Author: luis vasquez
education should be a right
Knowledge is an aspect of life everyone should have the freedom to pursue and all should be able to attain knowledge through the use of educational institutes, programs, and libraries. The access to education should never be taken away.
Education is a right
Education
12/4/19
Venue: United Nations General Assembly
The access to education should be a right that all Children, men and women should be able to take advantage of. Though this is my belief and the belief of many others, The situation we have here today is a display of the opposite, where more than 72 million children in the world who are at primary school age aren’t enrolled and approximately 759 million adults are classed as illiterate. People drone on about how we are in the “age of information” and how any information we need is at our fingertips though they forget to include those whose access to information is limited or next to none. Education should not be a privilege given to those only in first world countries but something every country employs to educate their youth those considered the future of every country. Education is directly linked to many aspects of quality of life such as health, technology, and employment. Third world countries are afflicted with significantly higher rates of disease due to the fact that the populace of these nations are denied education on topics such as hygiene that would seem common knowledge to any individual from a first world country. Technology that helps fight off diseases and helps production in these countries are almost non existent because the public is denied access to the resources their country has in abundance and don’t have the knowledge to use them. Most citizens of third world countries are denied the opportunity for a good job and wages that keep them out of poverty due to almost all men having the same level of education or lack thereof and women either receiving worse or no formal education at all keeping unemployment at a high rate in a majority of these countries. Ultimately the lack of education leads to High crime rates, Corruption, disease and poverty and can all be resolved by the addition of formal/free education. Education as a whole can be improved in all countries yet widespread access to some form of education or knowledge should be of utmost importance for most if not all countries on this globe we all inhabit together. Right after Climate change I truly believe the UN should focus on improving education in countries that have almost no form of institution to help increase global IQ and bringing unity in the world through the connection of knowledge. UNICEF is hard at work trying to bring some form of access to education to children in need and do a great job though we want to know just how we can help how can the public of both first world and third world countries help tackle this issue?
12/4/19
The Washington Post
1301 K Street NW; Washington, D.C. 20071
Dear editor
Children are being kept in the slums and poverty yet no one is reporting it. This is the product of what happens to children that aren’t given tools or more importantly education to learn a multitude of subjects that may help them advance theirs and their families position in life. How sad is it when a family of two adults and three children live a life where none of them know how to read and write. This may have been the case many generations ago where only royalty were taught to read and write but it should not be the case now in 2019 all children should be able to go to school to soak up as much knowledge as they can and frankly it is abhorrent that education is taken away by corrupt governments who want to keep the public ignorant of certain conspiracies or certain plots going on underfoot. Millions of children old enough to be in primary school are not enrolled due to many factors and even more millions of adults are considered illiterate and this is problematic that in the 21st century children and adults alike are being refused an education which is why i believe all children should have access to some sort of education. The importance of education is usually understated due to all if not most children in first world countries being required to be in some form of school at certain ages in their life so we tend to take the prospect of education or school for granted yet we never stop to think just how bad the lack of education in a country is. A lack of education can lead to bad hygiene, high STD rates, lack of infrastructure, and no systems in place such as laws or even basic sewer systems. This is a sort of life only seen during the dark ages where the previous generations and societies were so sophisticated yet future generations regressed so far that the common practice of reading was lost and they lead simple lives and were taken advantage of. There is no reason to keep the population of a country ignorant or uneducated unless you want to take advantage of them which i refuse to believe is the only problem standing in the way of building educational institutions in countries that need them due to this being a very corrupt and evil reason to keep the masses unschooled. The world is changing with problems we all as humans have to face and I believe all hands need to be on deck or we are doomed so educating the population of the planet is critical.
Sincerely
Luis Vasquez
Works Cited
chris.drew.98031506. “Lack of Education: 11 Lifelong Effects (2019).” The Helpful Professor, 14 Nov. 2019, https://helpfulprofessor.com/lack-of-education/.
PhineasJFR. “10 Barriers to Education Around the World.” Global Citizen, https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/10-barriers-to-education-around-the-world-2/.
“Right to Education : Situation around the World.” Humanium, https://www.humanium.org/en/right-to-education/.
“The Education Crisis: Being in School Is Not the Same as Learning.” World Bank, https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/immersive-story/2019/01/22/pass-or-fail-how-can-the-world-do-its-homework.
“The Right to Education.” Save the Children, https://www.savethechildren.org.nz/what-we-do/the-issues/education/.
Reflection
Motivational speeches are not all one and the same but after extensive listening and reading of these speeches I have noticed many similarities throughout multiple examples of motivational speeches. Similar components are found throughout speeches, even in the sources I have chosen for my annotated bibliography have many similarities. One similarity would be the use of pathos(emotion) over logos and ethos. This is not to say that these speeches do not use logic or credibility but that pathos is more commonly used throughout a multitude of these speeches. the use of emotion is powerful enough to fuel/ motivate someone to action yet also has the power to cloud your reasoning and logic. Another component found in my sources is the use of Rhetorical questions to make people think/reflect. This is powerful in that due to the question being rhetorical an answer is not expected yet the question is meant to stick in your head forcing you to reflect on yourself. Another component used a multitude of times was the use of history whether it be an event in history or a certain time in the speaker’s life. This was used mainly in the form of comparison or callback, where the speaker would compare the past to the present to give their audience a real scope of the amount of time passed and how much change this time brought with it whether large or small. Speeches are a rare use of language in that it motivates people like nothing I’ve ever seen before, a speech will make people risk it all their friends, family and lives no matter the cost and it takes a certain charisma to do it speeches are the ultimate form of rhetoric in that they aren’t subtle they have a point and they have a huge impact on their audience when done right. Speeches are impact they are filled to the brim with passion, emotion and charisma yet i want to know what makes them so deep and meaningful to some that they may inspire a generation, a movement and the world to seek change.
I am a picky writer. I cannot write an assignment that I am not interested/passionate about I will end up putting it off or procrastinating till the last day. Though this is also where I believe my best work comes out and shines. I can ramble on certain subjects/ topics for days at a time when i’m interested in the topic but when i’m not interested it seems as if I have a mental block on the creative part of my brain up until the deadline gets closer and the flood gates seem to open slowly. I know I need to get over this because we are not always going to get topics we are passionate about though i believe the only way to get past this is to get out of my comfort zone and read texts i would class as boring and uninteresting to find a different perspective.
Motivational speeches
Luis Angel Vasquez 10/26/19
English 1101
“Ancient History Sourcebook: Arrian: Speech of Alexander the Great, from The Campaigns of Alexander.” Internet History Sourcebooks,
This speech by Alexander the Great was used to motivate his troops when he sought to conquer India. At this point in his campaign many had lost the motivation or will to continue. “I observe, gentlemen, that when I would lead you on a new venture you no longer follow me with your old spirit. I have asked you to meet me that we may come to a decision together: are we, upon my advice, to go forward, or, upon yours, to turn back?” he poses a question to his soldiers to insinuate that they have a choice and that he will hear them out if they hear him. He then list’s all the lands that he and his army have conquered together to show them the fruits of their labor and that if they were to stop there would be many warlike people left who would have to be conquered sooner or later going as far as to use his ancestors failed campaigns in which they stopped their conquest. He states “I could not have blamed you for being the first to lose heart if I, your commander, had not shared in your exhausting marches and your perilous campaigns; it would have been natural enough if you had done all the work merely for others to reap the reward. But it is not so. You and I, gentlemen, have shared the labor and shared the danger, and the rewards are for us all. The conquered territory belongs to you; from your ranks the governors of it are chosen”. This is powerful in motivating his forces to keep going because they have been through the trenches and had gruesome battles but Alexander has been they’re with them in each of those battles as a king and as a fellow soldier he also exploits their greed reminding them of the riches, power and glory given to them. He claims if we do not continue then all we have worked for will have been for naught so we must continue.
Theodore Roosevelt – The Man with the Muck-Rake, Eidenmuller, Michael E.
The Man with the Muck-rake reveals to the public eye the necessity of exposing the filth left behind by monopolies. Though he does not advocate attacking or exposing the filth while adding muck that was never there to begin with. “The liar is no whit better than the thief, and if his mendacity takes the form of slander he may be worse than most thieves. It puts a premium upon knavery untruthfully to attack an honest man, or even with hysterical exaggeration to assail a bad man with untruth.” Theodore is in support of the muckrakers yet with this statement he shuns the journalist who seek reform yet use lies instead of facts,
stating they are no better than the thieves they seek to stop. Roosevelt wants muckrakers to pursue reform yet he believes that reform should be sought after with truth and states muckrakers who try to use slander to advance their pursuit are even worse than thieves and the businessmen they seek to take down.
Jim Carrey’s Commencement Address with Transcript. Motivation Mentalist, 8 Sept. 2015,
Jim Carrey, comedian, actor and writer spoke at Maharishi university in 2014. His commencement speech while humorous and entertaining told a larger story of self doubt, fear and conformity afflicting the minds and hearts of many if not all people. He first brings up how interconnected we all are to one another how we are all apart of a bigger picture and that our bodies are no more than a container for us to experience creation though, stating our bodies are not what define us. He goes on to say we all have no limits and that the skill to separate reality and fiction has kept us safe and practical. He claims we disguise our paths and decisions in life as practical when in reality they are made out of fear, he uses his father as an example saying his father could have made a great comedian yet made the conservative choice to be an accountant yet was let go from that job. His father getting fired taught him a valuable lesson, “you may fail at what you hate, so you might as well take a chance on what you love”. The doors open when you make the choice to take that risk it is not your job to figure out how it’s going to happen but you have to make the choice. He claims “life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you”. Jim carrey claims faith, risks and choices are the vehicles that you should use to overcome fear and to make the decisions that lead to fulfillment.
Person. Remarks of Bill Gates, Harvard Commencement 2007. Harvard Gazette, Harvard Gazette, 7 Mar. 2017,
Bill Gates founder of Microsoft and Harvard dropout would give a speech at the college 30 years after he dropped out. He gave this speech to help motivate students to help discover new things and to help others using their education to bring less inequity to the world and to act. He uses emotion to further his point saying he left Harvard more intelligent yet was so oblivious and unaware of the inequity in the world and the disease in the world. This goes to show that yes you may have graduated college with a degree in a certain major yet college does not teach you about the inequality in the world as it left himself and many other students unaware. A difference can be made, especially with the new generation as he points out the access to advanced tools, software, and advanced sciences using logic to say that change is possible, even more so than now no matter what skeptics would like to have you believe. He motivates the graduating class and staff of Harvard to improve the lives of people around the world stating they are the cream of the crop intellectually and showing how he has tried to help with disease in nations across the world. Complexity is apart of the problem of inequity though he reassures them that they can find ways to maneuver around these complex problems and wants them to address the world’s problems and to be a solution to a much bigger problem than themselves.
The Gettysburg Address, https://rmc.library.cornell.edu.
The battle at Gettysburg, one of the biggest battles of the civil war saw Abraham Lincoln deliver a powerful speech that assured the soldiers that if they were to die there or not they helped fight for the freedom promised by america. 1776 is brought up by Lincoln when he mentions the founding of the United States a Country founded on the principles of liberty and the proposition that all men are created equal, he uses this to remind his men of their cause and to help encourage the nationalists who believe America’s founding documents are sacred and want to fight to prove it. He talks on the death of many soldiers that will inevitably happen during the battle to emotionally connect to his soldiers yet reminds them that they will not die in vain and that they will be remembered for their fight to change this nation. The speech will be forgotten he states but the battle that you men have fought valiantly in will be remembered he says, satiating the greed of some men who will be fighting for greed and not reform. “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure.” He reaches out and put this weight on the shoulders of soldiers telling them that if they were to fail here today it would be a show of whether america would last as a nation united or would fall into nothing.
We Shall Fight on the Beaches. The International Churchill Society, 13 Apr. 2017,
Winston Churchill, one of the greatest orators in the last 100 years and prime minister of Great Britain from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. He delivered a great many speeches that would help rally British citizens and help them fight back, such as his famous “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” speech at the House of Commons on June 4th, 1940 after the famous battle of Dunkirk. This retreat to Britain would be seen as a huge loss in the eyes of both French and British citizens and troops. He acknowledges the loss of 30,000+ men in his speech to impact his audience and to remind them that many soldiers did die and could not be saved. He goes on to state that they did not and will not die in vain by stating that the Royal Air Force inflicted heavy losses to the German air force of at least 4 to 1 and The navy brought home 335,000+ men using only 1,000 ships. He does reassure that this retreat cannot be counted as a victory due to losses in materials and men but even with these major losses he urges the people to not lose confidence in the British government, as prime minister he promises that the British parliament is doing all in their power to defend the British isles. Lastly he tells the people that no matter the adversity faced “we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,”. With this statement he claims that action will be taken to stop this threat no matter the cost, He wants the people to rise up to the challenge and defend their nation and to never back down.
Works Cited
“Ancient History Sourcebook: Arrian: Speech of Alexander the Great, from The Campaigns of Alexander.” Internet History Sourcebooks, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/arrian-alexander1.asp.
Eidenmuller, Michael E. Theodore Roosevelt – The Man with the Muck-Rake, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/teddyrooseveltmuckrake.htm.
Motivationmentalist. “Jim Carrey’s Commencement Address with Transcript.” Motivation Mentalist, 8 Sept. 2015, https://motivationmentalist.com/2015/09/08/jim-carrey-commencement-address-with-transcript/.
Person. “Remarks of Bill Gates, Harvard Commencement 2007.” Harvard Gazette, Harvard Gazette, 7 Mar. 2017, https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/06/remarks-of-bill-gates-harvard-commencement-2007/.
The Gettysburg Address, https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/gettysburg/good_cause/transcript.htm.
“We Shall Fight on the Beaches.” The International Churchill Society, 13 Apr. 2017, https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches/.
Steve Jobs’ “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” – Speech
Steve Jobs, one of Americas most recognizable figures uses his speech at Stanford to help inspire the many students who are graduating and entering the real world. The Argument he poses is to follow their dreams and to do work that they love and find fulfilling. He uses his own experiences in life to help bolster his argument. this brings about an emotional connection between his speech and audience(Pathos) in particular when he brings up the topics of “Love & Loss” and “Death”.
His story of love was how he found the work he loved to do at a young age and is thankful for the success and the change he has brought due to his work though the loss comes in the form of him getting fired at the company he co-founded with a good friend of his. This example can ring true to many people who have dedicated their lives to the things they love only to have it taken away from them. His topic of death also comes from his own experience in the form of pancreatic cancer and how this brush with death really changed his outlook on life and how this experience with death made him do things he should have done a long time ago. He uses this to connect to the audience saying death is something inevitable and something we must all face yet we shouldn’t wait till it lingers over us to start living life as if the next day may be our last.
He also uses Ethos as the co-founder of a multi billion dollar company known as Apple to help bring his point across. He states he didn’t graduate college yet that didn’t stop him from finding work that he loved to do stating no matter the background you can find your “Purpose”.
I cant connect
“Oh you’re from the Bronx, how is it up there”. I was born and raised in the Bronx, a borough where you are looked down upon once you mention that you are “from the Bronx”. Truth be told, I always thought of my borough as a lovely place, home to the botanical garden, the Yankee stadium and even hailed as the boogie down or home of hip hop but I had grown up hearing only the lousy truths of the Bronx had especially when compared to the other boroughs an apparent downside was education I had always heard about the difference from my eldest sister, cousins and friends alike we weren’t taught like they were taught we don’t have the resources or books that they had but we were missing one of the more important things for education, “teachers”we saw ourselves in.
All throughout my years of schooling, not once was I taught by someone whom I could relate to whether it be someone I looked like or someone with a similar life to me and while I never thought much of it yet looking back this subconsciously helped fuel my disinterest in things I was once interested in such as reading and writing. As a child i would ofttimes turn on the TV and just flip through channels reading all the names that came up and in school I would be ecstatic whenever a book sale came.I loved reading and was praised for knowing an abundant amount of words Reading was an integral part of my life as a kid but that all changed as I got older and got more of the same. my teachers throughout Kindergarten to 5th grade all encouraged me to read and keep on going but it all fell flat. Not a single one was familiar they didn’t look like me act like me or even talk like me, i couldn’t see myself in any of these teachers. I’ve seen too many student’s dropout because they can’t find a “role model” or just someone in their life who will give advice to can’t relate to someone in school whether it be a teacher, student or other members of staff.
My grandfather and father, two men that I act a lot like or at least i’m told who haven’t had proper education would preach to me the importance of books and education time and time again, but each time their words rang louder than any bell id ever heard and louder than any of my other teachers. It wasn’t because we were literally related but more so because I could see myself in these men. I spoke like them and acted like them, their words struck a chord that no other teachers did they reinvigorated me to continue with education and to read more and write more. They helped me see that reading is a bridge of knowledge that goes into many subjects such as history. Through reading I found out about my own heritage and about the Bronx giving me a sense of pride i could never have exuded before. I was born lucky to have these two figures in my life who don’t read as well as i do, hell I read my fathers letters and mail for him though they both upheld reading and books as the key as a way out of the “dungeon”. Violence, brutality is only shown when you do not have access to knowledge and aren’t given the right tools to try and get it.
Personal Experience
My grandfather was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, and he had no formal education. even with his lack of education he went on to own a significant amount of land in the Dominican Republic and he went on to have 10 children, he was touted as a great man yet I only remember him as a sometimes spry other-times inactive old man. In his old age he would come to live in my fathers house and share a room with me. He was pretty quiet most of the time because he didn’t know many words and couldn’t speak English but he would always make jokes about my father and my father about him, he would sometimes give me motivation whenever I came from school about how “I had to be better than my father and keep studying” he didn’t know much words so he emphasized reading told me do what he never got to do, which was get an education and learn how to read and write. he would tell me how people didn’t take him seriously because he couldn’t speak as well as the next guy. this spoke to me especially when he said don’t let anyone make you feel bad about the way you speak but also don’t give them reason to, learn all words you can and use them. sadly he died of cancer when I was in middle school although he died his wishes and advice ring fresh in my mind he helped create the person I am today without him who’s to say i would have gotten to college.
