"Whales R Us"

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In the article, "Whales R Us," author Jayme Stayer calls Sea World out and reveals that it is extremely fake and certainly not a place of education, contrary to what they promote. He points out different elements about the part, like the teenage employees and scripted lines for example, and uses this to argue the fact that it is not a place of education but rather a place to receive false information and amusement. Stayer uses counterargument in his paper to further support his claims. For example, in paragraph 25, Stayer points out that Sea World was actually incorrect in their premise of Jaws. He argues that events in Florida have shown that sharks actually will attack idle swimmers, unlike what Sea World teaches. He further goes on to say that if they can't get their basic facts straight then how do we know what to believe. Furthermore, Stayer also uses Sea World to make broader points about American Culture. He writes, "Sea World is a reflection of American culture: a consequence, not a cause; a mirror of consumerist desires, not a promoter of political change via education." In addition he adds that Sea World reflects American traits such as gullibility and irrationality. Overall, Stayer uses Sea World to promote the idea that American culture tends to ignore the true beauty of nature by covering it up with false amusement.

"Reality Check"

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In the article "Reality Check," author Alison Hester responds to Jayme Stayers argument about the ugly truth and falsehoods of Sea World. Hester states that Sea World is certainly not a place of education as it is portrayed to be, but it is rather solely for human entertainment and is a corruption of todays society. In no way does Sea World represent the true quality of nature, but instead it is "a bombardment of noise and underdeveloped factoid presentations" according to both Hester and Stayer. The education that many individuals believe they are receiving is actually a form of "mind control" which is manipulated in order for the audience to enjoy their visit rather than actually learn about the animals. The strategies that Hester uses to support her arguments mainly come from Stayers previous essay and she uses a more aggressive approach to truly catch the readers attention. She is extremely passionate about this argument and backs up each of her comments with more facts about Sea World.

Throughout the article Hester also effectively connects one idea to the next. She often ends each paragraph with a transitional sentence leading into the next. This makes the article much smoother for the reader to follow and it gives her argument flow. For example, Hester ends paragraph 5 by writing, "What does this say about Americans and entertainment?" Instead of jumping right to her next claim, Hester prepares the reader for what is coming up next. By doing so, Hester is able to switch the topic from the use of the animals at Sea World for entertainment to how this relates to American culture and reality. The tactic that she uses in this situation works well as she makes her claim then transitions to the underlying problem.

One of Hester's best skills in her writing is her strong use of voice. She is extremely convincing in her writing because she makes it clear that she knows what she is talking about. Furthermore, she is very heartfelt about this issue, which is evident in her writing and is important for the reader to know. Hester writes, "Acknowledging the truth of these creatures' existence at Sea World makes one realize that there can be no true education or productivity at the expense of captive creatures." She also states, "Eventually the water will spill over the sides and create an unnecessary mess" after relating America ignoring reality to a pot of full boiling water. Hester truly uses her voice in these examples and is by no means hesitant about the issue at hand and how out of control it is getting.

Hester also addresses the fact that what most deem as normal and satisfactory about Sea World is, in all actuality, not normal nor satisfactory whatsoever. Individuals who attend Sea World do not realize that what they are witnessing is not actually reality. Reality is not animals being kept captive or being forced into doing flips and tricks for an audience. By visiting Sea World, individuals place themselves in an environment where they see and hear false misconceptions and avoid harsh reality. Stayer compels the readers to come to terms with reality by instilling the fact that this is a huge problem in society and it will just keep growing if we tend to ignore it.

"The Educational Benefits of Ugly Fonts" and "The Evolution of Fonts"

Many individuals believe that having an easy time with learning new material ultimately means that it was a successful learning experience. However, in his article Jonah Lehrer argues this concept by suggesting that material that is harder to learn is actually far more beneficial by improving long term learning and retention. After conducting a study with the effects of different fonts on the same classroom material, researches found that those who were taught with the disfluent fonts actually had a far better retention of the material. A scientist wrote after gathering the results, "This study demonstrated that student retention of material across a wide range of subjects (science and humanities classes) and difficulty levels (regular, Honors and Advanced Placement) can be significantly improved in naturalistic settings by presenting reading material in a format that is slightly harder to read". With this new discovery, we now know that we possess the ability to improve both the performance and educations of students. 

In the video, "The Evolution of Fonts," Ben Barrett-Forrest tells the audience about the history of typography using an clip that showed what each individual font looked like. He spoke of how each type of font came about and what they are mainly used for, like posters or titles for example. The world of communication was revolutionize first when blackletter was created, the first ever typeface. From there on out new styles and sizes of fonts sprouted and continued to become more and more diverse. Letters became more manageable to read and there were fonts that appealed to everyone. Finally, when the computer was created, thousands of typefaces surfaced and technology changed typography as we knew it. Overall, Barrett-Forrest emphasizes the idea that fonts are timeless and always changing.