Sharp, Erin: Burger Queen, Article Critique Example

This article showcases tremendous irony.  The author is a McDonald’s employee who has been mistreated and the victim of prejudice by her customers for thinking her unintelligent, ignorant and downright stupid.  However, the author also judges her customers in quite the same way with her stories and discussions of how the individual must have thought or should have thought during an order dispute.  This clearly shows that prejudice behaviors are a two-way street and often the judged are also the judges in return.  Overall, the article is extremely well written and details events with clarity and sarcasm that keeps the reader’s attention and focus throughout the entire article.  The author’s goal to communicate the reality of working at McDonald’s and the unfortunate treatment that employees receive at fast food restaurants is overwhelmingly successful.

Bennett, William J. Study Calculus!

William Bennett’s article discusses the age old question “why should I study this” that many students today ask every single day they sit in class.  Perhaps the greatest achievement is that Escalante strives to have his students think outside their current status as a high school student and consider life beyond the walls of a secondary education.  This article includes excellent quotations and has a personal touch that draws the reader in with the author’s own experiences and reactions.  The article is clearly a mini-biography of sorts, but it is also a message about the problems that the education industry faces on a daily basis.  The “way things have always been” argument for teaching a specific way or keeping teachers’ values outside of the classroom is totally destroyed with this article.  In a few short paragraphs, the author is able to make a concrete argument about education in the United States that few, if any, can refute.