Article review

A detailed Summary of Article review

Did your mother read to you when you were six weeks old? Did she teach you how to do math problems when you were two? Recently, I read the Wisconsin Journal Sentinel and found an editorial on child development. Kathleen Parker's article, "First Three Years Aren't That Critical" tells us that parents today are putting to much emphasis on what the media and medical journals are saying, instead of using common sense. The article emphasizes that parents are going overboard on these new studies using good argumentative techniques. Although I found not all of what she said was accurate, I still felt she got her point across. Parker uses evidence from scientists and medical books, to further persuade the reader to side with her opinion. Parker uses good persuasive techniques by showing that not everything you read in the media about child development is true or factual. Parker also shows that she is not one-sided on the issue and gives a personal comment about the opposing viewpoint. I feel the author proved her point that parents are being ridiculous in how they are raising their child these days.

In the first few paragraphs, author attracts the attention of the reader and explains the main point of the article. The

author begins the article saying that she "Pity[s] today's parents who want to do the right thing." The sentence attracts the audience to continue reading the article because the sentence sparks curiosity in why the author pities today's parents. The article continues, "They [parents] buy child-rearing books, explore over psychology articles, play Mozart in nurseries festooned with alphabet cards and the periodic table." Parker shows good persuasive technique by describing an exaggerated scenario of what parents are doing these days to try to develop their child's mind.

To show that her argument is not completely one-sided, Parker includes a statement near the end of the article. The "other side" that I am talking about is the parents who do teach their child early in life. The author writes this statement about the "other side" of her argument, in order to show that she doesn't want to bash parents for trying to do the best for their children, but Parker wants them to use common sense. In this paragraph, Parker says that the, "Purpose in debunking the myth [that early child development will give your child an edge] isn't to diminish the importance of good parenting in early infancy, but to suggest that public policies need to be based on sound, not wishful, science." By including this statement, Parker shows that she understands the desire of parents to help their children develop better and she shows that raising a child shouldn't be based on wishful thinking, but on scientific proof. This is a good persuasive technique because it shows that Parker is not one-sided or insensitive to parents that are trying to do what they can for their children. Parker is just ultimately saying that public policies on child rearing should be based on more than a few articles in a newspaper but rather scientific evidence.

The article provides evidence to why current technology cannot accurately tell us whether a child's brain develops faster or better. Parker provides the reader with evidence from scientists and from medical li

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1371
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous