Week Five Checkpoint - Recognizing Rhetorical Devices

My thesis, as presented in the week three analyzing sources assignment, was: "home schooling has numerous advantages over its public school counterpart." This used the a rhetorical device of elevating home schooling above public schools by the very positive phrasing towards home schooling.

My restated positions:

The catering to the lowest common student in public schools results in a far inferior education as compared to the individualized and private attention and curriculum that a home schooled student receives.

Most parents who have chosen to home school have found it to be a much better educational experience for their children as compared to public school.

I think that the strongest position is: "The catering to the lowest common student in public schools results in a far inferior education as compared to the individualized and private attention and curriculum that a home schooled student receives." The sentence begins with the rhetorical device of down playing public education. This serves to immediately set the tone that public school is an inferior educational environment. The sentence then goes on to use very powerful and positive words in connection with home schooling.