News Article Paper

            In Philadelphia there have been many ideas for improving and funding schools. In the last few years our superintendent has been replaced twice and many neighborhood schools have shut down. The Philadelphia Inquirer printed an article about superintendent William Hite’s new plan to improve learning in the city. The article talks about Hite’s plan to improve reading levels in the early education of children. Hite wants to stop rewarding teachers for the numbers of years they’ve worked, and start rewarding teachers for positive results. Through word choice, imagery, and arrangement, the article makes superintendent Hite look lie a savior to the Philadelphia school district.

This article makes Hite sound like he is aggressively fighting for our children. The author of the article uses very powerful words to describe the superintendents actions in fighting for his proposal to pass. The article states, “Incoming School Reform Commission Chairman Bill Green is fully on board with the plan, an aspirational document that emphasizes ‘evidence-based strategies’.” Using words like “emphasizes” and the “aspirational document” make the proposal sound powerful and positive. Everyone in the city is behind the superintendent because he only has the best intentions. It is mentioned later in the article that money is an issue for the city, but they add the statement, “He said the district would aggressively advocate for more money and more stable funding sources and would seek outside partnerships to help advance his goals.” This word choice and arrangement emphasizes that the superintendent knows that funding is a problem, but is fighting his absolute hardest to still make these appropriate changes. The article makes Hite out to be a hero who is trying to save our children, but they fail to mention that action can be done without the funding, there is no private investor giving money, and that they have no funds to pay the teachers who warrant results.

Superintendent Hite is portrayed as a man of the people by showing that he interacts with children he is responsible for educating. In the image paired with this article, superintendent Hite is not the sole subject of the picture. Little children doing their homework surround him. This shows that Hite knows the children. If you think of the superintendent as a man who has seen the failure of our education system first hand, you will think that he knows exactly how to fix the system. The picture also shows the children as happy. The children are all smiling and interacting with the man who is leading them. Hite appears like a person that children the too and man that children can trust. With our last superintendent having to be forced out of office, it is a nice change for the parents to see a superintendent who interacts with the children and has their best interest in mind.

In a counter article, the teachers union discusses the expected filure of the superintendent’s new plan. Starting with the title, “Coalition reacts to Hite’s plan.” Using the word “reacts” sets a negative atmosphere to the article. This word sets up an image that the subject went on the defense about the plan, instead of being excited about the new plan. This article states that, while the plan sounds like a great theory, the plan will fail due to lack of funding and lack of support. “PCAPS members praised Hite for providing a thoughtful, detailed document that considered community input. They spoke approvingly of such strategic priorities as strengthening the curriculum, expanding early childhood education, improving special education and programs for English language learners, and providing more targeted interventions for troubled students. However, they expressed skepticism about the savings that school closings will provide.” This quote uses words like “praised”, “thoughtful”, and “approvingly” to demonstrate the teachers are the side of the students. If the author only wrote that the teachers did not believe in Hite’s new plan, it could come across that they don’t care about the students. The way the words are arranged in this statement show that the teachers approve of the education being strengthened, but the plan will not succeed without funding. “Gemmel said that the projected $28 million in savings from 37 proposed closures won’t amount to much — about 1 percent of the current deficit — even in the best-case scenario. What’s more, she said,  transition costs — such as the cost of new transportation and safety measures for transitioning students, and the cost of maintaining and selling unused buildings — will most likely eat up much of the projected savings.” They play up the superintendent’s high expectations and falsify his argument that money is not needed for his plan.

These two papers differ in their messages. The Philadelphia Inquirer focuses on the superintendent as a visionary for the city, but the Notebook article portrays his plan as a nice vision with a lack of funding. The articles use word choice, imagery, and arrangement to persuade the reader’s opinion of the superintendent’s new plan for the education system. The city wants the people in Philadelphia to be supportive of the schools and have a positive attitude towards the city leaders. The teachers want it to be made clear that the plan is a positive change, but the lack of funding makes these changes nearly impossible.