preview

The Concept Of A Single Valedictorian System In Margaret Talbot's Best In Class

Decent Essays

In The essay “Best in Class” reporter Margaret Talbot declares that the concept of a single valedictorian is a great idea; however, the system used to calculate a valedictorian candidate is flawed; she uses appeal to Logos and an unemotional persona to provide evidence in her report.
Talbot strongly uses Logos in her report on valedictorians by making convincing statements that the reader can easily grab onto. She does this by providing quotes from multiple people who have first hand experience on how the valedictorian system doesn’t work. When talking about the issues declaring a valedictorian in a school brings, Former principal of Sarasota High School, Daniel Kennedy, said that “Soon, the kids were doing everything they could to battle it out” (223). He is referring to an incident when a student was declared valedictorian, but the other students believed he cheated. Talbot uses Logos here to make the argument of how the system isn’t effective, as the current system used to calculate a valedictorian is choosing the student with the best G.P.A.; however Talbot clearly disagrees with this concept as she interviews multiple people about the highly debated issue. To allocate her claim further, Talbot interviews Stuart Kew, a principal at Mission San Jose who said that “We have such an outstanding student body that it was just hard to get that definitive” (226). Talbot includes statements like these to enforce her claim effectively as the reader will come to the logical

Get Access