Timed Writing: Rhetorical Analysis


Read the prompt carefully. Craft a strong thesis that fully responds to the prompt. Write full body paragraphs (6-10 sentences) that contain direct quotes and commentary that develops and expands your argument about the rhetorical choices and message of the author.

The following passage is excerpted from the 1990 newspaper article “America Needs Its Nerds” by Leonid Fridman. At the time of the article’s publication, Fridman was a graduate student at Harvard University and a member of Harvard’s Society of Nerds and Geeks. Read the passage carefully. Write an essay that analyzes the rhetorical choices Fridman makes to develop his argument.
In your response you should do the following:
Respond to the prompt with a thesis that analyzes the writer’s rhetorical choices.
Select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning.
Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
Demonstrate an understanding of the rhetorical situation.
Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

There is something very wrong with the system of values in a society that has only derogatory terms like nerd and geek for the intellectually curious and academically serious.
A geek, according to Webster’s New World Dictionary, is a street performer who shocks the public by biting off heads of live chickens. It is a telling fact about our language and our culture that someone dedicated to pursuit of knowledge is compared to a freak biting the head off a live chicken.
Even at a prestigious academic institution like Harvard, anti-intellectualism is rampant: Many students are ashamed to admit, even to their friends, how much they study. Although most students try to keep up their grades, there is a minority of undergraduates for whom pursuing knowledge is the top priority during their years at Harvard. Nerds are ostracized while athletes are idolized.
The same thing happens in U.S. elementary and high schools. Children who prefer to read books rather than play football, prefer to build model airplanes rather than get wasted at parties with their classmates, become social outcasts. Ostracized for their intelligence and refusal to conform to society’s anti-intellectual values, many are deprived of a chance to learn adequate social skills and acquire good communication tools.
Enough is enough.
Nerds and geeks must stop being ashamed of who they are. It is high time to face the persecutors who haunt the bright kid with thick glasses from kindergarten to the grave. For America’s sake, the anti-intellectual values that pervade our society must be fought.
There are very few countries in the world where anti-intellectualism runs as high in popular culture as it does in the U.S. In most industrialized nations, not least of all our economic rivals in East Asia, a kid who studies hard is lauded and held up as an example to other students.
In many parts of the world, university professorships are the most prestigious and materially rewarding positions. But not in America, where average professional ballplayers are much more respected and better paid than faculty members of the best universities.
How can a country where typical parents are ashamed of their daughter studying mathematics instead of going dancing, or of their son reading Weber* while his friends play baseball, be expected to compete in the technology race with Japan or remain a leading political and cultural force in Europe? How long can America remain a world-class power if we constantly emphasize social skills and physical prowess over academic achievement and intellectual ability?

Answer:

Explanation:

In the passage from “America Needs Its Nerds” by Leonid Fridman, he is informing the public about America’s lack of support for the highly intelligent and those who seek knowledge instead of having it forced upon them. This is causing America to fall behind other countries academically. Fridman develops this argument through his creation of parallel sentence structure and the language within them, and comparing the people within society.

           Fridman’s main purpose is to emphasize how tragic it is that most people do not wish to be educated in America. Throughout the passage Fridman uses small segments of colloquial language that have a powerful impact. He mainly uses the colloquial language to describe the majority of people who do not seek knowledge and value education. In the second paragraph Fridman wrote, “a freak biting the head off a live chicken” (10). That was referencing how Americans have changed the meaning of the word “geek” to make fun of someone who is intelligent. This could also represent the irony through which the uneducated American may not know what certain words mean, therefore making up their own definitions and create offensive slang terms from those words. When Fridman is giving the true definition of the word “geek” he uses the word “freak” to define it. The word “freak” stands out and will stick with the reader and by making the comparison between those who are smart to freaks it represents how they are perceived. They seem as though they are outcasts. He wants to make it clear that it should not be this way. Those who are smart are not outcasts and should not be treated as such; instead they should be valued and respected.

           The seventh through ninth paragraphs have many comparisons that not only force the reader to think but also enhance Fridman’s argument that American society is slipping from an intellectual standpoint. He compares the US to East Asia (35-40) and baseball players to college professors (41-46). This highlights his idea that as a society it is vital to change our views and morals. America is supposed to be the best of the best, but it will not stay that way if its people do not value education like its competitors. Americans look up to baseball players as idols instead of college professors. Fridman is pushing for a change and ending the passage with the comparisons is important because the reader begins to make their own connections within their own mind and examples, therefore believing Fridman is correct in his reasoning.

           The first, third, and fifth paragraphs are three examples of parallel sentence structure which compare the minority of those valuing education and the majority of those who do not. The first paragraph has the phrase, “intellectually curious and academically serious” (4). It is important to note the parallelism is at the end of the paragraph verses the beginning. Having the parallelism at the end adds greater emphasis to the phrase as the reader transitions into the next paragraph. It is the final idea the reader reads as they conclude that paragraph. The parallelism adds a smooth transition into the next idea and paragraph. In the third paragraph there is a comparison of nerds and athletes, it says “nerds are ostracized while athletes are idolized” (17-18). Again, this sentence comes at the end of the paragraph which emphasizes Fridman’s point that those with intellectual ability are ignored while those with athletic ability are praised. The emphasis demonstrates how prominent this issue is in American society. At the end of the fifth paragraph there is an example of a parallel sentence that offers a problem and solution. It states, “Enough is enough” (28). It is brief and to the point which is Fridman’s purpose in writing it. He is stressing the importance that society needs to stop shaming its wise minority. This furthers his argument that a change is necessary.

           Throughout the passage, Fridman uses colloquial language within parallelism and comparisons to persuade his audience that “nerds” are essential to society and that more people should strive towards being one or else America will no longer be a great academic nation.

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