Module 4 Blog

    When looking at Quintilian's system of rhetorical education, we see that he had his own ideas of what made a good orator, or as he described a citizen-orator. To be a great orator, Quintilian believed you first had to be a good citizen. This goes along the lines of thinking that there is some part of becoming a citizen-orator that can not be taught. Something that is inherent within the individual, quite possibly they are born with it. To witness a citizen-orator in modern time, we look no further than the commencement speech given by Steve Jobs to the Stanford graduating class of 2005.
    His speech was very methodical and broken into parts similar to Quintilian's system. Steve told stories of his own to make things personal with his audience. He spoke of trials and tribulations that he made it through whether dropping out of college, getting fired, or getting diagnosed with cancer. In the end, he was able to "connect the dots" looking back to see how all the events lead to greater successes. The key to the whole speech with it being a commencement speech is that it is designed to inspire and uplift a class of new college graduates to go out into the world, chase their dreams, and do things to make the world a better place. This is exactly what Quintilian believed a citizen-orator to be, someone that uses their skills in oratory for the betterment of the people as a whole. It is a very selfless view of rhetoric, and personally, I like it.

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