Should the Government Cancel Student Loan Debt?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/13/learning/should-the-government-cancel-student-debt.html : Prompt 4: Carmen YohannesThis article dives into the current event regarding student loan debt and Biden’s plan to cancel and alleviate some of that debt. In this article, the title offers a little bit of mystery and creates a sense of curiosity for those who may be on the fence about this issue.
This author certainly fits into the “academic“ discord group. He clearly writes with intent to reach students and seek out their opinions. While reading this article you will notice the overwhelming amount of questions asked throughout the entire thing. Engle spends very little effort attempting to persuade the audience one way or the other, but rather asking insightful questions allowing us to come up with our own conclusion. In fact, he offers important points from both sides of the argument in order to present the information fairly. Engle demonstrates the use of Logos multiple times throughout the article when recounting facts and numbers that are important to consider when deciding whether or not to side with Biden’s plan. For example, he mentions how “45 million people owe $1.6 trillion” reminding us how prevalent student loan debt is in the United States. Overall, this article does not seem to have a thesis statement and seems to be written to tackle the question, is canceling some student loan debt is appropriate or fair? This argument could have been drastically better if the author was able to take a side and demonstrate reason; however, it is clear that was not the intention of this piece.