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Critique: Come the Revolution
The author of the article “Come the Revolution” is Thomas L. Friedman, a globally renowned reporter, author, and columnist. The article was published on the New York Times, 15th May the year 2012. Friedman has been recognised for his contribution towards academics and was awarded three Pulitzer prizes the most recent being in 2002. He has authored six award-winning and bestselling books. The present article can be considered to have a small overlap between informative and persuasive writing. For instance, the author informs the audience of what an online-only college entails by giving a relevant example backed by facts such as countries with the biggest enrolment on platform known as Coursera.org. Nevertheless, at the same time, Friedman persuades the audience that online-only education is a revolution that will solve the problem brought about by geographical, time, and financial constraints. The author glorifies the idea by providing benefits to the society and hardly mentions any disadvantages. Thus, largely, the article by Freidman is strongly persuading the audience on why online-education is important to the society and hence a noble idea that will revolutionize how universities and colleges offer their courses to the global students.
Persuasive writing elements are notably used in the article some of them include: clear term definition, fair use and interpretation of information, and logical reasoning. The author provides a precise definition of Coursera as an interactive platform allowing best schools in the world to offer free course lectures online and a have a system to test and award certificates upon completion (Freidman 4). Additionally, the article defines in detail the entire processes involved on the online-education platform. Freidman reasonably uses and interprets the information for the benefit of persuading the audience to accept the revolutionary feature of online education platforms. In doing so, Friedman has differentiated between facts and opinions. For example, it is fact that Coursera.org was launched on April 18th, 2012 (Freidman 4). Additionally, when using opinions, the author was not reluctant to quote words from individuals that probably he interviewed when preparing the article. An example would be relying on opinion from one of the founders of the online education platform Daphne Koller (Friedman 5). Friedman thus is able to differentiate between opinion and facts in the quest to persuade the reader.
The logical reasoning is present in the article. Freidman argues that because of the many problems facing the globe and are all attributed to lack of education easy and cheap access to online courses is good news. Apparently, high fees paid to institutions block millions of students from accessing higher education. Nevertheless, the author reasons that online education platforms will eliminate the financial challenge; consequently providing an opportunity to students to live a better life (Freidman 10).
At the beginning of the article, the author starts with a question to the reader that seeks to determine if you (the reader) feel confident as him that online-only education is the solution to problems associated with rising tuition. I believe that the content the article provides seeks to grow the confidence of the reader if they are not yet convinced that online education platforms will aid in increasing access to education and hence more knowledge in the economy. Thus, I agree with Friedman’s position and message provided in the article.

Works Cited
Friedman, Thomas L. “Come the Revolution”. The New York Times, May 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/opinion/friedman-come-the-revolution.html. Accessed 24th February. 2018.