On Andrew Braaksmas Some Lessons from the Assembly Line

The author of the article Some lessons from the Assembly Line is Andrew Braaksma who was
a junior at the University of Michigan in 2005; when the story was written. The essay was the
winning entry in Newsweeks Back to School contest and was published in the November
2005 issue of Newsweek.
Article reference:
Braaksma, Andrew (2005. 9/11). Some Lessons from the Assembly Line. Newsweek.
9/11/2005, Vol. 146 Issue 11, p17-17. 1p
Q: Who do you think your audience will be in your critical analysis essay? Describe this
audience, and explain how they would benefit from any insights produced from your analysis of
your selected article.
The audience for my critical analysis of Some lessons from the Assembly Line will be the
students in particular and the white collar workers, in general. Two things are brought to the
fore from the analysis of the article, and if the audience thinks along those lines, they will
undoubtedly be benefitted.
1. Students generally have an inflated view of their works worth and lack practical acumen.
They are yet to venture out from the security of their family, firstly, and second, the campus life
of their educational institutions. It is only when they venture out alone in life that they will learn
the value of their work and acquire the practical sense which everybody must possess in the
journey of life.
2. The line separating the blue collar jobs from white collar employment is very thin. It is only
because of the luck of their birth in affluent families that students get the chance of higher
education. Therefore, not putting in their best efforts in class or bunking classes, etc. is nothing
but abuse of their position which they occupy.

Q.: Why is analysis so important for your selected reading? How will it help your audience
understand the author's goal in a clearer, more captivating way?
Essays and articles often contain many deep insights into human nature and traits, which makes
perfect sense for the author, in the context when he writes the composition. However, on later
reading, it is difficult to get the message as the context wherein the author wrote, is missing. It is
therefore important to analyze the written piece by imagining the context and putting ourselves
in the authors place. By doing so, we make the authors thoughts much clearer to the audience,
so that they can carry on the thinking process by themselves.
Q. After re-reading your article and notes from Module 1, what do you believe is your goal in
analyzing your selected article? Will you provide additional context to help your audience

understand the importance of the author's goal, or will you use your essay as an opportunity to
persuade your audience that the author's goal is incorrect?
My goal in analyzing the article is to focus on the main points the author makes. Firstly,
the hard work of the blue collar worker makes him wise to the actual phenomenon of earning a
living and living ones life. He knows the rate of his labor and makes no false assumptions about
the outside life. To support this I will provide content from the article. The authors statement
there are few things as cocksure as a college student who has never been out in the real world,
and people my age always seem to overestimate the value of their time and knowledge. backs
this statement up. (Braaksma, 2005). Then again, as Braaksma says When I'm back at the
university, skipping classes and turning in lazy re-writes seems like a cop-out after seeing what I
would be doing without school. All the advice and public-service announcements about the value
of an education that used to sound trite now ring true.(2005). This quotation backs up our
analyzed statement that Students who fail to produce their best work, bunks classes, etc. are
abusing their position in society, which they find themselves in, only due to luck.
Here, I am providing additional context to help the audience to understand the authors
goal.

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