In “Understand Rhetoric:A Graphic Guide to Writing,” it talks about  many elements of writing such as rhetoric, pathos, ethos, logos, and kairos.  Rhetoric was originated from the Greek meaning to say. Basically, it means to give a space to a person to express their ideas. These includes shows, speeches and debates.  One of the Greek philosopher named Plato thought negatively about rhetoric. He thought that shows such as tragedy has negative effects on teens because teens might pick up some negative things from it.  On the other hand, Aristotle believed performing tragedy in front of teens will let them know the dangerous of doing so, which prevents them from doing it. In this case, I agree with both of them because I think shows are not the only factor that affect teens.  While it might be true that teens might pick up negative aspect from the show such as smoking and drinking alcohol, it doesn’t mean teens will always absorb these negative things, and some might even resist that. For example, when I was little, I keep watching shows about how a person betray another person. That doesn’t affect me.  I hate betraying. Therefore, even though I don’t think rhetoric in a show affect a child’s growth, sometimes it is true since child are most likely to be affected by his/her surrounding. ( I stay neutral) Also, the author is also trying to show us the importance of pathos(use of emotion), ethos(credibility), and logos(logical) in the writing. I agree with that because we need credibility, emotions and logical in our writing. Even though pathos might not be that effective in a lot of writing such as research paper, it is very effective during speeches, shows, or sometimes debate.  Personally, I think emotions are the most powerful weapon in the writing. If a speaker is having a poor background or any forms of tragedy, the speaker will mostly likely to receive more attention compare to other speakers. Also, when a character in a movie is having a poor family background, the audience will likely to feel pity about this character and want him/her to complete his/her goal. The author also introduce Kairos, which is about the importance of time. We don’t want to say any negative things during a birthday party.

The article “When your grades are based on labor” has 5 main ideas. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, take risks, don’t write to impress others, redo the assignment might be a good thing and work harder!  I agree with these, because I was afraid of making mistakes before, so I never learn. However, right now I don’t care about mistakes, I just try , try and try until I am satisfied about my assignment. And it worked.  I learned more things and I feel more confident about myself.