da website

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SOME ARTICLES!

Anguiano, R. P. V. "Families and Schools: The Effect of Parental Involvement on High

School Completion." Journal of Family Issues 25.1 (2004): 61-85. Print.

This article focuses on another perspective as to why students drop out: the family background. The article studied several different ethnicities’’ parental involvement and their children’s high school completion.  It used the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to provide statistical information for the study. This article provided specific information for a common reason behind dropping out.

 Bradley, Christen L. The Complexity of Non-Completion: Being Pushed or Pulled to

Drop Out of High School. Rep. Oxford University Press, 22 Dec. 2011. Web. 01  Mar. 2012. <http://sf.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/12/21/sf.sor003.abstract>.

This article is in a scholarly journal, which provides a lot of ethos. The article focuses on how society sees a teenager as strictly “in school” or a “dropout” and how this brief labeling doesn’t show the complex reasoning behind the child’s quitting school. The author offers a new terminology: in school, pushed out, or pulled out. The article cites the Educational Longitudinal Survey, which shows how different races have different patterns for being pushed or pulled out, and also that gender has an effect on being pushed or pulled out. This is an interesting perspective to take on the idea of high school dropouts.

Bridgeland, John M., John J. Dilulio, Jr., and Karen Burke Morison. Ignitelearning.com.

Rep. Civic Enterprises and Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Mar. 2006. Web. 1 Mar. 2012. <http://www.ignitelearning.com/pdf/TheSilentEpidemic3-06FINAL.pdf>.

This source is a report compiled by three people, which I believe adds ethos because it lists the authors specifically, unlike others that just listed the organization. The report focuses on the typical question of “why do students drop out?” but takes it into a different perspective. The authors found that most students didn’t quit school because school was too hard and they couldn’t do it, but because their living circumstances wouldn’t allow them to. This is something I can relate to because the people I know that have dropped out of high school have almost always been bright, and this source backs up this notion by providing a survey of dropouts. This is a very interesting report with high ethos.

Farrell, E., G. Peguero, R. Lindsey, and R. White. "Giving Voice to High School

Students: Pressure and Boredom, Ya Know What I'm Sayin'?" American Educational Research Journal 25.4 (1988): 489-502. Print.

This journal is an interesting study where sutdents from the at-risk of dropping out population were studied by being told to record dialogues between them and their friends. This is an interesting study because it is more realistic and not strictly an “in the laboratory” type of experiment. The actual opinions of students were given, not merely a survey. The results were that pressure and boredom were the most commonly given reasons for quitting school. 

Free write: Highschool dropouts

My research topic is high school dropouts. This topic is very close to my heart because my best friend since elementary school, Catherine, quit school when she was seventeen years old, and she has struggled immensely with paying rent, keeping a job, affording food, and upholding relationships. These things almost never cross my mind because I have a planned tuition payment plan that includes my living quarters and a food plan, am a full-time student that is working towards a degree that will help me find a stable job in the future, and I’m surrounded by people my age that have goals similar to mine. It seems to me that all of Catherine’s struggles stem from her not going to school. While all of her friends were finishing their junior and senior years of high school, Catherine was spending her days sleeping, eating, and occasionally picking up shifts at restaurants. This caught up to her by making her struggle in the areas that I previously listed: she lost touch with everyone from school because they were all caught up with schoolwork, athletics, and applying to colleges. Also her mother (wisely) refused to pay for her living situation if she didn’t go to school, so Catherine had to pay for bills for her car, new apartment, and other expenses on her own. All of these added up and now Catherine feels like she is in a deep hole that she will never be able to get out of. If she had stayed in school, her life would be much more on track. High school brings structure into students’ lives, which helps not only while attending class, but also outside of school. Personally I always am more productive when I have a scheduled time to do activities, no matter if I’m working out, studying, or hanging out with friends. High school also keeps the brain engaged: if a young brain isn’t promptly engaged then it will become sluggish in many areas. These areas are okay to be left off on when the child’s brain matures when they become an adult and stop attending school in exchange for working a job; because essentially the brain is supposed to have learned the skills when the child was in school. High school also surrounds the student with kids that are the same age and have the same goals, which makes it easier to make friends and stay social. High school also offers physical education and athletics that will keep the student healthy while providing yet another opportunity to make friends. Though I will have to research the topic further since relying only on about ten people I know is not ethical, I plan on arguing that the mandatory age for quitting school should be increased to eighteen or twenty-one (I don’ know yet, will with research) when a child’s brain is closer to being fully developed and they are in the right place mentally to make the decision to quit school. 

Potential Research Topics

• Three possible topics: Yoga, ADD medicine, and high school dropouts

• YOGA
• “Power Yoga” class as a leisure skill 
• Discuss: 
• the history
• health benefits
• types
• different regions
• uses: 
• weight loss, spiritual growth, flexibility

• ADD MEDICINE
• Is ADD medicine overprescribed?
• most of my friends are on meds
• learning disorder or laziness?!
• Discuss:
• what ADD is
• diagnostic  process
• popular types of medicine
• IF there is an increase in ADD cases

• HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS
• Should the mandatroy age for quitting school be raised, lowered, or kept at age 16?
• close friend dropped out 
• Discuss: 
• causes
• effects
• how dropping out affects in the long run
• statistics: jobs, wages, kids, marriage, living standards
• successful dropouts
• what it takes to be one
 

Got Taylor?

This advertisement brilliantly persuades teenage girls to drink milk by claiming that milk leads to being like Taylor Swift who encompasses essentially everything a young girl desires: a healthy figure, beautiful face, and great success. 

Analyzing Ads: Three Thesis Statements

The advertisement above suggests that the HP Printer is so much better than the customer' old printer that the old printer would be more useful as a fish tank.

The advertisement uses the solemnity of suicide to make smokers realize that even though they aren't using any of these prototypical suicide methods, they are still killing themselves. 

The advertisement suggests that the noise reducing earphones work so well that you wouldn’t even be able to hear a waterfall approaching. 

Everyday Rhetorical Impact

 Every day, no matter what I’m doing- relaxing in my dorm room, studying at the library, working out at Fike, or watching the Broncos-Patriots game- I’m bombarded by all sorts of advertisements, flyers, and commercials. While relaxing and “Facebooking,” several ads pop up on the side of the screen, which are strategically tailored to my recent “Google” searches. The rhetorical impact of this strategic placement is that I am immediately attracted to the ads, and think, “Wow, I was just searching for that online, how convenient!” and usually end up purchasing something that I might not have had it not been so opportune. Next, as I’m walking into the library, there is several organizations set up outside that are handing me pamphlets, cards, or free hot chocolate just so I will check out their cause. The rhetorical impact produced is that I’m going to be more favorable to their cause if my hot chocolate is delicious, or if I stuff their pamphlets in my purse then I have the chance to revisit the organization’s cause later. It also shows that these kids are dedicated to their cause enough to waste their day sitting on Library Bridge, so maybe it actually is worthy of some looking into. While working out at Fike, there are countless flyers advertising fitness information: Spinning classes, nutritional information, running clubs, you name it. Since I’m already at Fike, I’m obviously already interested in staying in shape, so when I read in big red letters, “Lose ten pounds in six weeks with boot camp!” or “Spring break is soon!” the rhetorical impact is that I’m convinced that fitness is more important than other aspects of my life and maybe I should put a hundred dollars towards a boot camp class instead of textbooks- I mean, spring break is only two months away, I can just borrow my friends’ books, right? Then later as I’m watching my beloved Tim Tebow play against the Patriots on national television, a commercial comes on with adorable kids reciting the Bible verse John 3:16, the same verse that Tebow painted on his eyeblack during his college days at Florida University. An anti-abortion group, Focus on the Family, sponsored this commercial. Even though Tebow wasn’t in the actual commercial, it was obviously inspired by him. The rhetorical impact is that I love Tebow, Tebow loves Jesus, Jesus loves cute kids, cute kids love being alive, and for these cute kids to be alive, their parents had to make the decision to be pro-life.   These persuasive techniques are sometimes hidden and othertimes obvious, but no matter where I am or what I’m doing, they are there.