Jan Brogan's article, "The Trouble with High School Valedictorian Awards," explores the downside of the Valedictorian award. Through the use of two classic appeals, Logos and Pathos, the author establishes a clear argument through personal information and logic as to why the Valedictorian system is not only flawed, but should be discontinued. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayBrogan begins his argument and builds it around the classic appeal of Pathos. He wants to establish an emotional connection with his audience. To do this he uses personal stories surrounding his experience with his daughter as Valedictorian. He begins his essay by remembering the day his daughter graduated from college. For most parents this would be an exceptionally happy time. For Jan, however, it wasn't. She says she "was jealous of the parents of happy-go-lucky students who accepted their awards for community service and school spirit." Although her daughter was receiving the most prestigious award at graduation, she secretly wished she received a less prestigious honor. This alludes to the frustrations he would talk about throughout the article. As the article continues, Brogan tries to support his initial claims through the use of more Pathos. He explains in paragraph eight that by the time his daughter turned 12 she was already "buying her books about the dangers of perfectionism" and that by 14 she was "engaging in what would become annual bouts of exhaustion that mimicked mononucleosis." Brogan seeks to further establish how his daughter's drive to succeed began at a young age and would come to haunt her further as she sought the honor of Valedictorian. She concludes this barrage of horrible truths by saying that two months after her speech she "was hospitalized for an eating disorder." Through this Brogan tries to express all the problems he faced in his daughter's race for the prize. This however is not true for all valedictorians as Brogan reveals a positive study in his article. Karen Arnold, who is "one of the few valedictorian researchers in the country," completed a study of award recipients from the graduating class of 1981. The results found that as many as 80 of the 82 students followed for 15 years had no lasting regrets. Although this information severely contradicts Brogan's opinion, she dismisses it through the use of Logos in the following paragraphs. Jan Brogan refutes Karen Arnold's claims about valedictorians through the use of sound reasoning by means of Logos. He discusses how the high school climate has changed dramatically since 1981. He supports this statement by referring to Lexington High School, exclaiming, "with some of the highest achieving students in the state, they feel obligated to host an official 'reduction day' stress." Precisely for this reason the school has rejected the valedictorian system. Some students are so fascinated by the reward that they create a realm in which it becomes their sole focus. This leads to the kind of problems that Brogan's daughter experienced in throughout his adolescence. He further reiterates these effects through the findings of Jason Moser, assistant professor of psychology at Michigan State University. He states that perfectionism often leads to “poor physical health and mental health problems such as eating disorders, anxiety and depression.” These results help establish the kinds of things a valedictorian might experience while striving for what Brogan believes is an unimportant goal. Brogan uses his article as.