Rhetorical Analysis #3--Speech

What are the consequences of education on children’s creativity?

Claim: Education instructs children out of creativity.

Reason: Because schools are more worried about educating one part of children’s brain rather than their whole being.

Implicit Assumption: Whatever educates one part of a child’s brain rather than their whole being also instructs children out of creativity.

Audience: American adults at the 2006 TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) conference; these are people who value imagination and innovation.

Goal: To radically review our view of intelligence; we need to realize that it is diverse, dynamic, and distinct. We need to rethink the fundamental principles on which we educate our children.

How: The credibility for this speech is mostly based on the fact that it was presented at the TED conference. This is a conference that some of the most famous and celebrated innovators come to and present their ideas: Bill Gates, J.J. Abrams, Richard Dawkins, J.K. Rowling, and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. He builds ethos by making reference to some of the other presenters, showing that he pays attention to what his audience values. Another way Sir Ted Robinson builds ethos and credibility is through building an immediate relationship with the audience. He creates this relationship through pathos and through his humor and lightheartedness he connects to the audience instantly. He also connects to his audience by having them reflect on something that they value: education. He tells stories that cause emotions like amusement, concern, and empathy. Yet with his particular audience, Robinson spends the most time on logos. He claims that with the education inflation (more and more people are graduating with college degrees), suddenly degrees aren’t worth anything, implying that something else must be gained throughout education such as creativity. He also explains that kids like to take risks, they are not afraid to be wrong, yet our society is educating them out of their creative capacities. Education often tells students that what they are good at or what they like to do (like the arts) are not important or valued in society and will never help them find a job. This speech is sufficient, there is so much more he could have said but in his time allotment, he said just enough. He presented stories, facts, and logic for the audience to take away and ponder. This is a typical speech for the TED conference and for the target audience. It is also very accurate. Although he seems to give a lot of his own opinion, he uses some facts to back up his logic. He also uses stories about real people to prove his accuracy. His story about Gillian Lynne proves his point that creative and artistic people can be successful if education allows them to be. Overall, it is very relevant to the conference and the audience who value imagination and innovation.

Effectiveness: This is a very effective and entertaining speech. This particular target audience would not be persuaded without the use of logic, thus, the logic is the lynch pin. Robinson realizes this and uses a lot of logic to build his argument.