear gas; he died this past month. Although we hear about these horrible thing happening during the protests, not everyone understands how horrible it really is.

            The picture above demonstrates how bad things really are. Taken by Bulent Kilic and displayed in The Atlanic, this is one of the many photos in his gallery about he chaos in Turkey. Looking like a picture from a movie, this photo reveals the authors's purpose of truing to make people ware of what is going on. Kilic was able to achieve his purpose by appealing to pathos and the subject/person of the image, and the lighting.

            One of the first things that stands out in Kilic's image is the image overall appeals to pathos. One looks at the image and automatically feels sympathy for the subject of the image; the girl. In the caption below the image, it mentions how this is a picture of a young girl who was wounded by the clash of riot police and protestors. By hearing and seeing the horrible protests of the news, one already feels sad, but when seeing a specific innocent looking girl, looking straight at the viewer, really hits home. By appealing to pathos in his image, viewers are more likely going to want to raise awareness and help to stop the chaos.

             In addition to the subject of the image and appealing to pathos, Kilic captured and dealt the lighting of the image very well. The colors in the image are all variations of dark blues, blacks, and grays. These dark colors ultimately creates a dark feeling and a sense of seriousness. The emphasis on the graveness of the situation is key to making this image an effective one. With these few strategies in a simple image, Kilic strongly achieved his purpose, thus making people more aware of the dangerous situation in Turkey.

TOW Post #21- Article: "Your High School Transcript Could Haunt You Forever"

            Technology has become a huge part of the everyone's lives today in the 21st century. The benefits to the new technology advances are endless yet at the same time there are some iffy consequences that come with it. With such high tech devices data collecting has become very easy and useful over the past years. A lot of information is stored onto a computer personal, on a state level, and even on a government level. One of the most common data that is always being collected is a student's school record. It can trace back all the way from the first days of kindergarten. This can be a neat way to see on'e progress overtime but it can also be the loss of privacy.

            In his recent article "Your High School Transcript Could Haunt You Forever" Viktor Mayer-Schonberger brought up this controversial predicament. Viktor, a professor at Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University, discusses how the data collecting of students and the how much is being collected can be a bad idea and also ave the capacity of preventing someone from being successful later down the road. Viktor uses hypothetical situations and facts in order to achieve his purpose.

            One of Viktor's main point was the fact that the data collected acts as a barrier and baggage that seems to lash on to someone for the rest of their lives. With today's technology, everything can be easily stored forever and will be easily accessed by people later in the future. These types of people could be employers, when one applies for a job. Viktor poses a hypothetical situation by say that if someone made a silly mistake in their educational history it will be easily accessed by the person hat will be interviewing them, thus posing a possible prevention of them getting the job. By using this strategy, the author is able to show the reader how directly data collecting can badly affect someone later down the road.

            Besides hypothetical situations, Viktor also includes data that supports his argument that data collecting (educational wise) may not be beneficial. For example he states that "we will have a 90% likelihood of getting a B or above if we review the material between 8:00pm and 9:00pm, but it drops down to 50% if we do so earlier in the evening, and so on." Viktor then goes on to mention how transcripts could possibly reveal one's good or bad sleeping habits, thus being an invasion of one's privacy. Also this could lead to assumptions of the person by who ever is looking at the data. By using facts, Viktor establishes his credibility to her readers. With choosing good strategies, the author is not only able to achieve his purpose, but also able to leave the reader with the questions and thoughts about data collecting as a whole.

TOW Post #20- IRB: You Are Not So Smart

-Reading Goal: A more challenging text, requiring more thinking

-Writing Goal: A clear "so what" conclusion and linking rhetorical devices together

            Have you ever wondered why things happened? Things such as it being a coincidence, so crazy that it is unbelievable, yet can not be explained? Well there are explanations for these "coincidences" and we actually don't see the simple reasons for them. We often clip out the important points and ideas when we come to a conclusion or a rational explanation on our own, that lead us think something is a coincidence when it is not. Why? It all has to do with the way our brain works. In the recent psychology book, You Are Not So Smart, author David McRaney talks about these mind bobbling situations and trends and gives a thorough explanation.

           McRaney is a journalist, blog writer, and now an author. He has a deep interest for psychology and technology which gave him the idea to combine the two and start his blog, You Are Not So Smart. With study psychology more he then decided to write his book, using the same tile of his blog. I believe that McRaney purpose in writing his book was to open the minds of his readers and hopefully be able to change the way his readers come to a conclusion. He is able to achieve his purpose through incorporating hypothetical situations and humor.

            One of the first and most important strategies that McRaney incorporates well through out his book is humor. His readers might think that psychology, since it has to do with brain and how the brain works/how people think, is a boring subject. But McRaney instantly got my interest within the few pages of his book with his sense of humor."...You watched an entire season of Battlestar Galactica in one sitting--what the hell? You are already home and have no recollection of the journey" (McRaney 1). Throughout his book McRaney added in little humorous comments as if he was trying to purposely make you laugh personally. This really is able to keep the attention of his readers thus them wanting to know more about what he has to say.

              Another strategy he incorporates throughout his book is putting the reader in a hypothetical situation. McRaney will tell the reader to do something at the the very moment his readers are reading it, to make a point and or to create a better understanding. "Take a moment to look around the room which you are reading this" (xii McRaney). In this part he then goes on to explain we completely ignore our surroundings. This puts the reader in a situation that allows them to understand, thus opening their eyes.

             McRaney overall is able to create a personal connection and tone with his readers by using the two strategies: humor and hypothetical situations. By using theses strategies in a smart and useful way McRaney is able to achieve his purpose and impact many people who read his book.