Practice Rhetorical Analysis and Quotables – Lisa Liu

Part 4 Rhetorical Analysis and Quotables

The passage “‘Schools Are Killing Curiosity’: why we need to stop telling children to shut up and learn” is a featured article. The author, Wendy Berliner demonstrates images in her article to connect with the audience, showing a sense of empathy and triggering emotions. She addresses a concern that might be interesting to many people, which defines a featured article. Her concern is that the education system is responsible for killing children’s curiosity, so it should encourage them to ask more questions. Wendy Berliner reveals an objective tone in her article. She appeals to logos by using research completed by other professors and experts. Next, she also appeals to pathos by providing an anecdote about a nursery school she had visited, interviews with researchers, and images used in the article. These approaches show her credibility by indicating she gets to experience the addressed concern. Similarly, Wendy Berliner appeals to ethos by showing her credibility as a journalist and a writer by referring to her book “How to Succeed at School” in the article. In addition to the credibility, Wendy Berliner is known as an award-winning former senior Guardian journalist. She posts her article in The Guardian,  a reliable British daily newspaper. By that means, Wendy Berliner is not only targeting educators as the primary audience but also everyone worldwide to know the concern about the relationship between curiosity and education. The article was published in 2020, which is not very old and recent enough to explain that the issue she provokes arises currently.

Part 5: Notable Quotables

“Children, full of questions about things that interest them, are learning not to ask them at school. Against a background of tests, and targets, unscripted queries go mainly unanswered and learning opportunities are lost” (Berliner).

“Teachers who concentrate on developing focus and good behaviour because of the links to good academic performance, now need to take on board that developing curiosity could be even more important” (Berliner).

“‘Children should be prompted and encouraged to ask questions even though that can be challenging for the teacher,’ he says” (Berliner).