"Higher Education" article reaction

Katie Hogue

Public Writing

1/18/12

            After reading the “Higher Education” article, what struck me the most about the writing was what a broad audience it could potentially appeal to.  Obviously, sports fanatics would love that the story centers around a basketball coach.  This man, “Coach” as he is most often referred, was also a teacher and much could be learned from his methods by anyone who finds themselves in a teaching role (school or otherwise).  The idea that one man could change a community appeals to the dramatic soul.  There is also a lesson to be learned about acceptance of those who at first are perceived as drastically different from ourselves—Coach is a black, catholic man in a white, Amish environment.  This story then, although published in Sports Illustrated originally is told in such a way that is not too heavily focused on any one area such as sports or race-issues or religion, but instead incorporates these many topics in a way that influences the reader and keeps their interest regardless of their personal preferences.  Especially in today’s society, the ability to keep people’s attention for a reading as long as this article is both vitally important and increasingly difficult.  However, Smith does this successfully.