Reflection 3

Marques Rutlin 

Trandisciplinary Comunication

Dr.Despain

22 September 2024

Reflection 3

This article argues racial diversity in the admission of elite colleges. Richard Arum states” Even with affirmative action in place, most students of color did not go to elite colleges”.Affirmative action is a set of procedures designed to; eliminate unlawful discrimination among applicants, The targeted audience for this article is students who want to further their education and attend college. This is the target audience because the main idea of this article is college, and the people who go to college are students or people who want to further their education. This article was posted in 2023 soon after the US Supreme decided to end race-conscious admission at colleges and universities across the country. Mr.Arum uses many different visual representations throughout this article allowing the reader to see college acceptance rates and a graph displaying statistical information on the racial diversity in college admissions. 

While reading, the author uses short paragraphs, usually only 1-2 sentences these paragraphs being short ideas or a question that is answered in the next paragraph. The reader is immersed throughout the article’s use of visual data and captions throughout the data. In addition, to being able to scroll through college acceptance rates, he also displays captions at each admission rate. For example, Arum states”56 percent of these college students go to a school that admits at least three-quarters of its applicants”.Throughout the introduction, race is mentioned multiple times, it is truly apparent the author wants the reader to know how much race can influence college admissions. The author takes more of an imagery approach allowing the reader to read information such as college acceptance rates, and races that are more likely to attend selective schools. 

While this article doesn’t directly reference any pathos it does reference the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action that being to eliminate unlawful discrimination among college applicants. The purpose of this is to the gravity of this decision, the Supreme Court is the highest in the federal government. Arum uses the information as supporting to his claims stated in the article, For example, “The chart below shows the racial breakdown of college attendance by admission rate for 2021. Notice how relatively few Black and Hispanic students attend schools with an admission rate of 20 percent or less.”.The author persuades the reader by using visual representations, allowing the reader to select and hover over college acceptance rates. In addition, the author introduces the article with the decision made by the supreme which can pull readers in. 

The author praises the Supreme Court’s decision for affirmative action but believes that this action isn’t enough to make a huge difference for elite institutions. He employs ethos including in the caption that he is a professor of sociology and education at the University of California and, Mr.Stevens is a sociologist at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Adding in these credentials makes the information more credible and the reader especially since the authors went to college. Arum uses logos using multiple facts and statistics, for example, he states” who on average are much more likely to attend elite universities. The proportion of all Asian students who attend a school with an acceptance rate under 25 percent is more than three times that of Black, Hispanic, and white students.”. This evidence of logistical data is used to support the author’s claim. One rhetorical  fallacy I found in this article was a sentimental appeal” What drives this dynamic is that most students apply to and enroll at schools near their families, regardless of whether the school is a good academic fit.”This is a sentimental appeal because these students pull on the reader’s heartstrings, showing how people in the world aren’t getting the education they deserve.