Cave Made a Classroom in Syria

            This article is on the changes that Syria has had to make in their educational system because of their Civil War.  There have been bombing raids on over 2,000 schools in Syria, and because of that, one school decided to move their classes into a cave.  Although it was from CNN, the article is not completely credible as all of the facts are based off of social media websites (it was too dangerous for reporters to go investigate).  Therefore, there are some hesitations that must be taken when evaluating the facts of this text.  The civil war currently going on in Syria makes everyday life impossible for citizens there.  This prompted CNN to cover a story on the struggles that are normal life in Syria. 

            Intended mainly for people living outside of Syria, the article intended to portray the devastations that are occurring there.  In order to do this, as one would expect, the author uses both pathos and logos in order to shape the readers’ views on the subject.  Pathos was used in describing the dire situations and turmoil, and logos then backed up the descriptions with facts and quotations.  Also, the reader compares and contrasts the situation of the school with some of the beauties in Syria.  This is done to make the reader realize that the Syrian children and educators have lost the beauty and fun in their lives.  Even though the author uses these rhetorical devices well, he does not accomplish his purpose of trying to portray the harshness of Syrian life to the reader.  This is because his diction is very imprecise and his placement of ideas is poorly thought out.  For example, the article states in talking about the teacher, “While the cave's stone walls and its remote location offer protection, he says, it is still dangerous for the children to go to and from school. He groans about the lack of supplies, the small blackboard and the dim lighting” (Brumfield 12).  These two statements draw two completely different emotions from the reader when they read them, and it makes both of them ineffective.  Also, the title makes the article sound like something interesting and impressive that a school in Syria has done.  It was very shocking to realize the situation which put the students in the cave.

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