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Upgrade blues: The screenager vs. the teacher of argument

Posted By Scott Warnock On In technology,virtual children by Scott Warnock | 34 Comments

One trait of being a “screenager” is the love of upgrades. In a bit-based world governed by the never-ending promise of Moore’s Law [1], they live for the next best device.  My daughter has been campaigning for a new cell phone to add to her growing list of devices, including a one-year old cell phone that she has lost… no, more on that in a moment.

She pleaded her case via a letter. Since I am currently teaching persuasive writing, I decided to respond to her articulation of her 21st-century desires with the age-old tool of rhetorical analysis. Her original documents, with her permission, are scanned here* (see note below), and my response follows.

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Dear Elizabeth,

Thank you for your letter. You are turning into a talented—and persuasive—writer.

Speaking of persuasion, you know I teach persuasive writing. In fact, I’m teaching that very course this term. I wanted to respond to your letter based on the three rhetorical appeals (as identified by Aristotle [4]some 2,000 years ago, amazingly). Rhetoric is the art and skill of using language effectively. In many ways, you are quite a good rhetorician.

First, I will look at pathos, which is an appeal to your reader’s emotions. You apologize to me for not being “the nicest girl lately.” You decorate your letter (and the envelope) with hearts. You say “I love you.” You refer to yourself as my “little bear,” which you know makes me feel all gushy. You use nice paper. These appeals did make me want to make my little girl happy, which is what you intended. You were successful in appealing to pathos in your argument.

Next I will examine ethos, which focuses on the writer’s character. Ethos helps to persuade by telling your reader you are intelligent, knowledgeable, and fair. You do a decent job here. You tell me you have done well in school. You inform me that you are “pretty good” with your room. You then list some generous things, including recent incidents of sharing pudding and gum with me, helping me with our turkey fryer [5], and assisting me when I’m coaching. Those things make me think of you as a good person, but the real question is whether they establish that you are someone who should get a new phone, and I don’t think that you do that effectively.

Finally, we come to logos, which is the use of solid reasoning and evidence to make an argument.  Here your argument is weak. As you yourself point out, you’ve been “irresponsible” with your other two phones. You say you need a new phone mainly because your phone runs low on battery after a day. It seems easy enough to fix that: Get you a new battery. You also say the main advantages of the new phone are that it “is a great size” and “is a great phone.” You use the word “great” repeatedly, but I don’t really see the greatness based on your argument. Your reasoning does not convince me that your life will be improved by the purchase of a new phone.

Unfortunately, in terms of your overall argument, your logos is not strong enough to persuade me. You are a great little girl. Your work in school can be magnificent. You do some work around the house. And of course I love you more than anything.

But these things do not mean you get a new phone. You’ve had a phone for a year. You’ve lost it twice (once we were lucky enough to get it back). We also received a free iPod Touch in September, which you promptly confiscated. You have plenty of devices. The cell phone plan you are on expires in February 2012. That may seem like a long time from now, but the reality is it is not. Time moves quickly. 2012 will be here soon, and at the end of your two-year contract I promise that as long as you do not lose your phone again, you will be entitled to an upgrade next Valentine’s Day.

For now, your phone is fine for your needs. So, while you stirred my emotions and did reinforce that you are a good person , your argument did not have enough logical, convincing evidence that you should get a new phone.

Love,
Daddy

*I would be remiss if I did not add that she only permitted the publication of her letter because she felt it would help her garner support from members of the digerati, who no doubt understand her pleas in ways that I cannot.

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Scott Warnock [9]

Scott Warnock is a writer and teacher who lives in South Jersey. He is a professor of English at Drexel University, where he is also the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education in the College of Arts and Sciences. Father of three and husband of one, Scott is president of a local high school education foundation and spent many years coaching youth sports.
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