Kathryn Tyler is a freelance writer with a background in human resources training (Tyler 469). She considers herself part of Generation X, which is the generation that follows Generation Y. Generation X being the children of the 2000’s or “millennials”, and Generation Y being those born between 1980 and 1999 (Tyler 468). In her essay “Tethered Generations”, she discusses millennials’ relationships with their peers, how their parents are incredibly influential in their lives more so than past generations, and how their dependency on technology will affect employers and the workforce today. Tyler’s work is well-written. It effectively supports claims made with particular speech and organization while utilizing minimal logical fallacies, and Tyler makes her targeted audience clear enough to be understood.
The intended audience of “Tethered Generations” is human resource professionals. Besides this essay being published in HR Magazine, what highlights the audience is organization. The essay opens with appealing to the audience’s pathos, giving you a short anecdote about a young girl’s first technological inquiries. This segues into the idea that millennials are heavily dependent on technology while their brains are still developing (Tyler 470). This is where an enthymeme can be analyzed because no supporting evidence is given as well as any clear reason as to why this is valid. However, generally what makes Tyler’s claims so effective (with the exception of one) is that she gives multiple examples and statistics as well as testimonials from other human resources professionals, writers, employers, and psychologists alike to support her claim. For example, she provides a testimonial from Robert Epstein, an editor for Psychology Today. The article also argues that millennials today have “Helicopter Parents”, or parents who are too involved in their children’s lives particularly their employment. Again, Tyler supports her evidence with testimonials from people such as Robert W. Wendover, director of The Center for Generational Studies (Tyler 471). With the exception of the enthymeme, every argument or claim made is supported with testimonials from credible sources and facts. Tyler employs the use of logos rather than ethos, thoroughly explaining each claim and focusing more on the quality of the support for her claims than her character as a human resources expert. In fact, even with a thorough analysis, it is easy to forget that Tyler is a human resources expert. She ends with a bulleted list as the last section. This section is perhaps where the audience can be recognized. This list is a bold statement to the human resource professional reading this essay stating: “Hey! Here is how to prepare for millennials!” This begs the question whether the rest of the essay, i.e. the facts about millenials and helicopter parents, are relevant. The answer is yes because had Tyler not included the previous information about how millenials operate and how their parents (helicopter parents) are, then the bulleted list at the end would not be understood.
What could be further analyzed is Tyler’s speech. Throughout the essay, despite having a background in human resources, she refrains from using extremely technical terminology or jargon only someone with a background in human resources would understand. It is written in such a way that even those who are not human resource professionals can understand how to better prepare for millennials.
While it is obvious the greatest strength in the author’s claim is using testimonials, but what could be seen as logic may be misplaced. To explain, some of the testimonials Tyler references are opinionated. For example, the text states “Susan Reviler Bramlett, PHR, an HR generalist for a defense research contractor in Fort Wayne, Ind., and a millennial herself, ‘overheard a parent yell at the HR person because her daughter was turned down for a promotion’. The issue with this is that there is room for human error. Was that really why the parent was yelling? Another example is in the text and it states, “Barbara Dwyer, CEO of The Job Journey…says, ‘This generation is closer to their parents than any other generation. They see their parents as friends. It’s a good thing.’” The credibility of this source is challenged because unless she herself is a parent of a millennial, how is she qualified to make that statement?
Tyler’s entire thesis is about the fact that millennials (my generation) must be treated differently by employers, and have been raised to different, perhaps somewhat inferior standards due to the dependency on parents caused by technology. Even though I agree with much of Tyler’s thesis, not everyone in Generation X is like that. For example, my good friend doesn’t have a phone at all, let alone use technology at all times. Also, not all millenials have helicopter parents who are tethered to their every whim, twenty-four seven, three-hundred-sixty-five days a year in every aspect of their life. This essay is extremely applicable to me and those of Generation X because it reveals the problems and tendencies of our generation and how employers may adapt to our generation. Tyler’s essay is well-versed, logically sound, free of logical fallacies, employs speech that is easy to understand despite basic background, and applies testimonials and supporting evidence to back up her claims.
Works Consulted
Tyler, Katherine. “A Tethered Generation.” Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings. .” Bean, C. John, June Johnson, John D. Ramage. Pearson Education , Inc, 2012. 469-473. Print.