Back to School by Barack Obama.

Back to school by Barack Obama “No matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you will need an education to do it” (p. 8 l. 46) In “Back to school”, Barack Obama urges students to make their education a priority, and encourages them to try hard, and study hard, because only the individual holds the key to the door, that will lead them to their dream future.

By using himself as an example and making several other examples, he tries to convince everyone who is studying to take responsibility for their education, the future of their country, and their lives.This text is a speech, by Barack Obama, The President of the United States of America. The subject that he addresses is the responsibility everybody has, for their own education, and making sure that everybody knows how important it is, to take education seriously. The speech takes place at Wakefield High School in Virginia, and is meant for everyone who’s going to school, and studying.

He starts out by politely greeting everyone watching from the school, TV, and thanking everyone who has been helpful. He speaks to the audience, as were they all his equals, and he nothing but a mere man, and not the president of the United States of America, using humor to put himself on the same level as the audience, and to make them feel comfortable; “… some of you are probably wishing it were still summer and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little bit longer this morning” (p. 7- l. -9) Thereafter he tells about, how he himself lived in a family, consisting of him and his mother, where they didn’t have much money, so he couldn’t go to an ordinary American school, so he had to work extra hard to learn just as much as the ones who went to better schools, being homeschooled by his mother at 4.

30. In the morning. What he uses here is pathos, reaching out to the audience, and appealing to their feelings, making them think that when the President of the United States of America, can go from almost nothing, to something so great and prestige’s, so can they.Therefore he uses pathos to inspire the young students to work and study hard, just as he did. He also uses pathos, saying; “… what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? ” making the audience feel guilty, and makes them feel that they should contribute, in making America better.

The fact that he is the president of the United States also gives him credibility from the start, also what is called ethos.He is a man that a lot of people look up to and he has an authority, being the president of the United States, and therefore it’s easier to convince people that his goals and ambitions are the right ones. He also uses logos, to appeal to the audiences logical and common sense. With sentences like; “you can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and learn for it and train for it”(p. 8- l.

49-50), he expect the audience to use their common sense, to see that what he is saying is logical, and that they should get a good education.Feature Article - Michelle ObamaTo get his message forward and to put a focus on something, he uses the rule of three, which is when you repeat 3 words in the same category after each other. He uses it several times, when describing, what you will need an education for; “You want to be a doctor, or a teacher or a police officer? “(p. 8 –l. 47) he describes some very popular jobs, using the rule of three to make his point clear.

To get a nice and proper job, you need an education. Throughout the text he repeats the words; education and responsibility.This is called conduplicatio and is used to highlight the theme and what are important in the text. Because he repeats these words so much, there are no doubt that education and responsibility are the keywords.

Barack Obama clearly shows throughout the text, that he has got some clear values. “I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn” (p. 10-l. 162-163) He’s trying hard to make it easier for everyone to learn something, because he thinks it’s important to get a great education.

But he also think that students have to take responsibility for their education and life, and that the only way forward is to get an education; “No matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you will need an education to do it” (p. 8 l. 46) Failure is the last thing that he will accept as an excuse to not trying to succeed in life; “… you can’t let your failure define you- you have to let them teach you” (p. 10-l.

131-132) He wants the students all over, to never give up, and try again and again, if they fail the first or the second thing.