Brittany Morris
English 101-01
November 12, 2009
The Consumer’s College
College is supposed to be the next step to furthering your education and creating a future.
Mark Edmundson wonders why students of the newer generations are lacking interest in their
education. In the essay On the Uses of a Liberal Education as Lite Entertainment for Bored
College Students, Edmundson criticizes the new generation of college students for not taking
chances and challenging their education, but he does not blame the students, he blames the
impact society has on them. He does this by uses rhetorical strategies such as; ethos, logos to
prove this point.
Mark Edmundson is a professor at the “famously conservative” University of Virginia.
Edmundson is a contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine and also the author of Nightmare on
Main Street, which is a study of the gothic in contemporary culture. As being a teacher,
Edmundson has had personal experience with college students, to have learned their actions and
reactions for learning.
As an educator at a college, it gives Edmundson a good way to present ethos in this
argument. As being a teacher his experiences are accurate and convincing, giving him the
credibility and trustworthiness to make the argument persuasive. Personally, I have been won
over by Edmunson. As a college student I see the actions and reactions from students and I
personally act the same, as he describes in the argument. As the writer and possibly the narrator,
he plays an important part in the essay. It would have been hard to write off of someone else
experiences but since they are his own they are convincible.
In the essay, Edmundson uses the rhetorical strategy logos, to support his claim that
college students are losing interest based on the consumer society. Supporting his claim,
Brittany Morris
English 101-01
November 12, 2009
Edmundson uses personal experiences from his classroom to prove the lack of interest. Using
evaluation day as an example, he describes the classroom living with a buzz. While on other days
Edmundson has to use jokes, anecdotes and question to get the class started. Edmundson also
describes the evaluation sheets, along with the responses on them, disturbing.
Although the responses Edmundson receives are good, they are not good enough for him.
Students evaluate the class as “interesting” and “enjoyable”. Edmundson states “Thanks but no
thanks. I don’t teach to amuse, to divert, or even for the matter, to be merely interesting…I want
some of them to say they’ve been changed by the course. I want them to measure themselves
against what they have read.” Along with saying the class was interesting; Edmundson would
have like to see if they had been changed by the course. As being an educator, the evidence
Edmundson presents is very effective. Many writers may argue from opinions but Edmundson
personal experiences show facts. The evidence is very effective and the argument constantly
unfolds itself to constantly prove his point throughout the paper.
Using how college is commercialized today, gives great support in claiming that society
is the reason for students’ lack of interest. In the essay Edmundson discusses how over the past
years, the advertisement of college has changed. Colleges do not advertise the college credentials
of the educators but they do advertise the dorms, athletics, and campus activities. His point of
this argument is to show “that at American universities, left-liberal politics have collided with
the ethos of consumerism. The consumer ethos is winning”.
Students should be able to rebel and disagree with the modern society. Edmundson states,
“Students should be able to run a critical commentary against the stream of consumer tastes”.
Edmundson believes society is the cause of students lacking fire and passion. Most of his
Brittany Morris
English 101-01
November 12, 2009
students are potent believers of equality; seem desperate to blend in and refuse to make
spectacles of themselves. Today college students are so focused on fitting in that they are scared
to show emotion, and be original. “This is a culture tensely committed to a laid-back norm”.
In the essay On the Uses of a Liberal Education as Lite Entertainment for Bored College
Students, Mark Edmundson targets fellow educators and college students to make a change.
Many may see him as being a crank but in the words of Oscar Wilde, “it is perilous to
promiscuously contradict people who are much younger than yourself”. Edmundson only seek
for both students and teachers to realize the decrease in the interest of education and decide to
change it.