Hello my name is Will and I am a chronic procrastinator.


Everybody now, "Hi Will."


Now that that's out of the way let me break down an opinion piece for all you good people (at the last possible moment).  I've decided to go with Joe Nocera's article from the New York times, "Why We Need For-Profit Colleges".  As you might well have guessed, my opinion peace focused on the for-profit college industry.  I contended in my piece, and still contend today, that they are pariahs who stand in antithesis to everything that is good and decent in this country.  Mr. Nocera is a bit more accommodating.  Nevertheless I thought he did a fantastic job in his article of articulating the other side.  


First off he drew us in by establishing the immediate relevancy of his article, namely that Education Management Corporation was being sued by the Department of Justice.   After highlighting the case against Education Management Corporation, Nocera transitions into concession.  He concedes that this company is hardly the first in the industry to come under fire for their method of recruiting.  He also acknowledges the current political climate.  People see these companies raking in the dough at taxpayer expense and they're pissed.  He puts it slightly more delicately, "The shadow of scandal has, in turn, done a lot to color the way the larger society thinks about the industry."  By acknowledging the public perception, he in effect lessens its impact.  


There's a reason most athletes preface their excuses with, "I'm not going to make any excuses ....but."  Its effective.  This is essentially the strategy that Nocera takes.  He addresses the problems with the industry in a straight forward manner then transitions to explaining away some of those problems.  He does it quite artfully, too.  His order of claim, concession, rebuttal in actuality is more concession, rebuttal, then claim.  In this instance, though, it really seems to work.  Given the in all probability unpopular view he is espousing, his claim would fall on deaf ears if it weren't softened by concession first.  


Nocera Claims the country needs for-profit colleges to serve a sector of students that is often let down by traditional colleges.  He even utilizes a few red herrings in garnering support, namely highlighting a prominent critic Steve Eisman, a short seller who is betting against the for-profit industry.  It's really an irrelevant point, but somewhere someone's reading it thinking, "Yeah, I hate that Steve Eisman.  He's so smug.  Yay for-profit colleges."  Serioously, most of these fallacies wouldn't exist if they weren't so damn effective.  


Nocera does something else, that I actually think is really well done.  He offers a solution.  He's admitted the shortcomings of the industry, but has also stumped for its necessity.  In order for these two stances to gel, Nocera offers courses of action that could eliminate some of the failings of the for-profit model, or so he says.


Well, I think I've officially analyzed this article right into the ground, so look forward to seeing everybody in class tomorrow, and good luck with your papers.