Aid If Possible

            Peter Singer writes on world poverty in his essay “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” and the steps that the American people have had to help end world poverty but have not taken. Beginning his article with a summary of the movie Central Station, Singer uses it as a transition to state his thesis, “…so much of our income is spent on things not essential…that money could mean the difference between life and death for children in need” signifying his ideology somewhat of a progressive.
            Something that I commend to Singer’s article is his use of all three modes of persuasion: pathos, logos, and ethos. Singer’s description of the main character in “Central Station” and her conscience ultimately intervening in saving a boy who she had sold off unknowingly to organ harvesters attempts to make a connection with our own consciences and remind us that we have the ability to take action. For ethos, in what makes him a qualified authority on the wrongness of poverty, Singer says in passing, “…a utilitarian philosopher like myself…”  And Singer’s use of logos stems from his reasoning that after the American people use their income to pay for the necessities, the remaining money is spent on luxuries. Singer argues that the spending of luxuries is the same as looking a needy child in the face and choosing to look the other way for the sake of greed. And in my personal opinion this is true, as a people with such a high standard of living, we should be able to sacrifice more for poverty among other things. But Singer’s claim that the sole use American’s have for their money not spent on necessities is for luxuries is a logical fallacy that needs to be addressed.
            Singer’s claim that all money remaining from necessary expenses (i.e. housing, groceries, gas, insurance, utilities, and taxes) is used on luxury items and entertainment. However, Singer does not take into account other factors such as the uncertainty of the future and wisdom of saving money for unforeseen circumstances. There are also family responsibilities such as caring for your elders and children and especially with tuition for education. Also on the list if you are a religious Christian or Catholic, you tithe ten percent of your income. One thing to note is that the people Singer addresses are the well off middle class people who seem to have money left over for their use, but the reality is many people even in the middle class struggle to meet ends meet.
In the end what sticks out the most is the idea of tending to one’s own before others. It is a selfish reality, but that is the reality we live in.

The Real Issue with Grade Inflation

           Grade inflation is an interesting topic for anyone related to education. There is a significantly sized belief among the people of the United States that grade inflation is running rampant and unchecked among the U.S. education system. Where that belief stems from, I do not know, but in the article “The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation” written by Alfie Kohn, Kohn credits this opinion due to unreliable self investigations he deems as extremely sketchy in their credibility and in turn offers his opinion of a more reliable source on grade inflation, a research conducted by a senior research analyst of the U.S. Department of Education. The results show marginal change in the rise of grades over the years.
            Kohn conveys several important ideas to the audience surrounding grade inflation. First, the claim that students in modern times do less work than that of students in the past is nearly impossible to soundly back up. Second, the standard definition of grade inflation belongs to the critics. Personally, I believe that it is better to grade by a standard so that grading will be fair and can be referenced across the board rather than based on every single teacher’s opinion of how the grading scale should be. 
            Kohn addresses the topic in an informative tone based on an attempt at logos unlike in Harvey Mansfield’s article “Grade Inflation: It’s Time to Face the Facts” where Mansfield makes an attempts at ethos by placing his credibility in his position as a professor at Harvard. In my opinion, Mansfield is a believer of grade inflation due to his position as a professor in one of the most prestigious schools and arguably the number one in the world, and as such, he would naturally have high expectations of his students. 
            But unlike Mansfield, Kohn addresses the other side of the argument, where he assumes grade inflation is real and what its implications would be. This makes Kohn’s argument much stronger that Mansfield’s. However, what impressed me the most about Kohn’s article was the way he used the subject of grade inflation and weaved his article together so that he could address one final point that was linked to the education system in the United States and that is that our education system is fundamentally flawed down to its very building blocks and suppresses the true potential of the rising generations. Rather than encouraging learning for the sake of learning, grades put the emphasis on results and churns out excessive stress as a byproduct.