Are Relationships the Key to Success? A Rhetorical Analysis 

Essay from the year 2021 in the subject Psychology – Miscellaneous, grade: 99.0%, University of Missouri – Kansas City, course: English 102, language: English, abstract: In this in-depth rhetorical analysis of beloved Rita Pierson’s Ted Talk, we discuss her claim that healthy relationships between teachers and students are necessary to achieving success in the classroom. In her impassioned Ted Talk speech, the late educator Rita Pierson uses her personal experiences and playful sense of humor to convey that forming personal connections with students is key in promoting their academic success. Coming from forty years of educational work herself, Pierson approaches her peers with a fervent request: try harder to form real relationships with the budding minds that they influence every day. While Pierson does acknowledge the common issues like poverty and peer pressure that can hinder students from learning, she also suggests that healthy relationships can combat them. She insists on the importance of healthy relationships using her own wisdom, gained through years of student exposure, and convinces her audience with her warm demeanor.