Unit 1: 40% of College Students Need a Remedial Course: Arguing with Factual Evidence

Unit 1: 40% of College Students

Need a Remedial Course: Arguing with Factual Evidence

You cannot argue a fact

but you can arguethe conclusion drawn from a fact.

In this unit, we will study the rhetoric of writers who argue their points using factual evidence.

As you read, you should:(1) read the author’s biography(2) annotate your text with notes(3) identify the thesis & support(4) question / challenge it

Reading #1:“Trading Up: Where Do Baby Names Come From,” Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

IslaPopularity: RareStyle: Celtic, Why Not? Short and Sweet, EnglishSisters: Zara, Lyra, Esme, Phoebe, FreyaBrothers: Ewan, Finlay, Nico, Ivor, CallumFirst things first: the “s” is silent, as in “island.” In

fact, the name comes from an island – the Scottish isle of Islay. That leaves Isla with an abundance of fashion riches, from a quirky Celtic style to a fluid, Lila-like sound. This name has risen fast in the U.K. and can’t stay undiscovered in the U.S. forever.

SophiaPopularity: #6 (2007)Style: Antique CharmSisters: Chloe, Olivia, Madeline, Lilian, FaithBrothers: Isaac, Sebastian, Caleb, Luke, MaxwellThe ultimate in Sophi-stication. Sophia sounds

serious, mature, and intelligent but is also pretty – a feminine power name. Take all of its forms together and you have the #1 choice of Ivy League grads for their daughters.

NathanielPopularity: #82 (2004)Style: Timeless, Biblical, ShakespeareanSisters: Emily, Caroline, Abigail, Hope, ElizabethBrothers: Alexander, Luke, Gabriel, Benjamin,

NIcholasNathaniel is the perfect understated antique. It’s

like that elegant sideboard that’s been in the family for generations. Yes, the name’s biblical style is the height of fashion, but it doesn’t make a fuss about it. It’s handsome, confident, and modest – an American classic.

“Trading Up” Questions for Discussion:

(1) What is the authors’ thesis / purpose? What indisputable facts do they use to build their argument?


(2) How do Levitt and Dubner use an economic approach to understand the subject? Do they persuade you that our names have a distinct economic significance?


(3) Where do the high end names originate? According to the authors’ research, if parents hope to signify success in giving their child a name that isn’t on the way down the social scale, how do they select the new name that’s on the way up?


(4) The choice for names is enormous; entire books exist listing hundreds of names. How could that enormity account for the certain few names that are used over and over in population?

Reading #2:“Mirror, Mirror, On the Web,” Lakshmi Chaudhry

“Mirror, Mirror” Questions for Discussion:

(1a.) Identify and analyze the factors that Chaudhry believes are essential to contemporary definitions of fame.

(1b.) In what ways are these characteristics different from – and similar to – definitions of fame and celebrity in the past?


(2) According to Chaudhry, how has the internet – more specifically Web 2.0 – propagated the preoccupation with fame, the shift in levels of narcissism in the US, and a growing desire for individualism?


(3) How much are we to blame? Chaundhry writes, “[T]he Internet is merely a medium like any other, and the social impact of its various features . . . will be determined by the people who use them” (para. 28). What else could be the cause of our generation’s supposed narcissism?

Reading #3:“Worried? Us?,” Bill McKibben

“Worried? Us?” Questions for Discussion:

(1) Let’s begin by dissecting the structure of the argument:

Opening MetaphorFactual EvidenceConjecture & ConsequencesSolutions & SupportShift in ToneThesis


(2) What does McKibben mean by the following sentence:

“As our awareness that the world will change in every aspect, should we be so aware, is muted by the future tense, even though that future isn’t far away, so near in fact that preventing global warming is a lost cause – all we can do now is to try to keep it from getting utterly out of control” (para. 6)


(3) Look closer at how he crafts this conclusion to arrive at his thesis:

(a) movement from fear to anger to shame to sadness(b) “we are the asteroid” metaphor(c) Biblical allusion to The Book of Job(d) paragraphs 10 & 11

Reading #4:“The Perpetual Adolescent,” Joseph Epstein

“The Perpetual Adolescent” Questions for Discussion:

(1) Let’s look through Epstein’s examples of youth culture triumphing over maturity:









(1) Let’s look through Epstein’s examples of youth culture triumphing over maturity. Why did this happen? Are “we the asteroid,” or is someone/thing else the cause?


(2) Epstein writes, “Recent history has seemed to be on the side of keeping people from growing up supplying only a paucity of stern tests of the kind out of which adulthood is usually formed” (para. 16). Do you agree that 9/11 wasn’t “cataclysmic” enough? Is Newtown, CT not “cataclysmic” enough?


(3) Epstein writes, “Never before has it been more difficult to obey the injunction to act one’s age” (para. 20). How do you feel about the verb obey? Is it really that difficult? Is it a poor choice not to obey this injunction? Why do we like the immature?


(4) Return to Epstein’s final paragraph. Maturity is relative. You are more mature than middle schoolers. Your parents are more mature than you. Does he have a point?

Reading #5:“The Hidden Life of SUVs,” Jack Hitt

“The Hidden Life of SUVs” Questions for Discussion:

(1) Hitt begins with a rhetorical question: “What’s in a name? What do you make of a passenger vehicle called a Bronco?” (para. 1)

What is more important to advertising: denotation or connotation? Let’s look at paragraphs 5 & 17.


(2) Hitt raises some questions about Americans: Why does the SUV define us? What is the American stereotype?


(3) Let’s consider his words:Brobdingnagian“garage-ability”fatassabilityWestern, cowboy enduranceFrankensteinian concoctionstanklike securitypilgrims or exurban pioneersnew-money bourgeoisie


(4) Return to paragraphs 20-22. Hitt’s topic is the crafting of names of SUVs. But what is his point / thesis?

Marianne Moore, American Poet

1958 Ford Edsel

Worst Vehicle Names1. Geely PU Rural Nanny2. Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard3. Mazda Scrum Wagon4. Studebaker Dictator5. AMC Gremlin6. Datsun Fairlady7. Subaru Brat8. Daihatsu Charade9. Audi E-Tron Concept10. Pontiac Parisienne

Reading #6:“Why Do McDonald’s Fries Taste So Good,” Eric Schlosser

“Why McDonald’s Fries . . .” Questions for Discussion:

(1) What do McDonald’s french fries have to do with Schlosser’s primary aim in this selection from his book Fast Food Nation? Why does he feature them in the title and use them in the opening to the essay?

Let’s talk about the power of “comfort foods” in paragraph 12.


(2) Do you read his essay as a condemnation of fast food? How does his account of his laboratory visit color your response?


(3) Do you find the work of the flavorist to be disingenuous or unethical? What about the work of those who market using phrases like “natural flavor”? Is this any different from how they market an SUV to us or how our culture markets perpetual adolescence to us or how we market our image on social media sites?

Documents

Unit 1: 40% of College Students Need a Remedial Course: Arguing with Factual Evidence