Pongprajuc 1

Thitirat Pongprajuc (Nuch)

Professor Gordon Dunne
ENGL 1010-070
15 April 2016
Rhetorical Analysis
In the article Homeschooling, City-Style: Why more and more city parents are teaching
their kids themselves by Lisa Miller, an editor of New York Magazine, is published in
nymag.com in October 2012, the author presents the idea of homeschooling in New York. Miller
makes arguments whether homeschooling is beneficial to homeschoolers. Miller wants to inform
the readers about the positive and negative points of homeschooling in New York, and she
persuades the readers to think carefully about the best education methods for their children. The
audience of this article is parents who are homeschooling or going to homeschool their children.
In the first section of the article, Miller starts visualizing her readers by explaining
privilege lifestyle of a small community of homeschooling parents at a gymnastics studio that
appeals to emotion of the readers to imagine they would have had such a leisurely time, if they
homeschooled their children. Then, she shift her argument discussing the origin of
homeschooling,
The term homeschool used to evoke images of conservative Christians in the rural
districts of western and southern states, who, in protest against secular education and the
eroding morals of the nations youth, took matters into their own hands. The earliest
homeschooling resourcesthe curricula and the online networks and message boards
were developed by Christian activists.
This paragraph appeals to ethos that Miller makes her article more credible by providing the
meaning and history of homeschooling, and it makes her seem to have knowledge to discuss this
topic.

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The next section, Miller reports some statistics of homeschooling, for example, the
number of children being homeschooled has exploded from 1.1 million in 2003 to 1.5 million in
2007, according to the U.S. Department of Education, so it makes her argument matter because
homeschooling has become popular in the past decade. After that she presents, mostly, though,
New York City homeschoolers are educated, middle-class people who dont like whats on
offer from the Department of Ed and cant afford or dont want to pay private-school tuition.
From this quote, Miller refers to demographic information that not only makes her article
reliable, but also makes the readers feel as if they are in the same boat by putting quotation
marks on the phrase educated, middle-class people. This phase also represents how smart she
is in term of using pathos and diction techniques in four words. Miller heavily uses ethos in this
paragraph to make her argument more credible. The author also implies that homeschooling
currently matters because she provides information, in New York City last year, 2,766 children
were being homeschooled, up from 2,550 in 2001011. It indicates the popularity of
homeschooling among New Yorkers in the year prior this article published.
Miller conveys reasons of home-based education. Logos takes role in this paragraph, but
some sort of diction, which author specifically uses some words to make the words have double
meanings, can be seen in this section as well,
With federal and state education policy placing ever-greater emphasis on core standards
and standardized tests, many parents want to give their kids something more creative,
flexible, and engaging than a school day they see as factory-made. The one-size-fits-all
model is especially unappealing to parents of children who are special in some way:
unevenly intelligent, intensely shy, immature, or in need of a flexible schedule to
accommodate their professional acting or dancing or musical careers.
The author makes her argument reasonable by addressing the reasons of creativity, flexibility,
engagement and specialty of some children make homeschooling remarkable. Moreover, the
diction of the words factory-made and one-size-fits-all refers to a regular school with

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mocking tone. It can appeal to the readers emotion that a regular school may not be the best
choice for their children.
In the next section, the author, on one hand, refers to the Department of Education about
how to get a homeschool license, which appeals to ethos. On the other hand, she addresses,
parents do not have to be certified or credentialed (nor do any tutors they use) and dont have to
abide by any particular schedule. It makes the readers critique teaching proficiency of
homeschool parents.
Furthermore, Miller uses ethos again by referring a 2011 report from the National Home
Education Research Institute and the College Board, which is administers the SAT that present
that homeschool students have higher academic performance than public-school students do.
This information builds her argument more believable.
However, the author conveys some negative aspects by using emotional appeal. She
presents a homeschool student who is lack of social skills. The student interview, I always
struggled socially. I didnt have close friends until I was 15. I dont think I have ever met a
homeschooler who doesnt have social awkwardness. This makes the readers sympathize the
student and reconsider if the homeschooling is worth it.
Miller shifts her argument to the homeschooling and the diversity of America. The author
borrows the credibility of a Columbia University professor to make her argument trustful by
referring the professors opinion about homeschoolers arent learning to be members of a
diverse society. Actually, she can talk about this topic without referring to anybody because
diversity is a general topic in society, but she mentions the professor name and positon because it
will greatly increase credibility of this article.

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Miller points out that homeschooling parents actually have to spend more money on
privilege study program such as violin class, sciences class or private tutors and classes. This
appeals to logic and emotion of the readers because if children get a good home-based education,
they would perform well on the standardized test, and the fact that no parents can be experts in
all areas would drive them emotionally to pay for this cost. Moreover, the author interviewed a
homeschooling mother if there is any bad experience homeschooling her children. My kids
bicker and make messes and sometimes dont want to brush their teeth or clean up or practice
their violin or do their schoolwork. Ive called my husband at work, in tears, because I didnt
think I could deal with the kids that day, said homeschooling mother. This interview makes the
article more credible because it is based on the real experience form a homeschooler. Moreover,
Miller uses tears as an emotional appeal that taking care of children on a daily basis and
educating them at the same time are not easy tasks for the mother. Then, Miller reports that the
mother would go back to work and send her children to regular school if her children do not
shape up in the way she wants. It implies that a regular school is still an acceptable education
method for homeschooling parents.
In conclusion, Lisa Millers points out that homeschooling is another good education
method for parents who are well-equipped to dedicate time and everything to raise their children
in their desired paths. If not, a regular school would be a better choice for their children. Miller
was successful in conveying the fact and insight of homeschooling by using rhetorical techniques
appealing the audience enjoy reading the article.