Rhetorical Analysis

As most college students that attend James Madison University, there is a larger population of females, and a lower population of males. Most wonder why this is, but an even bigger question is how? In the Los Angeles Times, an editorial was posted on the admissions process for new and upcoming students in several universities, and on major outcome was that there is a gender gap. More females are being admitted and fewer males. A concern is brought up; is there discrimination against females and are males getting a small boost into college in order to keep the status quo? These types of questions have been raised over that past 17 years due to that females now have more opportunities at a higher education.

The author claims that there is clearly a gender gap. Universities are admitting a higher percentage of the male population that applies to college, while females have a lower acceptance rate out of their population. Statistical evidence from several universities have proven that there is a flaw in the admissions process. One Virginia university, William & Mary is one of the accused discriminatory schools, “76,652 women applied for this year’s freshman class, compared with 4,457 male applicants…the college accepted 45% of the men and only 27% of the women”. Many other university and college boards have claimed that they do indeed give men a slight advantage in keep balance among the campus.

The author however does mention UCLA, a branch of University of California, has admitted almost the same percentage of each gender, yet there still were about 800 more women than men. That still does not compensate for other universities. The authors begins to state that theories have come to say that boys are “more active and thus less able to sit still for periods – and as a result, more likely to categorized as having attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder or needing special education”. This may be the case for a select few, but this does not excuse every boy from getting a better education. From what I can see out of this, is that times have changed and there are different expectations and family life. Over 20 years ago most that attended college where a white young male, the family style was different, and women did not go to school often. Now it is stated in this editorial that the gender gap is increased in African American and Latino students. This can be accounted for in the fact that most ethnical groups have their own way being raised. A Latino family and a Caucasian family’s values are not always going to be at the same level.

The gist is this; colleges and universities are accepting more women and the men who are accepted are more likely to have had help due to their gender. Women now have to work even harder to get into school because they have to compete against lower achieving males. This concerns many people including the dean of admissions at Kenyon College in Ohio (a once all-male school), “What messages are we sending young women that they must…be even more accomplished than men to gain admission to the nation’s top colleges?” We can not blame AHDH or learning styles for women being able to accomplish more than men

Rebuttal Prewriting

For my argument I am going to talk about the gender gaps in several universities. For one we can see that here in our own campus at James Madison University. The ratio of males to females is 40%/60%. This is apparently happening in many other universities, therefore making the admissions process different in order to accommodate a certain amount of males that are able to attend a college. A hypothetical situation could be that there is a male trying to apply to JMU that has a 3.5 GPA and then there is a female applying as well with a 3.8 GPA. Who is more likely able to get in easier, the male or the female? Hopefully the female seeing as she has a better standing in academics, but that’s not always the case. The male may get in because the university has to meet a certain standard. They need to admit just enough males to be in good standing with the college board, along with the federal government. So is this fair to just let a male slide on into school just because the school needs meet that number?

Editorial Link

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-gender25-2010jan25,0,2408850.story

Editorial Search

In my search for an editorial I see much that is uninteresting to me. “Haiti: Obama’s Katrina” and “Don’t Give Up Now”, political babble turns me away. It is all I hear and see where ever I go. America is consumed by negativity in that it’s all that we really know and think of our country.

In “How Conan Should Have Said Goodbye”, Dorothy Ranibowitz states that if we find humor and entertainment in things such as Leno, Letterman and Conan, and considered top entertainers, then there is something seriously wrong with how we as people think. I see editorials talking about the controversy of a child having three biological parents, who should be in custody and that this “legal battle” is based off of tests done on monkeys in a lab. Who really cares is my question! The only way for such things to happen is if it were done in a lab, other than that it is almost impossible for a child to have multiple parents. Why are people trying to figure out and do things that are completely unnecessary?

Yes there are editorials that do concern the public safety such as global climate change and what is going on in the world, but people do not always want to read about that. We see it all the time; on the news, television, radio, newspapers, and magazines. It becomes tiring and dull. I have seen and heard so much about what is going on in Haiti but not much about other countries that have been struggling with equal issues for a longer period of time. Give me something new!

There are some editorials that really did catch my attention. One spoke of gender gaps in colleges, asking who was smarter; men or women? Basing of the data that women now outnumber men is applying, attending and graduating from college; that men are now getting in easier and is concerning higher officials that there is bias in admission. Editorials such as this concern ME. I have a part in this; I am a female in a college that is female dominated. I am more passionate about what is going on that is affecting my education, rather than Late Night Entertainers who sleep with their co-workers.

Childhood Reflection

Rainbow Fish: Equality or Communist?

As a child I was not into reading books or fairy tale stories. I was always into swimming as a young girl, which naturally led me to one particular book. Out of all the children’s books, my favorite was Rainbow Fish. The moral was simple and can still be a lesson to persons of any age. The story tells of a fish with beautiful scales, many of different colors, named Rainbow Fish. He loved his many scales for all its variety. One day a small fish asks Rainbow Fish if he could have one of his shiny beautiful scales, but Rainbow Fish says no because he believes that only he should have the scales. Soon enough he loses his friends since he doesn’t want to share. He feels upset for what happened so he goes and asks for help from a wise octopus. There he is told to give his friends a scale. Eventually all his friends have a unique scale, and Rainbow Fish left with one. No longer greedy, Rainbow Fish is friends with all the other fish and is happy again.

The main elements that drew me to this story were the fish and the shiny scales. I always wanted to be a fish when I was in elementary school because I always loved being in or around water. Like every child, most are attracted to shiny objects, whether that is jewelry or a picture on the front of a book.

When reading this as a child, the moral of the story was to share with your friends and it will make you a happier and better person. Now at a later time, looking back I can see that there are some underlining factors that I could not see without further educating myself. One possible factor is Materialism. Rainbow Fish was vain and the other fish wanted what he possessed. The shiny scales can represent anything from a name brand item to overall wealth of an individual. A more positive factor that is possible in the United States the story promotes Equality. Rainbow Fish had all the scales, which can be seen as power, then shared each scale equally with everyone so that now each “fish” has the same amount of “power”. For some individuals, this supports a Communist mindset, where the wealth is distributed to every citizen. Any person can take this story and see a different perspective. Any person can interpret this story any way they see it. Some may see the story as a political reference; possibly to start molding a child’s mind to see and think in a way that society pushes towards.