Rhetorical Critique

Although Mark Edmundson's article in "On the Uses of a Liberal Education" possesses a meritorious theme and deserves much attention, his argument is not without dispute. For one thing, he seems to ignore the fact the professors today are inexorably opposed to other opinions. This can partly explain why students are often afraid to speak up in class. If a professor is going to rebuke students in front of their peers, then why should they even have the nerve to speak their mind? It's one thing to challenge students and correct them when they are wrong, but there's a threshold, and professor's often cross it too much.

There are a few other points worthy of mention. Edmundson articulates in his article that students are too complacent, not willing to deviate from the norm, and are not pursuing a higher degree of knowledge. But isn't competition to get into colleges today a little more so than, say, forty years ago? Are students not expected to be brighter and smarter than when their parents went to college? Edmundson gets caught up in our consumer driven society and the effects it has played on college students but neglects to mention that education and intelligence in our college community has been unparalleled by any other generation. Where does this fit into the picture and how does it relate with his argument?

My final critique of his article is that he does not propose any solutions to our consumer, complacent college community. He mentions the word "solutions" in the very last page of his incessantly long article, but offers no true solutions, only criticizing our capitalist country, as most college professors have a tendency to do. Then in the second to last paragraph of the article he proposes closing down fraternities and banishing sports and clubs, as if this is a realistic response to what has allegedly become a consumer driven college community.