The Speech the Graduates Didn’t Hear
Jacob Neusner’s speech to graduates is persuasive and compelling to students after college to prepare for the realities of life. Using various figures of speech, Neusner succeeds in communicating the central message to prompt students to action. Through ethos, he appeals to their emotion and proves that he is a credible professional in the field of education. He employs the right vocabulary for his audience to direct their attention to his submissions. Neusner also applies ethos to persuade his students by appealing to their emotions. The speech comprises statements that evoke both anger and sympathy, thus compelling students to change their perspectives in life. Neusner also appeals to logic by calling his audience to reason by referring to a different author to make a compelling case in his speech. Neusner’s statement presents a persuasive argument to students and prompts their action through ethical appeal. Emotional engagement and intellectualism to inspire his students to action. Neusner’s speech employs an excellent combination of ethos, pathos, and logic to make a passionate appeal to the audience to change their perspectives about life after college.
The author makes a compelling introduction and proves to his audience that he is a credible professional in his field. He does this by taking collectively as “we the faculty” and deviates his ideas to personal thoughts. Neusner proves that he knows the subject matter by telling his audience that he has spent sufficient time with them in the classroom. The speech shows that his students knew him because he had interacted with them at college. By referring to his experiences with the students in class, Neusner appeals to ethos to prove that he is qualified to talk about the subject. Through ethos, speakers show their credibility through the appropriate use of language and vocabulary in a fair and unbiased manner. Neusner wins the confidence of his audience because he talks about his real-life experience with graduates. Although the target audience never heard the speech, Neusner continues to challenge many other graduates that read his submissions afterward.
Neusner severally employs pathos to draw an emotional response to the speech. Through this tool, the author brings anger, pity, and compassion and creates a resolve among his students to adopt a favorable attitude towards life. Neusner is forthright and candid in his speech when he talks about the complaints of the student. He says, for instance, “you have learned at Brown (University) that when your work goes poorly, the painless solution is to drop out. But starting now, in the world to which you must go, failure marks you”(Neusner). The statement evokes pity at the realization that the students must face what they have escaped during their four years in college. Besides, Nausner’s speech evokes sympathy when he says, “you did not keep appointments, we made new ones. When your work came in beyond the deadline, we pretended not to care” (Neusner). The author communicates the reality of the work of the faculty in dealing with the unreasonable conduct of students and causes them to sympathize with them. Through this, they learn that the lecturers presented an artificial reality to them while at school, and they must change their attitude after graduation. Neusner shows that although the lecturers knew the correct thing, they bent the rules to accommodate the demands of the students. The statement also draws anger from the audience who feel that college has not prepared them for the realities of life. Through pathos, Neusner succeeds in using emotions to compel his listeners to adopt a different attitude as they begin life after college.
The speaker uses logic by making well-reasoned arguments to provoke the thinking of the students. Logos is a figure of persuasive speech where the author cites facts, logical reasoning, and analogies to present a compelling case to the listeners. Neusner exemplifies logos when he refers to a statement by Professor Carter A. Daniel; “It is conventional to quote in an address such as these. Let me quote someone you’ve never heard of…” (Neusner) By referring to another author, Neusner convinces his audience that his speech is based on reasoned logic rather than on personal imagination. Neusner talks to the intellect when he engages other literature and ensures that his audience thinks about his speech contextually. The speaker speaks to college students, and his use of logic fits well in his presentation. Neusner moves beyond a personal submission and an appeal to emotion to placing his briefs in a logical context to increase the impact to his target audience.
Neusner succeeds in making a winning submission to his audience through an innovative use of figures of speech. He appeals to ethos by convincing his audience that he has worked with students, and his observations are genuine. Neusner also evokes anger and sympathy by using pathos at several points in his speech. By appealing to emotions, the speaker ensures that his listeners will think about his thoughts for a long time and adopt changes in their attitudes. The author finally employs logos by referring to a fellow scholar to engage the minds of his listeners. The speech the graduates did not hear presents an excellent combination of ethos, pathos, and logos to make a compelling appeal to the audience to change their perspective about life beyond college.
References
Neusner, J. The speech the graduates didn’t hear