Anne Lai

Professor Babcock
ENG137H: Rhetoric in Civic Life
October 16th, 2019
 Many students dread waking up in the morning and dragging their tired selves to an old

building with no air-conditioning, only to be lectured and yelled at for 7 hours. As much as the

education process is not entirely appreciated by the masses, its vital role in society is clear.

Without education, humanity would be backwards, offering no room for any type of progress.

This idea is seen in two artifacts that use rhetoric to civically engage people. Both the No Cuts

to Education protests and John King’s Education Leadership and Equity: A Look Forward speech

effectively call people to advocate for better education. While the protest is from the people to

the government, King’s speech is from the government to the people.

The No Cuts to Education Movement was a response from teachers and students to the

Ontario government’s detrimental changes to the public education system. This movement is

predominantly led by teachers who have a profound passion for education. Their mere

experience in the field demonstrates their knowledge in the education system and the effects

such cuts would have. The party being protested is the provincial government, led by Doug

Ford. His credibility has been undermined by the fact that he dropped out of college. Because

of this, many do not think he understands the value of education enough to make decisions

surrounding it.

On the other hand, John King (former Secretary of Education of the US) made his speech

as a governmental figure addressing the public population. His speech is more of an urge to

support non-partisan education than a call to support a political agenda. Unlike the authority

figure protested in the afore-mentioned artifact, King emphasizes his credibility by citing

initiatives and organizations he has worked with, telling personal anecdotes of how education

saved him, and saying that his “commitment to this work is personal.” Though different in
audience and medium, both the No Cuts to Education Movement and King’s A Look Forward

Speech employ use of intrinsic and extrinsic proofs to strengthen the ideology of the

importance of good education in society.

One idea highlighted in both artifacts is that the current education system does not

offer equal opportunity for all students. In his speech, King uses inductive reasoning to

illustrate how inequitable education impacts socioeconomics. He takes the successes of one

area’s system and infers that the same must be true for the rest of America. He also walks the

audience through reason to arrive at his main points. For example, he argues that the

education system needs to ensure all Americans “meaningfully participate in our nation's

growth.” In arriving at this point, he discusses the graduation rate and corresponding

employment opportunities after high school graduation, the struggles of college students who

lack adequate preparation, and finally the strong correlation between educational achievement

and poverty.

The concept that high educational achievement is related to lower poverty rates is also

explored by the No Cuts to Education movement. The Ontario Student Assistant Program

(OSAP) will experience significant funding reduction, which affects less affluent students’

accessibility to affordable education. This launches the community that needs OSAP into a

vicious cycle. Some students will not be able to get the same educational enrichment as others

of higher socioeconomic status and will find it harder to climb the ladder that will allow their

children to get a decent education.

 Another main theme highlighted by the movement and the speech is that education

should put politics aside. King uses enthymemes when discussing the bipartisanism and

ineffective approaches of certain acts and policies (like ESSA-Every Student Succeeds Act and

No Child Left Behind Act). These are not something the everyman would know or think about

regularly, but King did not go into depth with the content or effects of these acts. Instead, he

assumes the audience knows that cookie-cutter-method is detrimental, making the statement,

“I think most of us can agree that the ... No Child Left Behind was a blunt tool, ill-suited to a

nuanced task.” King’s speech emphasizes the partisan nature of policy implementation. He

aims to put political differences and agendas aside in order to provide the education necessary

for future generations to thrive. In one of his closing sentences, he says, “we can summon the

will to work together on the big issues and be rewarded with an even greater, fairer, more

prosperous nation to pass on to future generations.” This leads to a debate around financial

motivation vs. intrinsic motivation.

The No Cuts to Education Movement implicitly highlights this idea. Since cuts are only

being made to public education, many educators believe this would create an unlevel playing

field for students of different backgrounds. In public education, the financial incentive is not a

prominent element in system structure. Without this profit drive, passionate teachers (in

public education) have a strong desire to teach the truth, develop empathy, and enhance

critical consciousness. A fundamental thought behind this movement is that education needs

to be driven by genuine concern for the future generation rather than politics and money.

Both artifacts emphasize the importance of educators in children’s lives. The education

cuts being made in Ontario will result in over 3000 staff lay-offs. With this comes the loss of
invaluable resources and an increase in workload for working teachers. Educators who are

passionate about their job strive to improve their style, syllabus, classroom environment, etc.,

to better assist their students’ learning. With a lack of collegial and financial support, it will be

much harder for them to do this as they take on the additional workload of their released

colleagues, as the student population doesn’t change. John King supports educators in a

slightly different light. King argues that teachers are often viewed as the root cause for flaws in

today’s educational system. However, teaching is a hard job and involves critical decision

making on a minute-to-minute basis. Therefore, he believes in focusing on the preparation and

provision of resources for teachers so that they can provide the future generation with the

education that will allow them to do the same thing for the next.

Finally, a sense of responsibility for the next generation is imbued by the movement and

the speech. The No Cuts to Education Movement draws attention to how these education cuts

hurts kids. Automatically, when the notion of “our kids” is brought to discussion, people listen

because it is completely human to care for one’s offspring and their future. This innate calling

to care for children is effective because the protest implies, “this is the right thing to do.” The

movement also uses enthymemes in its philosophy. Specifically, it uses cause and effect

enthymemes in discussing the negative consequences of education cuts. Increased student-to-

teacher ratios, for example, would result in poorer learning experiences for students, especially

those in special education. Moreover, the implementation of mandatory online courses results

in less time in the classroom. Teachers know that concepts like personal responsibility and

consequences need to be modeled for students to grow. The loss of classroom time and
subsequent decline in interactions with teachers and peers are hindering to a child’s

development, hence giving e-learning little pedagogical value (on a secondary schoo level).

King also emphasizes that the decisions society makes surrounding education contribute

to children’s development. He tells the stories of two students and how they’ve grown in a

system that fails to acknowledge inequality. In his anecdotes, he describes them as “a bubbly

5-year old,” and “a shy sixth grader,” both descriptions a parent/educator could easily see in

their children. He even explicitly says, “Because for our children, it’s literally a matter of life

and death.” Essentially, this enhances his call to action because it reaches the audience on an

emotional level and draws on the idea that his cause should be supported simply because it is

moral. Additionally, King reiterates throughout his speech that “we” are all part of the solution.

With the continued use of inclusive language of “us” and “we”, he stresses the responsibility of

the current generation to invest in education for the future.

Even though money should not be the driver of the education system, it is essential to

the maintenance of its infrastructure. Whether the government is being called upon to support

funding, or people are being called upon to support equitably accessible education, the

message is clear: more resources need to be put into education. The No Cuts to Education

movement and John King’s speech effectively call people to support better education despite

differing in platform and intended audience. Resources are finite and when they are not used in

areas that will benefit communities in the long run, everybody loses. Investment in human

capital is how society progresses.

Bibliography

“Education, Leadership and Equity: A Look Forward.” Education, Leadership and Equity:
A Look Forward | U.S. Department of Education, 14 Dec. 2016,
https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/education-leadership-and-equity-look-forward.
Barry Pietersen. Personal interview. 24 Sept. 2019.
“OSSTF/FEESO Home.” No Cuts to Education, https://www.osstf.on.ca/public-education/no-
cuts-to-education.aspx.
MacLeod, Angela, and Joel Emes. “Busting the Myth of Ontario's 'Massive Education Cuts'.”
Fraser Forum, Fraser Institute, 24 Apr. 2019, https://www.fraserinstitute.org/blogs/busting-
the-myth-of-ontarios-massive-education-cuts.
“The Value of Education in Today's American Society: A Glimpse into the Current Way America
Supports the Educational System.” Athens State University - Your University. Your Way.,
https://www.athens.edu/business-journal/spring-2013/the-value-of-education-in-todays-
american-society-a-glimpse-into-the-current-way-america-supports-the-educational-system/.