RUNNING HEAD: CRITICALLY READING A POSITION ESSAY1

Critically Reading a Position EssaySara DavisBaker College

Pay Your Own Way QuestionsThe issue in this essay is whether or not students should pay for their own college, and whether parents should be obligated to pay for it. The authors position is that college students should pay for their own education and parents should not feel obligated to pay for their childrens college. The author believes that students will learn valuable lifelong lessons and skills from working for their own education. Author Audrey Rock-Richardson provides evidence that she financially paid for her first two years of college making $4.75/hourly. She did not save for college before going during her high school years. She used public transportation. Her second two years her husband and her both paid for college without loans or scholarships. In addition, the authors parents successfully completed college without the help of their parents as well. Each of the authors arguments are successful because of her use of details. She uses ethos, pathos, and logos to convince the reader of her arguments. The author does not provide convincing evidence that the claim of being financially stable is a direct result of having to pay her own way through college. I believe the author could be just as successful financially even if she had received a scholarship, loan, or financial help from parents. These skills could have also been learned as she was growing up from her parents. She doesnt provide evidence supporting that students who receive financial aid get lower grades.

In the article titled Pay Your Own Way! (Then Thank Mom)* by author Audrey Rock-Richardson, many claims were made in support of paying your own way through college. There were some claims made that failed to use enough support to be considered a valid claim. The author failed to provide sufficient evidence on how she was able to financially put herself through school her first two years. The author claims that she was able to pay for her own college tuition at the University of Utah by working at a daycare facility part time. The author claims she worked approximately 25 hours a week and made $4.75 per hour, and was taking 18 credit hours. She also claims that she paid for her own books and supplies. The author did not use convincing evidence on how she was able to do this. In my opinion she should have followed up her argument with some statistics and basic calculations. A semester at the University of Utah in the years she attended roughly cost how much, and she should have included the amount that she was making each week or month. It would have also been beneficial to know how much books and supplies were for her at that time as well. The author also claims to have solely funded her college education on her own for the first two years. I simply got a job the summer following graduation and worked 40 hours a week. (Rock-Richardson, 2000). However, she fails to mention whether or not she was residing with her parents during those first two years. This makes her argument of other students being able to accomplish this frail from the lack of evidence. If Rock-Richardson were staying with her parents during this time it would be considered financial assistance from her parents. Her parents providing a home for two years enable her to spend her money from working on her tuition and materials instead of rent and utilities. Most college students would argue that it is near impossible to provide a residence for yourself and all the costs of tuition on their own. In conclusion, Audrey Rock-Richardsons believes parents should not feel obligated to pay for their childs college education and that students should not expect their parents to. However, her evidence for supporting her claims are mostly personal experience and opinion based. She fails to mention where she stayed for the first two years of her college education or evidence to support that students who pay for their own college education have better time and money management skills.