Report: Our High Schools May Not Adequately Prepare Dropouts For Unemployment
What is the essential cultural observation or situation being satirized? What clues lead you to this conclusion?
The author to the article is making a joke out of how dropping out of high school will inevitably make them unemployed and how the school system is not preparing them for the reality of life, surely to fail those who drop out. A clue that lead me to this conclusion is when the author quotes Margaret Spellings, who said, “easy grading encourages students to be sloppy and late handing in homework- a skill that makes future deadbeats very competitive in stone walling landlords and bill collectors” emphasizing on the mockery of the school systems.
What rhetorical strategies does the writer use to achieve this satire? List them, and explain how each is used.
Sarcasm - Sarcasm is a primary rhetorical strategy used to achieve the satire. For instance, when the author states, “Chao also suggested that schools hold more blood drives, which would prepare dropouts for visits to their local blood-plasma donation centers for quick and easy cash,” they are mocking how many dropouts are ‘deadbeats’ who only know one way on making cash without putting in effort. The author quotes many people in authority in the school system, such as Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, appealing to ethos, convey although this story has credibility.
Irony - Irony also plays a large part on the effective satire. It is used when quoting Susan French, a spokesperson for the National Education Association, when she says, "Students spend seven hours a day surrounded by adults who despise their low-paying jobs. If the critics out there know a better way to discourage a young person from entering the workforce, I'd like to see it." This would be ironic because being surrounded by adults for seven hours, with most of the