Dack 1 Aaron Dack ENG 1302-02 Mr.

Jeffrey Bilbro Essay 1 Summary and Response Word Count: 1,230 9-10-10 Cottoms Antagonistic Spider-Web Daniel Cottoms book Why Education is Useless attempts to enlighten readers on the downfalls of a modern higher education. From the start, Cottom outlines his thesis by pointing out shortcomings of education today. In the beginning, Cottoms first few points describe how education destroys common sense, leads us away from practicality, and isolates us from the rest of humanity. These first few paragraphs voice his frustration on how education blinds students to their worldly environment. Cottom organizes his essay by splitting certain metaphysical and physical views into consecutive bullet points. So, his next points ([education] hardens our hearts, lowers our spirits, weakens our bodies, and swells our heads) address how education breaks down our physical being. According to Cottom, education can make us think more than we feel, judge each other, and become a general know-it-all. As we read further into the paper we notice that there are themes of duality running through it. What is interesting to note is that Cottom purposefully contradicts himself. In this case, the duality themes (slaves and rebels) coincide: people that are educated are slaves bound by the social norm, and people that are rebels traditionally have been educated enough to cause an uprising. So, Cottom argues that education makes us slaves, but also argues that education makes us rebels. That is, one can be a slave to education, but as one becomes more educated they can decide if they should rebel against the norm. There are many cases of duality evident in Cottoms work. We see the relationship that education makes us turn from real life or become too real, as well as making us optimists and pessimists. It is not until the end of the paper that we see a solution to his list of problems. Instead of just accepting the fact that education is useless, we must acknowledge the despair

Dack 2 it tells. In essence, we must embrace the futility of education and counteract the social norm by figuring out that the argument that makes education useless, in the end makes us the closest thing to useful. The most interesting development in Cottoms work is his use of antagonism to prove his point. During the first few pages, we as an audience are led to believe that education is truly useless. In a sense, it is difficult to understand Cottoms writing because he has the main idea hidden under his own animosity. He uses despair as his way of stating that education is useful. Cottom says, If education is to have any value, we have to admit that it is useless. So, we must embrace the perdurable theme of antagonism towards education to truly reap the benefits it has to offer. The problem with Cottoms argument is he never outlines any specific solution to counteracting hostility to education. His ending line, I choose instead to hope against hope strengthens the despair aspect of his fight, but the reader ends the introduction confused. That is, Cottom chooses his words carefully so not to give his point away, but in doing so the reader is left with the difficulty of trying to understand the message Cottom attempts to convey. Underneath it all though, it appears that Cottom wants the reader to take away that education is useful. The problem is that Cottom appears to write an argument for education, but his message is lost behind all the antagonism. Cottom effectively uses antagonism to firmly prove a point, however difficult it may be to understand. With his antagonistic writing he shows his sarcasm towards the hostility that people have towards education. To prove his point, he mocks the arguments that critics use by strengthening their points. The best part about the writing is that it is convincing. In his practicality argument Cottom says, Practically speaking, after all, survival does not stem from fine words; it blooms from the barrel of a gun. He embraces the hostility of doubters arguments because the only way to truly know education is useful is to admit that it is useless. It is easy to see how his argument operates in the text, he states, and There are always more reasons to despair of education than there are to believe in it, just as there are

Dack 3 always more reasons to feel hopeless about the fate of humanity than to think that it will ever live up to its ideals. Cottom wants the audience to embrace the despair, surrender to it, and then education will show its meanings. Unfortunately for the reader, we will never know what those meanings are because Cottom never addresses the meaning of despair, or his interpretation of education. The irony behinds Cottoms work is that one has to be educated to understand the underlying themes he has to offer. Cottom hides his main ideas under an antagonistic faade, and the only way to truly know his interpretation is to be an educated individual. Although being educated can help you understand the outer layering of his ideals, it does not provide insight into the argument of despair. In general, Cottom does not explain how to surrender to the despair, or how to recognize that we need too. He states guidelines regarding how education is beaten down, but in the end never tells us how to battle back. The only solution he has is to submit to the uselessness of education. The point Im trying to make is that the writing is not backed up with enough evidence proving educations usefulness because it appears that Cottom believes it is. He says, The area of education with which I am primarily concerned, and most of all in the case of literature, which it is my despair to study. So, we can assume that Cottom believes that education is useful, because he is a professor. He has to think that education is important because he is the one teaching it. However, Cottom never acknowledges his support for education, and that in itself makes the essay hard to analyze. He has a strong foundation for the argument that education is useless, but not for his own argument that he is trying to convey. It is like he develops the opponents thesis, but never really develops his own. Basically, Cottom has the last three pages to justify why education is useful, but spends most of that time talking about how we should all surrender to despair. There is no writing about what happens after we surrender to the despair, or Cottoms idea of a useful education, which makes Cottoms argument appear underdeveloped.

Dack 4 In general, Cottom lacks the necessary focus on his own thesis to truly make his work powerful. He could perhaps develop it later in the book, but the introduction of a book is the forefront of ones argument. I would say that the first few pages of the introduction were almost a satire of the hostility towards educations principles. His antagonistic writing seems to be the only way for him to address the comical aspect of an argument against education. There is nothing wrong with antagonism. It gives a fresh approach on the dispute on educations importance. However, the reader cannot fully know what Cottom believes or the message he intends to convey. If Cottom had of toned down the antagonistic appeal of his writing, and strengthened the main idea behind his thesis by addressing despair, his claims would be better understood by the audience to which he writes.

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