“Waking Up and Taking Charge” by Anya Kamenetz. This article talks about college students and how we can take control of our lives/money back. It is very much involved around money and how college students come out of school with so much debt. The author gives helpful suggestions about how we can take the control back and what action we can take. She also talks about how people in Canada and in America are taking control of the situation and actually doing something about their debt.
Kamenetz is a factual writer. She is very forth giving about the information she has and she has information to back up the information. She clearly has done her research about college debt and what we as college students or parents can do to help lower or pay off our debt. She talks about how we should take charge of our student loans by forming a PAC. She puts readers to ease when she talks about how if you have debt you don’t need to worry because there are ways to get out of it. She brings facts into the article when she starts talking about Canada and everything they have done and how they aren’t just done yet, that there is still more to come. She mentions a few programs that have been successful and that have been put out there for students to use. She is giving so many different resources and I believe that if used in the right way can be very beneficial.
I think the author has a great idea with joining a PAC. I think when Ferguson says “We’re trying to find a way to support mainstream, bipartisan, middle-of-the-road issues that affect all of us on a day-to-day basis,” that he truly want to help everyone because, he understands the struggle with debt and that joining the PAC is allowing him to not only help himself but others. I believe that a student run PAC would be very beneficial and would help students tremendously with student loans and debt. I go to school on a very good scholarship due to my active role in the Ohio National Guard. Now the guard helps with my schooling but somethings I still have to pay out of my own pocket and no it is not a lot but it is still quite a bit. Now for people who chose a different path in life that is perfectly okay but they might struggle a bit more with having to pay for schooling. I feel that those people shouldn’t to suffer in debt and that there should be something else for them, and Kamenetz is giving it to them in this article. She is giving them a life line that they can chose to grab onto and make their lives a whole lot easier having no debt because, they are choosing to do something about it.
I personally like this author. Now I know my opinion is not yours and you have to make one for yourself but she articulates herself well. She gets her points across without making you feel like this is your only option. She gives her suggestions as to what her research has proven successful and from there allows the reader to for their own opinion, but she doesn’t do this without her facts and that’s what I like. She gives the facts and isn’t pressuring you into anything. She is however persuading the readers because after reading her article she wants us to go out and take action and do something about our debt.
She is a reasonable reasoner because she isn’t arguing for herself she is doing it for the readers because she is thinking about them and not herself and just her points. She wants to help her audience. She is also reasonable because she in very informative about her content. She knows what she is talking about and she is able to articulate it very well to her audience. She also is fair, she knows that her way isn’t the only correct way and she mentions it but she is critical on herself in that way but that was all that I was able to pick apart in her writing, so I don’t think she is very self critical but she does make it a point to say something. I believe that the information she provided was good but I wanted more. She gave the readers just enough information to calm their nerves about debt and that there are ways put of it but, she didn’t give me personally enough details. She talks about PAC and VA21 but I would have liked to know a bit more about it. I know that this is an article and if I truly wanted more information that I can research it on my own after reading the article but, I feel as if that is the authors job to give me that much information that I shouldn’t have to research it on my own.
In conclusion I believe that Anya Kamenetz is a good writer and gives reader the facts. I think she writes well to her audience and that her information will be able to help a lot of college students and parents. She is well informed and isn’t just writing to make her point but to help her audience the best way she knows how.
ENGLISH HWK 