TOW #17 - New, Reading-Heavy SAT Has Students Worried

Last week, the juniors and sophomores received their PSAT scores, and the new PSAT that we took reflected the redesigned PSAT that people have been talking about. Collegeboard redesigned the SAT for various reasons, and there has already been many discussions about its seemingly dramatic changes. This New York Times article written by Anemona Hartocollis reveals a potential issue of the new design that could enlarge success gaps between the privileged and the underprivileged through its use of statistics and quotes from authority figures.

While describing the new redesigned format, Hartocollis lays the potential problems that led to Collegeboard's decision. According to studies, "Competition for market share has been growing, and in 2012, the ACT surpassed the SAT" (Hartcollis 8). This shows through numbers how the decisions came about for Collegeboard, and also establishes logos for the readers to know.

In addition to adding statistics, Hartcollis also adds quotes from authority figures to lay the potential damages of this redesigned format. According to experts, "Chief among the changes, experts say: longer and harder reading passages and more words in math problems. The shift is leading some educators and college admissions officers to fear that the revised test will penalize students who have not been exposed to a lot of reading, or who speak a different language at home — like immigrants and the poor" (2). This shows the problems that would be exacerbated by this new change of the SATs. Because she quoted an expert on the issue, she could establish ethos through this quote as well as clearly show readers what the new SAT could bring.

This was a mainly informative article that addressed the reasons behind the new change and the potential outcomes of this new change. Through the use of statistics, numbers, and quoting authority figures, Hartocollis shows that the new designed SAT could harm students coming from underprivileged backgrounds.

IRB Intro Post #3

My next IRB will be The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollman. It explores the different options for food that we have as omnivores, how those many choices came by humans, and how we can make choices. A couple of my friends have read this book and have recommended it to me, so I'm looking forward to reading a book about my favorite subject: food.

TOW #16 - (IRB Post) Nickel and Dimed

As the snow’s piling down in front of my house and I’m lying down inside of my warm blanket right now, Nickel and Dimed shows me the working conditions of the low-wage workers that prohibit people from getting the commodities that I’m fortunate to have during this weather and basically, anytime else. Barbara Ehrenreich, after working low-paying jobs to experience what it’s like to live minimum wage, realizes firsthand the uncountable issues and problems one encounters when working many hours for little money. She sheds light on the different layers of problems that surround the low wage working environment through her usage of facts and figures and disproving common misconceptions.

After she experienced firsthand of what it was like to earn a low wage while working in different cities in America, she recorded her income and necessary prices she had to pay, then compared them with numbers of the average working class and what was needed for them to survive. She recounts, “In Key West, I earned $1039 in one month and spent $517 on food, gas, toiletries, and laundry. Rent was the deal breaker…my move to the trailer park …made me responsible for $625 a month in rent alone, utilities not included” (Ehrenreich 197). By listing such figures, she establishes logos and shows the severity of the problem, which she wraps by saying, “Something is wrong, very wrong, when a single person in good health…can barely support herself by the sweat of her brow. You don’t need a degree in economics to see that wages are too low and rents to high” (199). She shows that there are many things one must pay for in order to sustain a stable life, and that’s simply impossible. By proving this through her numbers, the reader can understand that this is a problem that needs to be fixed.

Besides using numbers, Ehrenreich also lists and challenges common misconceptions people have about poverty or the minimum wage situation. Many people, including Ehrenreich, “…grow up hearing over and over, to the point of tedium, that ‘hard work’ was the secret of success…No one ever said that you could work hard – harder even than you ever thought possible – and still find yourself sinking ever deeper into poverty and debt” (220). Many people grow up hearing this idea, so it becomes eye-opening when Ehrenreich strikes it down as false. It forces readers to abandon the idea they’ve been drilled to think with and look from the perspective of the minimum wage, where hard work is not the only factor, and it is not the workers' fault that they are in the situation that they are in.

Ehrenreich, by putting herself in the shoes of the working class, puts the readers into the shoes of the working class, where the minimum wage situation is more than what privileged people think they are. Her calculated numbers and arguments that strike down the myths of minimum wage forces readers to consider the truth and the different things that are caused by situations we could not possibly imagine.

TOW #15 - Visual Text: Congress

This political cartoon was created by Paul Combs, an award-winning illustrator. He's the author of the cartoons Drawn by Fire, and often draws political cartoons, one of which was featured on U.S. News. This political cartoon addresses the slow and seemingly nonexistent progress of congress frequently dubbed by people as the "Do-Nothing Congress." Incorporating an everyday farmer as the typical American, along with twisting a familiar sci-fi plot, emphasizes the mocking humor used against Congress by Combs in this political cartoon.
Interestingly, the human figure used to represent America is a farmer, rather than a businessman or formal-styled, typical American worker. The very rural setting that he's placed in, right next to a barn, along with the overalls, makes him seem like he's very distant from the city, where political business happens. Congress seems very distant and unaffiliated with this everyday citizen, and the only ties he has with Congress is only through the newspaper. The facial expression he has also seems to show that he's given up with Congress and the world. Congress, as demonstrated by Comb, is very separate from its everyday citizen and has reached a point where the citizens gave up on them.
Another way this political cartoon is made humorous is through its use of the aliens. Alien invasion is a story development that most are familiar with, and it includes aliens asking people, "Take me to your leader." That line is implied, and the farmer responds by saying, "Our leaders? Good question. Let us know if you find any." This clearly states that America does not have leaders, or at least leaders who don't actually lead anything. The aliens respond with puzzled looks, and this is obviously a ridiculous situation even to extraterrestrial beings. This creates sarcastic humor that any viewer can enjoy.
Set in a place seemingly far away from the capitol city, this political cartoon undermines the efficiency and outcomes of Congress by criticizing its low progress in a different twist of the familiar alien invasion. Paul Combs has a very cynical view of Congress, and wants to shed light on its ridiculousness that he believes even aliens wouldn't think that makes sense. Through his humor, he asserts that we need a working Congress that's not distant from the citizens but rather helps the citizens.

TOW #14 - "You Don’t Need More Free Time"

After winter break last week, many students and teachers, having to go back to their regular schedules, are dearly missing the free time they got. Although many Americans - not just students and teachers - yearn for free time, "free time" is measured not just by the free time one has but the free time that everyone has. Happiness resulting from free time mostly comes from the fact that people can socialize with their friends and families during common free times such as weekends, and any free time one has without others to share it with tend not to have as much of an effect as one that's shared. Cristobal Young, editor for the New York Times, uses an example of a common situation and belief and then his studies that refute that common belief to show that workplaces should not focus on free time of the individual but rather free time of the group.

Young starts off by setting a general situation, where "Americans work some of the longest hours in the Western world, and many struggle to achieve a healthy balance between work and life. As a result, there is an understandable tendency to assume that the problem we face is one of quantity: We simply do not have enough free time. 'If I could just get a few more hours off work each week,' you might think, 'I would be happier'” (Young 1). This is indeed how many people have the tendency to think, and introducing the text with an idea that the readers are well acquainted with gives the readers and insight into what the common belief is right now. The reader is engaged with what the text is saying, since they can relate, and now that an idea that is commonly believed by many is explicitly stated, the readers can see how that will be challenged later in the text by research that Young includes.

Using figures from the Gallup Daily Poll, Young informs readers of his study which showed, "As measured by things such as anxiety, stress, laughter and enjoyment, our well-being is lowest Monday through Thursday...The surprising finding was that this is also true of unemployed people. We found that...their positive emotions soared on the weekend, and dropped back down again on Monday" (5). This well-established study shows the patterns and effects different times of free time have on people. It gives the readers good insight in a hard topic that shows that people enjoy free time more if they have other people to share it with, just has jobless people, although they have free time, enjoy the free time they have with their working friends and families better.

Young ties his ideas back to the situation where many companies and offices are tweaking the free time of their workers and their flexibility levels to increase the free time an employee has. However, he shows through his refutation of this common belief with research how this wouldn't be an effective method.

TOW #13 - Why I've never seen a 'Star Wars' movie

This week, while a majority of the population got overexcited for the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, there were a handful of people sitting unenthusiastically, because they had never seen Star Wars before. Similar to the text "What Really Keeps Women out of Tech," which emphasized the stereotypical computer programmer as a white male with space posters in their rooms, "Why I've never seen a 'Star Wars' movie" from Business Insider by Tanza Loudenback showed how people who were never exposed to sci-fi as children aren't usually interested in the topics that are seemingly landmark and significant. This is a light text that used a casual, relatable tone and humor to convey the message that people who've never seen Star Wars before shouldn't feel bad about themselves and that one can have plenty of fun without watching these seemingly remarkable movies.
Loudenback starts off her text by quoting classic responses she receives when she tells someone that she has never watched Star Wars. "'You're kidding, right?' 'What is wrong with you?' 'Do you hate fun?' - these are just a few of the stunned responses I get when I confess I've never seen a 'Star Wars' movie" (Loudenback 1). This is not only a funny way to open up her text, but it's also a classic response that most people are familiar with and can relate to, no matter if the reader has watched Star Wars or not. Whether someone has said that to somebody else or has heard it from somebody else, it makes the the author feel like an acquaintance or somebody that the reader can have a nice conversation with. After getting the audience to relate to her, she adds humor to show her readers the fun she can have without watching Star Wars.
When someone who has not been exposed to Star Wars feels alone, they can tune into the BBC radio station that Loudenback introduces called "I have never watched Star Wars before." The fact that such a radio station exists gives the reader some amusement as well as give inclusion to those who has never watched it before. She also adds up all of the hours in the Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter movie to show how much time she has saved: 54 hours, in which "I could even hike from California's Big Sur to San Francisco with a couple hours to nap. And in 108 hours, I could train and run a marathon. In that same amount of time, I could also climb more than halfway to Mt. Everest base camp." By putting her situation under this classic light of "In the time that would take me to do that, I could..." idea.
Loudenback addresses the idea that although loving Star Wars was the movie that the nerdy, geeky kids watched, that concept is the current trend and whoever not in that "nerd" mold are now the social outcasts. As someone who watched Star Wars for the first time only recently, I can easily relate to her ideas. For some people, these movies were a big part of their childhood and something that makes them excited decades later. However, no one thing is suitable to everyone, and sometimes the most popular movie or book in the country right now could just be something to be humorous about, as shown by Loudenback.

TOW #12 - Nickel and Dimed (IRB Part 1)

     As interesting as it sounded, Nickel and Dimed was also interestingly written with many different rhetorical devices that worked together along with the investigation itself. As Barbara Ehrenreich flew around places to observe what it was like to live on minimum wage in American cities, I found myself right next to her, following her around, which was a sensation that I'd only felt in fiction novels or emotional memoirs, not an informative nonfiction piece like this one. Although Barbara Ehrenreich keeps her duty as a writer and journalist in reporting facts of what happened during her investigation as a minimum-wage worker, she incorporates metaphoric language and appropriate quotes from her surroundings to keep her reader engaged and feel like they're a part of this way of living.
     Throughout her book, she incorporates facts and figures from this personal experience that she went through while cleaning tables as well as research from outside sources. She organizes her personally collected data by clearly stating the situations of her fellow employees at restaurants in indented forms:

"Gail is sharing a room...for $250 a week...The rent would be impossible alone.

Claude, the Haitian cook, is desperate to get out of the two-room apartment...

Marianne...and her boyfriend are paying $170 a week for a one-person trailer."

While this gives a numerical view on what kind of financial situation her surrounding people are in, she also includes footnotes at the bottom of the paper to expand upon specific topics that she experienced. After she explains the home situation as shown above, she includes the researched statistic that "...nearly one-fifth of all homeless people...are employed in full- or part-time jobs" (Ehrenreich 26). This gives the readers the objective, journalistic side of the story in a microscopic as well as a macroscopic outlook. Although pure objective facts are pretty interesting, she puts these facts under a captivating light through her intricate language style.
     Ehrenreich's well-polished metaphors provides good imagery for readers to picture what it would feel like to work minimum-wage jobs, as compared to simply looking at numeric data. This is a part numbers cannot explain - only hands-on experiences can. While describing a busy, full-packed restaurant she worked in with a terrible sanitary environment, she tells the readers to "Picture a fat person's hell, and I don't mean a place with no food...The kitchen is a cavern, a stomach leading to the lower intestine that is the garbage and dishwashing area, from which issue bizarre smells combining the edible and the offal: creamy carrion, pizza barf...citrus fart" (29). Not only does she have to deal with this horrific-sounding atmosphere, but she also has to deal with managers that keep screaming, "Nita, your order's up, move it!" or "Barbara, didn't you see you've got another table out there? Come on, girl!" (34). Her descriptive language along with the dialogues she constantly heard around her places the reader in the spot where she was as a minimum-wage worked. This gives the readers insight to the direct experience that she had aimed to investigate and write about.
     This is one of the first nonfiction reads with so much numerical data I've thoroughly enjoyed and completely immersed myself into, but at the same time Ehrenreich's craft is very effective in story-telling as well. I hope to be able to broaden my scope and understand how life runs from other people's perspective as well. So far, Ehrenreich seems to be doing that job very well.