Today, while making cupcakes for my birthday, I was watching Fox News (only because my father left it on). I overheard an interesting story that I could write my blog post about, so I looked it up. The Broadcast I watched was on a program called On The Record, and it is about Yale University.
What happened is that a bunch of students taking a year long English course which is about ‘eight great poets’ got offended that all of these poets are white. They created a petition to get signed and give to Yale, in order for the class to be abolished entirely. The students want the course to be abolished because they think that because they only study white authors, that it creates a ‘hostile environment’. On the show, they bring on a student who is against the petition named Zach Young to further talk about the issue at hand.
The host of the show goes on to ask him many questions. He seems to be very prepared. He speaks in a very logical order and uses rhetorical devices and skills so that his argument seems that much stronger. One example is that before he gives his side of the story and his opinion, he tells the listeners where he’s headed in his little speech: that this petition is wrong in both its idea and in its tactics.
He says for the idea side of things, that we should be judging works on their merit and historical significance and not the race of the author. Then he says that this is something that should be acknowledged universally. Then he goes on to say that the way the students did what they did is not right, they should have just talked to the professor before creating a petition and calling him unethical.
He then goes on to state the argument and logic of those in charge of the petition: “of the eight great authors, they’re all white, and therefore, this creates a hostile environment.” And then to prove his point, he brings in another subject, Physics. He says that if we used that logic with Physics, we would not have the discoveries we have today and that is because the great physicists are not so diverse. And then he relates this to the history of the English language, and how most authors are white.
Then he goes on to say that the courses at Yale should not be decided by the students who do not know nearly as much as the professors know, but the professors should be deciding what and what not to teach.
In this news broadcast, they do not really use ethos or pathos, but there is a strong sense of logos. He is quite logical and I could not find any fallacies in his argument. He basically just shuts down the opposing argument very easily and effectively.
This is a very interesting broadcast, mostly because of how the student, Zach Young, responded to his fellow peers. So many instances in our modern culture lead to the same opposing spirit shown by the petitioning students. People do not stop to think, as Mr. Young did, about the fact that things will not always be diverse but at the same time will not always be politically incorrect. Developments made in the world of academics, advances in mathematics, science, and writing, have been and are continuing to be achieved. In the past it was true that the white race (majority male) had more education than others because of inequality. However this fact does not discredit the actual discoveries made by their founders. I believe this is the point, made in a logically sound way, by Mr. Young.
ReplyDeleteI think every college needs people like Zach Young. He stated his logical points very well and I definitely agree with him. The professor should be in charge of what they should learn about, not the students. It was also very inappropriate of the student to go behind the teachers back and create a petition against him. I learned from this blog post a lot. It was written so well and it was super informative and interesting. And it was fun to read.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with Zach Young's thoughts on this situation. I think it was very brave for him to go on that show and be open about his dislike of the petition which went against how the majority of students felt. The students did not have the right to go against the professor. Students are taught to respect their teachers and elders and they did not show that in their actions. I think Zach Young made an excellent point and I hope his peers recognized that.
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