3/9/2020 ENG2602

ASSIGNMENT 01

UNIQUE NUMBER: 874064

NAME: ANDILE NDANDA STUDENT NUMBER: 64773663
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE GIVEN TEXT AS A PERSUASIVE TEXT PAGE 2

BIBLIOGRAPHY PAGE 5

PLAGIARISM DECLARATION PAGE 5

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CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE GIVEN TEXT AS A

PERSUASIVE TEXT

In this newspaper article, the author is trying to persuade the reader that the current
ways adopted by schools to deal with violence are flawed and better solutions can be
used to eliminate it. As a chairperson of the Department of Education Policy Studies in
the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University, the author (Davids, 2014),
Professor Nuraan Davids, in this article is targeting the Basic Education policymakers
who are politicians. She uses the Mail and Guardian which has an audience that
includes political and business classes and South African intelligentsia (Advertise with
the Mail & Guardian - The Mail & Guardian, 2020). The words "…tells us that policies
and procedures…" in the article give us this clue. This tells us that this article was
written to expose the flaws in the policies and procedures that deal with school violence
and present a better solution that will yield the desired results.

How the text uses its title suggests that the author demands of her audience's response,
even if subconsciously. They should see that the current way of dealing with violence in
schools is flawed. The title is a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is often used to
emphasize a point and, in this case, the point is the futility of the current way of dealing
with school violence. The words "better" in the title seems to suggest this.

Furthermore, the author's use of punctuation is also designed to position the reader
towards her views about school violence. These punctuations give us intonation clues
and I argue that they give us the tone of the author which seems to be scoff and disdain
at how the government deals with school violence. The first example is the ellipsis that
the author has used. The author wants to get right to the point without delay or
distractions and this is the purpose of using the ellipsis. After the first and the third
paragraph, the author got rid of paragraphs to focus the reader on the most important
points of the argument (Ellipses | Punctuation Rules, 2020).

The author has made use of long sentence structure to build an idea in her reader’s
minds. The idea is the futility of the government’s initiatives, policies and procedures to
deal with school violence. Long sentences create slow and dragged reading which is

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very effective in building a picture or for explaining an idea to the readers. The author
seemed to have used only long sentences and did not mix them with short sentences
and as I have already explained, used ellipses to focus the reader's attention only on
the important explanations. With this, I infer that she wanted her listeners to grasp her
perspective on the subject.

I have also noted the use of formal language which makes the text more authoritative
and has more power of persuasion. The phrase "children are more likely to experience
violence at school rather than at homes" is a hyperbole and drives home to the reader
the seriousness of the issue that the author is presenting and serves as an indictment
against the methods that are currently used to prevent school violence. The word
"Despite" describes the utter failure of these methods which were employed by the
government. In addition to that, Professor Nuraan Davids is the chairperson of the
Department of Education Policy Studies in the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch, so
her words and observations on the “policies and procedures…” that deal with school
violence, do carry a lot of weight.

The above-mentioned devices appeal to the logic of the reader. He or she is made to
think and reflect deeply on how the government interventions against school violence
are failing. This would also bring about strong emotions of anger and disgust among
those who have been affected by school violence. By that I mean those who have had a
child stabbed by a schoolmate or a husband who is a teacher that has been shot by a
pupil and this would include family members and colleagues from all South African
schools. The author, using these devices, would succeed then in persuading them to
act by first considering what her solution to the dilemma is, and then see how they can
make sure that it is carried out.

Since the author is a professor and a chairperson of the Department of Education Policy
Studies and her observation on policies do carry weight, her words do sound opinions
rather than facts on the subject and that makes her discourse to become personal.
Although I am not oblivious to the fact that she might have data that proves her claims,
being the chairperson of the Department of Education Policy Studies, I argue that she
has made use of opinions rather than facts because her words are not backed by any

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study or statistics that she provided. She sounds like she has a personal vendetta
against the government policymakers, especially those that make education policies. To
substantiate this, one must look at how many times she places the blame or poke holes
into government initiatives, policies, and procedures aimed at preventing violence in
schools.

Furthermore, I argue that because of what I have just stated, the author’s judgements
may have been clouded by her personal vendetta against the policymakers and I would
not agree completely with her observations. This is because there are places where
government initiatives and policies are winning the fight against violence in schools.

The author is also writing from a first-person perspective. She uses the personal
pronouns "we", "our" and "us" in the third and second paragraphs respectively. By using
the personal pronoun "our" in the second paragraph, she causes the text to have an
inclusive feel and makes the text more personal. The readers can relate and feel
included in how anger and violence haunt schools. This is because the readers might
be parents and have children in schools and what is happening in the schools also
affects them.

The use of the phrase "It's a vicious cycle!" is what qualifies as an emotive language
which is designed to create in the reader a sense of hopelessness if the current
situation remains the way it is. By that, I am referring to the point made by the author
that learners unleash violence on peers and educators who in turn unleash violence and
humiliation upon learners. This creates a mood of hopelessness in the reader’s heart
that says to him or her that “Unless something is done about this, the learners and
educators are doomed to repeat their respective behavior over and over.” In this way,
the author becomes successful in soliciting the reader's involvement in the current
situation.

In conclusion, Professor Nuraan Davids is trying to persuade her readers that the
government initiatives, policies, and procedures are futile in dealing with school violence
and that a better solution could be employed to deal with it which is a collaboration
between teachers and parents. This, she has done using skillful writing and language

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devices that I have discussed to lure her listeners into action against these policies and
procedures.

Bibliography

Grammarbook.com. 2020. Ellipses | Punctuation Rules. [online] Available at:

<https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/ellipses.asp> [Accessed 16 March 2020].

The Mail & Guardian. 2020. Advertise With The Mail & Guardian - The Mail & Guardian.
[online] Available at: <https://mg.co.za/advertise/> [Accessed 16 March 2020].

Davids, N., 2014. There Are Better Ways To Deal With School Violence - The Mail &
Guardian. [online] The Mail & Guardian. Available at: <https://mg.co.za/article/2014-11-
07-there-are-better-ways-to-deal-with-school-violence/> [Accessed 16 March 2020].

PLAGIARISM DECLARATION

ASSIGNMENT NO. 01

NAME: ANDILE NDANDA

STUDENT NUMBER: 64773663

ASSIGNMENT TOPIC: PERSUASIVE PROSE

I declare that this assignment is my original work. Where secondary material has been
used (either from a printed source or from the internet), this has been carefully
acknowledged and referenced in accordance with the departmental requirements. I
have not allowed anyone else to borrow or copy my work. I understand what plagiarism
is and have read the university’s policy in this regard, available at:

http://www.unisa.ac.za/static/corporate_web/Content/Apply%20for%20admission/Docu
ments/Policy_copyright_infringement_plagiarism_16November2005.pdf

Signature:

Date: 16 March 2020