Rhetorical ethos, or the character of the rhetor as she presents herself in discourse, is vital to the success of any student attempting to enter the universe of academic discourse. According to Aristotle, ethos is demonstrated by showing good sense, good character, and good will. However, in the modern university, with the diversity of population, it is often difficult to teach what is meant by "good." The collaborative learning classroom is the best environment for developing a sense of appropriate ethos because it provides students with a community which has its own standards. It also provides an audience, which enhances in writers a sense of self and of how to accommodate to an audience's values. Through the collaborative learning processes of arguing, writing, and criticizing each other's work, students in one freshman English class learned to demonstrate good sense by being thorough, to demonstrate good character by being honest, and to demonstrate good will by being tactful. Students' writings about their collaborative learning experience indicated that they improved their abilities to express their views and influence their audience's views. (Three references are attached.) (ARH)