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Chris Nixon
Linda A. Torok
July 13, 2008
English Composition I

To Love, or Not to Love Your Education, That is the Question

College is the time when students from all different age groups, cultures, races, religions,
and other backgrounds come to get an education, and mature into the person that they will
become in the future. College is one of the most important times in a persons life, and is
something that you need to thrive in the American society today. However, beyond the students,
colleges will try everything they can to target students to get them to attend their college. As
soon as someone enters his junior year in high school, and especially if hes living in a
prosperous zip code, the informational material-the advertising-comes flooding in (Edmundson
121). In the video, UC Co-Op 30 Second Commercial, the University of Cincinnati targets
diversity in students, women in engineering, and students who are looking to find the perfect
job and life, however, the approach that the video takes is more harmful for the future of
American society, and portrays a negative message towards what are education is really about.
The University of Cincinnati uses a video about the Cooperative Education program,
which is out to influence potential students who are looking to go to UC for the Engineering
program. Cooperative Education, is the practice of alternating students' studies with paid,
professional work related to their major (Co-op). This is an essential video, because it is out to
represent the University of Cincinnatis College of Engineering, and give all the prospective
engineering students a scheme of what they should anticipate if they go to UC. One of the major

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strategies that the video uses is targeting diversity in students. This includes the age, and race of
a person. In the video it begins with a young Asian woman. She seems to be approximately 20
years of age, perhaps a junior or senior in college. Moreover, they show two other men, one
white and one black, both who are about the same age as the woman shown earlier. UC is out to
target students who are typically younger, around the ages of eighteen to twenty five. This tactic
is used, because younger students are the chief source of incoming freshman at the University of
Cincinnati, and it is important for the students to be surrounded by people their own age. In
addition, the University uses the age strategy as a way to show that even young kids can be
successful in the cooperative education program, and have no trouble getting a job no matter
what age they may be.
Beyond using age as a strategy to influence kids, the University of Cincinnati shows
students of diverse races. In the video it starts out with an Asian woman, and goes on to show a
white and black male. The video presents us with three different races, which are predominant at
the University of Cincinnati. The university takes this approach to show students, that UC is an
equal opportunity school, and is open to all sorts of people no matter what your skin color. This
strategy is easily the least surprising, as most colleges will have several different ethnic groups in
their pictures, or videos. However, UC is a school that has, A staggering 72% of white students
compared to 12% black, and 3% Asian or Pacific Islander (University of Cincinnati). This is
a staggering difference, and their approach to show other races in the video shows that, in a
sense, the video is misrepresenting what the diversity at UC is really like. This is an ineffective
strategy, and says that education in American culture will target a specific age group, and on the
other hand, will target a wide range of different races even if that school may have a ratio that
shows one race is more predominant than the other. On the other hand, even though the video

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misrepresents the diversity at UC, the education in American culture presented by the video
gives a hope, and understanding to those of cultures who may be oppressed, a hope that they too
can succeed in engineering.
Nowadays, women in American society are beginning to gain more rights, and better
political status. From Rosa Perks to Hilary Clinton, women are making differences everywhere,
and taking more steps to gaining their equality. However, a woman in engineering is still
something that we rarely see today. A study done by the National Science Foundation found
that only nine percent of working engineers were women (Brown 1). That is why in the, UC
Co-Op 30 Second Commercial, the engineering program is out to target women. In the first
second of the video a woman is shown, which is the most surprising part of the video. This is so
crucial, because it shows that UC is open to all women, and that it is open to pushing women to
reach their highly desirable career goals. What mostly stands out is the timing. Why show the
woman in a commercial that represents what UC Engineering and Co-op are about? The reason
for this strategy is, to kill two birds with one stone. This means that the video is able to gain
the interest of the women, and show that they can be successful engineers with jobs equivalent,
or sometimes better than men, while at the same time, it appeals to men engineers who are
looking to have women engineers as their co-workers.
Not only does the video show that women can be successful engineers, but it also shows
that women can be successful in jobs that are male dominated. For example, the woman in the
video says, We built a new armor plate for the military (UC Co-op 30 second), which shows
that this woman was able to serve an important role in a military surrounding; more than likely
dominated by men. This is able to empower women, and influence women giving them the
impression that if they attend the University of Cincinnati, and become engineers; they too can

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be successful, and have jobs just as good as any man. However, even though this is able to
empower women, and influence them to become engineers, this strategy misrepresents what you
would expect from engineers at UC, which are mostly men. What this says about education in
American culture can be summed up by Carol B. Muller who says, "Until women and people of
color are fully represented in the fields of science and engineering, society is losing out on the
talents of a vast number of potential contributors. Academic institutions are losing out.
Corporations are losing out. Individuals are losing out. We all lose out," (Muller) and education
is desperately out to gain more women throughout engineering.
One of the topics that is centered on each and every student that is looking to be an
engineer at the University of Cincinnati is the, perfect life and job. Throughout the video each
student speaks of the accomplishments they had achieved at their job, which in a sense seems to
be uncharacteristically, too good to be true. In the video the co-op students say, I built new
armor plates for the military, I created a new energy drink on the market, and I built a new
multimedia center (UC Co-op 30 second). Each accomplishment seems way too advanced,
or more of a high level worker type of job. However, this is an excellent strategy, which can
greatly influence a student. It feels good to know, as a young student, that you can have this
perfect job, perfect life, and are able to make an impact at a large corporation most people dream
of. Who wouldnt want to go to a college if you knew you were going to have the time these kids
speak of having? In addition, the video makes you feel that if you become an engineer at the
University of Cincinnati you are guaranteed to get the job of your choice, and with that choice
comes along the perfect time of traveling around, designing, and all around the American
Dream. What this shows about education in American society is that instead of giving the cold
hard facts about engineering as one of the toughest majors at UC, it looks away from the truth,

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and seeks out the logical and emotional appeals we all would like to hear, which is the perfect
life, and job weve been dreaming of our entire lives.
Getting an education is important to each and every student. However, it is also important
for those students to know the truth about what kind of education theyre going to be receiving.
American culture is what directs our society, and tells us what we should and shouldnt believe
in. That is why the messages that these ads illustrate about American culture is more harmful to
the American society, because the ads presented by universities are saying that education in
American culture is less about the hard work you need to get to that success point, but rather
looking at what type of success, and stature you can gain by taking part in that field. This is a
negative view for students to take, because you want to spend those 4 to however many years of
school you need to take, and enjoy them to the fullest, because it is not about the money, what
you look like, how old you are, your gender, the color of your skin, the status, or the
successfulness, but how much you are going to love what you are doing for the rest of your life.
No one want to spend the rest of their life doing something they dont want to do, and that is why
ads in American culture need to target more about the truth, and get the real opinions from real
people, and in our case engineers who have the passion and love for what they do every day. Do
you love your job, or do you wish that maybe you could go back in time, and change what you
could do with the rest of your life? Getting an education is important, and loving that education
is even more.

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Works Cited
Brown, Sarah. "Communication and Women in Engineering." Orange a student journal of
technical communication. 27 Oct. 2005. 10 Jul 2008 <http://orange.eserver.org/issues/64/brown.html>.
"Co-op." University of Cincinnati: Division of Professional Practice. 2003. University of
Cincinnati. 10 Jul 2008 <http://www.uc.edu/propractice/>.
Edmundson, Mark. On the Uses of a Liberal Education. You Are Here.1. New Jersey: Pearson
Education Inc, 2003.
Muller, Carol B. MentorNet. 2008. 14 Jul 2008 <http://www.mentornet.net/>.
"UC Co-Op 30 Second Commercial." YouTube. July 2007. University of Cincinnati. 10 Jul 2008
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S4MOS24Y08>
"University of Cincinnati-main Campus." U.S. College Search. 2008. 14 Jul 2008
<http://www.uscollegesearch.org/university-of-cincinnatimain-campus.html>.