The Power of Audience

As far as persuasive writings go The Power of Audience by Steven Levy was not my favorite. The thesis was clearly stated: students work better for an audience other than the teacher, but he does not state the thesis in the beginning. You read the article oblivious to the point until the third page. Once he states his thesis he begins to give supporting evidence; he says that students need the motivation of the audience in order to create good work which in turn will help them learn better in the end. Though this is a very practical observation it is circumstantial and nowhere in his article does he prove this is true for every student. Instead of making strong arguments for his thesis he makes generalizations.
The introduction was not what I would call good at all; it did not grab my attention or make me want to continue reading at all. Also there was no indication as to what the article is about in the beginning; he dives head first into a story and then it takes him three pages to state his point. I understand that there is no writing rules against his technique but imagine reading a book and not understanding the purpose until the middle or end you would become frustrated and bored. His conclusion is just as bad as his intro. The conclusion is supposed to repeat the thesis and drive the point home and he does not do this. He restates his thesis but he does it once and then goes on to discussing Expeditionary Learning Schools.
Levy does not really use ethos, pathos, or logos. His evidence is logical in a since that you can say that if the students have an audience they will work harder and learn more, it’s conceivable, but it is not logical in the since that this may not apply to every person. I am glad that he does not try to appeal to the reader’s emotions because I do not think that emotions should drive your decision making. Also since the article is about children it holds a certain emotional appeal already so for him to do any more would be over doing it.
Overall I can honestly say that this article does not persuade me to agree with Levy. If he would have had more compelling evidence and did not generalize his information he may have been more persuasive.