In the article “Education” by E.B.White, White reasons on why country schools are in several ways superior to city schools. Although both schools essentially gave White’s son the same outcome, there is several factors that White explains displaying how a country school might overall be the better option. A city school and a country school provide rather different experiences, both with several different ways of teaching and providing to the students. When this article was written, it was during the time of the great depression. There was many budget cutbacks which led to bigger classes, less money spent on meals, and the schools were forced to come up with different ways to keep schools up and running, so clearly White was concerned on where his child would now be attending school.

Through several rhetorical strategies such as diction, imagery, and pathos, White supports his argument that country schools, in certain ways one wouldn’t expect, are superior to city schools. Studies show smaller schools get better exam scores or have better graduation rates and can have better opportunities, at smaller schools, due to a smaller population, you can gain a better relationship with your teachers and staff and get more one on one help with them. White supports this argument with his sons personal experience, using pathos, as he says that his “boy already regarded his teacher as a great friend” and how his son would even most likely tell his teacher something over White. His son was able to obtain a better relationship with his teacher at a school which a low amount of people attended. White explains how the country school teacher juggled several responsibilities efficiently, as she was able to cook for her students and White’s son on the same stove she warmed the classroom with, and was always very kind. Although the city school was able to obtain an athletic director, and lunch was provided by a dietician, these are things the country school was most likely not focusing their funds on, especially after loss of funds during this time period. White also talks about how much a parent worries about the choice of where to put their child using ethos, every parent wants their child to have the best, so naturally White worried of the “shift from city school to country school” he also personally “never knew anything but public schools” so in a certain way was bias towards them.

Through the diction used by White the country school is seen as very casual. White’s son was able to dress in whatever he felt comfortable in, corduroys and a sweatshirt as well as some rubber boots, rather than the overalls and old sweater which was the outfit allowed by the city school. At the country school, White’s son made his journey with his father by motor or by walking to the school, which was near his home, only two miles down the road. When White’s son had attended the city school a “flashy”’vehicle arrived to pick up the child and White uses negative diction to explain how he was picked up, saying the vehicle “sucked him up in an angry growl” to take him to school, rather than the casual and humble experience of going on foot or with his “old man.” White uses imagery and diction to show what the country school looked like, and although the city one was not described, one can imagine it was very different that the bungalow type, two room frame building that was the country school. At the country school the students sit still during class then go off to play. There is no supervised play and they can play whatever they want including games such as cops and robbers and then throw snowballs at each other in the winter which White says “seems to satisfy them” and lets them be kids, opposed to the city school where they played games supervised by an athletic instructor, most likely not truly enjoying themselves. White ends his article and further supports his argument by stating how his son sleeps better at night in the country, even the air in the country was a overall better option for his son, as well the fact that according to his son, days seem to go by much quicker in the country, rather than dragging on in the city. White recognizes the clear differences between the city and country schools but argues that although ultimately his child got a different but equally fulfilled experience at both schools, the country school was the better option.