The Heavy Weight Of Student Loans: Critical Analysis Of The Article On Forgiving Student Loan Debt
Student loan debt can delay graduates from making major life decisions. The process of buying a home or a car, isn’t as easy for graduates because of the burden of student loan debt. Many students report stories of low-wage jobs, pricey debt and even unemployment. Kayla Webley, specialized in new media at Northwestern University and University of Washington, addresses the issue on whether we ought to forgive student loan debt. As a journalist, Webley effectively argues that forgiving student loan debt would be inadequate for the economy, in her essay “Is Forgiving Student Loan Debt a Good Idea”.
Webley with confidence quoted information from a pundit source, Robert Applebaum. Webley attested that his article is faulty and she did this so very effectively. Webley didn’t support the fact that forgiving student loan debt would not only hurt the economy but it would give students who are attending or have attended college the wrong idea. Applebaum used his personal experience of being in debt to “support” his article but Webley proved that that there were many flaws in his logic.
Webley begins her essay with the appeal of logos and using a popular social media site, Facebook, to capture the audience's attention. This is her way of persuasion, which may not be the most ideal, but it’s still effective. There is reasoning behind using Facebook as a way of persuasion and it keeps her audience intrigued. Webley addresses the importance of the issue to her audience by stating “student loan debt- currently valued at $1 trillion stimulates the still-limping economy”. Including this quote is effective because it’s important that the audience understands how crucial the topic is. Webley also asserts “the comment from the person posting this petition usually goes something like this, “guessing this will never happen, but can’t hurt to sign on”. Glimpsing at 670,00 signatures that the petition received, Webley assumes that people are just signing the petition because they see others are signing it, they aren’t really understanding the concept. Although Webley doesn’t have rational evidence, she just makes an assumption about society. Webley also makes the assumption that “college graduates are the type of people that society needs”. This quote is more of Webley’s opinion and shows the audience what side of the argument she stands on. If Webley implemented a statistic, this quote could have been used more effectively. Webley furthers her opinion and tries to simplify this problem by stating “unburden them. . . might improve, along with the overall economy”. Webley demonstrates that she understands the opposing side of the argument, she doesn’t agree with it, but she still understands it.
Initially, Webely’s ethos is established as we read that she attended two major colleges and that she is the education correspondent for Time magazine. Webley concentrated on political science and journalism. Due to Webley’s background of studying political science it shows that she has dealt with economics, political science and economics are both social sciences. As for her essay, ethos and logos is prevailed as she uses statistics to boost her credibility and to verify that Applebaum’s information is inaccurate. Applebaum portrays that the majority of people are in debt near the scale of six-figures, which is misleading. Webley states “The average total debt at graduation is a much more reasonable-yet still significant-$27,500”. This statistic supports that even though $27,500 money is a remarkable amount of money, most people are not six-figures deep in debt, as Applebaum claims.
Pathos is used in Webley’s argument to draw the audience in through the appeal of emotion. Webley mentions that former students were telling stories about “unemployment, worthless majors, low-paying jobs and resulting six-figure debt”. These stories could provoke emotion for former students or even students who are in college and are financially struggling. Webley effectively implements this information because it can generate emotion to make her argument stronger. Webley also uses pathos when she states “even borrowers who can’t afford the standard repayment plan have existing alternatives if the loan is from the government”. This statement can induce intense feelings for people who are financially unstable. Impoverished individuals can feel embarrassed that they require an alternative route to pay off their student loans. Webley tries to get her audience to have an emotional reaction when she says “why should current debt holders be forgiven when for years people have paid their debts? Why should taxpayers - especially those who never attended college in the first place - foot the bill for the borrowers education?”. Webley’s audience can consist of people who have already paid off their debt or people who didn’t even attend college, she was trying to get her audience to think and relinquish Applebaum’s idea.
Clearly, Webley is on the opposing side of Applebaum’s article, but she does use a quote from Wolfer that is not logically supported. Webley says “Wolfers states, would be given 50 poor people $1,000 each, because that money would almost immediately be spent”. Webley doesn’t express whether she agrees or disagrees with Wolfe, she just repeats what he says with no evidence. This section of Webley’s essay seems ineffective to me due to the lack of evidence and logical reasoning to support this quote.
Personally, I feel like Webley’s essay is effective. She effectively proves Applebaum’s article and reasoning to be ineffective. Webley used many quotes that could have made the audience think twice about the information that Applebaum discussed. The majority of Webley’s essay supported why she came to the conclusion that Applebaum’s ideas are impractical. I do agree that Applebaum’s solution to this issue isn’t realistic. Bailing out every student or graduate one-time can really destroy the economy. Students can easily abuse this system and use it to their advantage. Webley’s use of pathos, logos and ethos made me realize that forgiving all student loan debt is a serious issue that has no simple answer.
