Theodore R. Sizer in his essay "What High School Is" begins with an illustration, a detailed account of the opening of the day at a high school, following one student named Mark, sixteen years of age, as he arrives at school, greets his friends, and goes to class. This section is a rather dry recitation of his schedule on this particular day, with some vivid descriptions of the classes, the other students, and the different elements of the school day. This entire section runs four and a half pages and serves as the introduction to the entire essay. This is a daring and not entirely satisfactory approach. There is nothing ahead of this description to assure the reader that the entire essay will not consist of this detailing of one student's day, though in fact the essay has something else in mind if it can hold the attention of the reader until the author gets to it. He might have offered some more traditional introductory remarks to indicate that he has a purpose in telling this lengthy story, which would gain him mileage with many, but instead he just launched into it and continues through to the end of the day.
After this, of course, comes what might be considered a more traditional introduction: "Most Americans have an uncomplicated vision of what secondary education should be" (329). His use of the term "uncomplicated" suggests that he is about to burst the bubble of those who have this view, and this leads to his real theme--that there are actually two worlds of the high school, one the political image used and believed by leaders, administrators, and many parents; the other the reality faced each day by students like Mark--"a world of political rhetoric and Mark's world" (329).
Rhetoric becomes both a subject and a method in this essay. As a subject, it is indicated by example in the general goals set out by a California high school in 1979 and listed here by Sizer. Sizer uses rhetoric himself as he carefully sel...