Reflection On Rhetoric

I recall from first reading from the Anteater’s Guide for this class that Aristotle defined rhetoric as “the ability in each particular case, to see the available means of persuasion.” At first this sentence sounded like something, something, persuasion. But through further reading and the journey of 39C, I understood what AGWR wanted us to understand. I still recall the explanation of rhetoric as one big party. Communication happens only when we can build bridges between us and our audience. Rhetoric is about seeing such opportunities and building bridges by using something such as experiences to persuade your audience to try to see things from your perspective even if it is for a while and show them what this perspective can add to their
It helped me establish ethos and pathos by showing the readers how the problem of the misuse of standardized testing in Florida is affecting students and teachers. The first video presents an interview of Marcel, a student in Florida. Marcel expressed his feeling about the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) by saying that students feel pressured to do well on the test because their scores determine the future of their teachers and school. At the same time, they worry about looking dumb if they cannot pass. He feels that the tests are unfair because some students who work hard throughout the year but do not do very well on the test are held back. He emphasis that such tests damage the self-confidence. This video helped me show the readers that tests are pressuring students and making them believe that they are not college material by hearing from one such students about his thoughts on the impact of testing. The second video shows how value-added models (VAM) result in absurd and unreasonable predictions which leads to teachers receive unsatisfactory evaluations. Luke Flynt, one such teacher in Florida, expressed his concern in a school board meeting where he explained what VAM is and that he was not able to add value to his students because the model predicted his students would score above the perfect score which is impossible. This video helped the readers understand how unreliable such models are and therefore statistics and models should not be used to determine everyone’s future in