The article “Waking Up and Taking Charge” by Anya Kamenetz, does not just inform, but mainly persuades its readers to stand up for something they believe in, especially whenever it comes to school and our generation. “Waking Up and Taking Charge” is an article that emphasizes letting your voice be heard and making a difference. Kamenetz is very fervent or passionate about the belief of being outspoken. I firmly believe that stepping out and speaking up is very audacious and depending on the situation, the right thing to do. I comply with Kamenetz and her beliefs on guiding students away from dangerous spending, more towards saving, creating student movements, and advancing or broadening the Pell Grant’s utmost amount. 

Furthermore, guiding students away from dangerous spending and more towards saving is something that not only debtors should advise, but the wealthy. Universities try their hardest to push college students to spend money on pointless items. Little do the students know, dollars add up. Kamenetz states “Universities have a role to play, too, in limiting their students’ exposure to credit card marketing.” I agree with Kamenetz and her idea of Universities backing off of students and encouraging them to save their money for tuition rather than going further into debt for useless spending. Coming from a college student in debt, saving is the most beneficial act one can take charge of. More resources should be available for students to help them practice healthier saving habits rather than just universities. For example, banks should lower interest rates and supply more benefits for college students. “Youth activism could effectively address credit card debt, too. It would be great to reinstate usury laws nationwide and end 29 percent annual interest rates so that twenty-somethings earning $12,000 a year are no longer profitable customers for $10,000 lines of credit” Kamenetz believes, also, “Returning to the norms of the 1980s, when college students without incomes needed a parental cosigner for a card, would keep eighteen-year-olds from charging down the path before they realize the consequences.” Anya Kamenetz is expressing that young college kids need to think twice before they spend.

Also, creating student movements is another performance of Kamenetz’ that I agree with. “An effective student movement should be organized state by state, to pressure the governors who make decisions about public schools where the vast majority of students are enrolled.” was an idea organized by Kamenetz to stand up for what she believed in to make a change. If one has a strong belief in an idea and wants to make a change, they should speak up like Kamenetz and start a movement. “Standing up for world peace is utterly admirable, but the social safety net in this country was woven by people lobbying for their own lives, not fighting for causes a world away. American college students need to experience that ‘click’ moment, as the feminists of the 1970s called it, and realize that our personal problems are also political. If we young people don’t march on our own behalf, who will march for us?” Kamenetz stated. There is proof that stepping out can make a change as well. In the article “Waking Up and Taking Charge”, Kamenetz found that “In 2002, students at the public college of William and Mary formed students PAC to help pass a $900 million state bond issue for higher education. In the summer of 2003, the coalition, now called Virginia21, went statewide. It now boasts over 14,500 members at all fifteen public four-year colleges and universities in the Commonwealth.” Creating a movement doesn’t have to change the world, but to step up and speak out is very courageous and will change the world’s view on your belief. 

Subsequently, progressing the Pell Grant’s maximum is the strongest and quickest way to decrease student loan debt. Broadening the Pell Grant to not just low-income students but even middle-class income students will make a definite mark on student loan debt. Taking a risk and speaking up, creating a movement to change the Pell Grant’s maximum and broaden the scale of who can receive benefits from the Pell Grant would not only have a major effect on current students but incoming students and the university as a whole. Kamenetz’ research states “In the words of the National Association of Student and Financial Aid Administrators, ‘If we are serious about reducing student loan debt… making the Pell Grant Program a true entitlement, divorced from the vagaries of the appropriations process, is the only way.'”

In conclusion, I found that Anya Kamenetz used logos in her article as a mode of persuasion to advise her readers to have an opinion on a belief, stand up and speak on it. Kamenetz persuades her readers by stating “Well, look, if 35 million people over fifty can band together to demand respect from Congress, so can we.” Kamenetz argued many different reasons why “taking charge” of a situation is for the greater good especially if you’re a student fighting for an increase in financial aid and a decrease in student loan debt. I was persuaded while reading this article because of the authors’ research. Kamenetz may have made a claim to “Wake up and take charge” but her research behind her claim is what is convincing. “At my Alma Mater on a freezing day in February 2005, fifteen students sat in at the admissions office until removed by police. The undergraduates were demanding changes to Yale’s financial aid policy to bring it in line with several other Ivies…One week after the sit-in, Yale, too, announced that it would no longer expect any tuition contribution at all from families earning less than $45,000 a year.” This is real evidence that Kamenetz provided in her article that I found very persuasive.