Michael Moore’s essay “Idiot Nation” focuses on the steadily declining intelligence of America due to the insufficient education being provided, and the politicians who are more than a little to blame for it. In Moore’s writing he discusses the leaders of America who set an embarrassing example for our society, and are essentially teaching our students that you don’t need to be smart to be successful anymore. The essay touches base on the mediocre materials and facilities that are provided for our students due to budget cuts by our country’s government, such as text books printed in the 1980’s or earlier and the buildings that are leaking from the ceilings and really are not fit to be housing our children for 7 hours a day. However aside from the politicians such as George W. Bush telling our students that a C average can make them president too, Moore is also shedding light on the undesirable wages and treatment of school faculty too. In the essay there are several quotes from sources such as the New York Times that bash our teachers for the mediocre education that our children receive, while in Moore’s eyes our teachers do not receive half of the credit they deserve for dedicating so much of their lives sculpting and teaching our children, and their salary is less than what their students earn selling drugs.
In his essay “Idiot Nation,” Michael more discusses undeniable facts about the decline of public education in the United States; however his attitude and political opinions towards the matter are highly controversial. Regardless of Moore’s attitude and opinions being controversial though, his essay successfully sheds light on the problems surrounding education today.
Moore’s essay primarily appeals to Aristotle’s Logos, he is able to provide facts and use logic to outline the wrong turns that our education system has taken, and to even provide ideas that could be acted on to restore schooling to what it should be. Moore discusses a multiple choice test...