Kelly 1 Mary Grace Kelly Z1698595 English 104 Rhetorical Analysis Keeping The Promise to All Americas Children

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan delivered his speech Keeping The Promise to All Americas Children at the Council for Exceptional Children Convention and Expo on April 21, 2010. His intended audience was the members of this convention and the possible voters on this issue. In this speech, Duncan outlined the U.S. Department of Educations plans to ensure that all children have a fair chance at a successful future regardless of their race, gender, or disability. By thoroughly explaining the problem, progress, and solution of the disability issue in America through establishing creditability and appealing to both emotion and logic, Arne Duncan successfully supports his impressive and informative argument. Duncan clearly adds ethos, logos, and pathos into his speech when he discusses the disability issue in America. He introduces his argument by raising awareness for the problem of undereducated disabled citizens. In order to strengthen his argument, he establishes his credibility on the issue. He opens his essay by stating, President Obama and I believe that every child deserves a world-class education (para. 1). In this line, he gains the listeners trust by associating himself with Barack Obama, the President of the United States. Duncan also successfully appeals to logic by citing statistics and dividing the issue into the categories of economic and moral problems to make his argument easier to understand for the audience. In the fourth paragraph, Duncan states, Thanks to the advocacy and hard work of people and organizations like the Council for Exceptional Children, six million students with disabilities are

Kelly 2 in school- and millions of them are thriving. By citing this statistic, Duncan describes the amount of students with disabilities succeeding and the amount of students who still need the opportunity to succeed. By dividing the issue into economic and moral problems, Arne Duncan successfully demonstrates that there is more than one dimension to the nations lack of education. He relates the economic problem to the fact that countries that out-educate us today will eventually out-compete us tomorrow, and this creates a lasting impression on the audience. He explains the issues moral problem by stating that it is only fair that all American citizens receive an equal opportunity for education regardless of their race, nationality, or ability. Finally, Duncan sufficiently argues this issue by appealing to the audiences emotion by frequently addressing them directly. In paragraph 12, he says, In this tough economy, hundreds of thousands of education professionals could be facing layoffs. Maybe you are one of them- maybe one of your colleagues or friends is. This statement causes the listeners to reflect on how this problem of education affects their lives personally. After explaining the problem of education in America, Arne Duncan focuses on the current progress that our country is making on this issue by including ethos, logos, and pathos. He discusses his relevance on the issue by establishing the credibility of those he is currently working with in order to achieve his goal. Duncan introduces his colleagues by stating, In congress, we are fortunate the education committees are led by two great champions for students with disabilities- Senator Tom Harkin and Representative George Miller (para. 10). The audience is immediately able to trust the work of Duncans colleagues because they hold high positions in the American government. Duncan also appeals to logic by citing the current statistics of the education of disabled students. He says, Today, 57 percent of students with disabilities spend at least 80 percent of their day within the regular school environment (para.

Kelly 3 14). This simple statistic is able to offer the listener insight on the vast amount of disabled students who are forced to go to institutions other than the traditional school setting in order to learn. Finally, Duncan appeals to the emotion of the audience by telling a quick story about the benefits of integrating disabled and non-disabled students in the same school. He speaks about how Kaitlyn, a non-disabled student, was able to become best friends with a student with Down syndrome because they were paired together in P.E. class. This heartwarming story supports his argument that disabled and non-disabled students should be able to attend the same school. Duncan also appeals to emotion by using parallelism in this story. In paragraph 14, he states, Theyre eating lunch with them. Theyre making art with them. He uses this literary device to emphasize the power of integration between disabled and nondisabled students. Once Duncan thoroughly explains the current progress on this issue in America, he includes ethos, logos, and pathos into the possible solutions. He introduces the acts that he wants to revise by once again stating his credibility. In paragraph 27, Duncan says, From Washington, were working hard to ensure that we have the right policies and incentives in place to help states and districts accelerate achievement for all students, including those with disabilities. This line insinuates that members of the White House are working tirelessly in order to improve this issue, thus causing the audience to better understand his efforts. Arne Duncan appeals to logic by clearly stating how much money Congress needs in order to be able to carry out his plan. He cites, We will invest in almost $4 billion in programs that recruit, prepare, develop, retain, and reward effective teachers (para. 35). With this information, the audience is able to learn the importance and seriousness of this issue. Finally, Duncan effectively appeals to the audiences emotion by involving them in the governments plans. In paragraph 37, he says, I want to challenge each of you to be personally responsible for the success of your students once they

Kelly 4 graduate. This appeals to the audiences emotion because it holds them personally accountable for the success of his program and the well-being of disabled students. Although Arne Duncan successfully supports his argument, his speech contains a few flaws. When telling the story about the friendship of Kaitlin and Kathleen, Duncan commits an anecdotal fallacy. Instead of citing statistics on how many disabled students successfully associate with non-disabled students and making a valid argument, he tells this story. While this story is appropriate for his argument, it gives the reader a slanted concept of how disabled and non-disabled students react to one another. A major problem that could occur if all students, disabled and non-disabled, were integrated could be that the other students bully the disabled students. By telling this story, the reader automatically assumes that all students successfully become friends in the normal school setting. Duncans speech also contains a few examples of the appeal to power fallacy. While stating that he works with President Obama helps him establish credibility, he uses Obamas power to make the listener assume that his arguments are automatically correct. By opening his essay with, President Obama and I believe (para. 1), Duncan is insinuating that his belief is correct because the President of the United States also believes that very idea. Despite his few fallacies, Arne Duncan successfully argues his case throughout his speech by establishing credibility and appealing to both logic and emotion. His method of organizing his speech by raising awareness for the problem, describing the current state of the issue, and explaining his hopes for improvement in the future adds to the success of his speech. Duncan consistently validates his speech by adding statistics and personal anecdotes. By listening to this speech, the audience is able to learn every aspect of the issue in an efficient way.