Rhetorical Analysis- Source for Paper A

This week's post is a source for Paper A
(as in, I hope I get an A on this paper)

My topic is about how children are being raised and taught that no matter what, they are all winners. These 'winners' go about their life putting minimal effort into even the most common tasks, and they become blinded from the big picture. In reality, they turn out to be 'whiners' who demand fair treatment for issues that could have been prevented. That is, if some responsibility (both parent and child) were taken. Could parents be bearing too much of their burdens at a young age? Are children more resilient than we think?

Since I will need to persuade an audience who is against my argument, this post is a source from the counter argument.

Article from: The Times

June 7, 2008

Japan's 'monster' parents take on centre stage
Leo Lewis in Tokyo

~WATCO: When it comes to a child's education, what are the consequences of parents pressuring teachers to satisfy their wants in order to get their desired outcome?
Enthymeme (Claim): Parents act like bullies to the point that teachers buckle under the pressure, children aren't taught sensibly, and each child becomes a winner in the end.
Assumption (Reason): Because every parent wants their daughter to be the star of the school production, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the play results in zero dwarfs, yet twenty-five Snow Whites.

~Audience: The audience is adults and parents who are too soft when it comes to discipline and/or who believes that it's only a matter of some effort that entitles youth to be victorious.

~Goal: If you heckle or complain enough, you will get your way. Even if you didn't think you'd make it onto the cast of this play, get ready because you'll be in the star role.

~How & Why: These parents believe they're "champions of basic consumer rights." They have become a mob of complainers. Japanese society had previously been summed up as respectful and silent have become aggressive. Though, this style of parenting is not limited to this change of culture in Japan. It is found all around the globe. Children have become the center of attention to these parents, but it's gone to extremes. Numerous calls, harassing teachers have left them no choice but to give in to the demands (pathos). Many times, these are private institutions where the funding comes from the customer and if offended, could easily take their money elsewhere (logos). Once again, this is not just a single case in Japan. It's reported that children come home from school with a congratulatory certificate of "Sitting nicely on the carpet." This phenomenon has become more typical in schools and activities. Could you imagine youth in a sporting event where everyone receives a trophy even if they finish fifth in the tournament? The sponsors would go broke handing out hardware to everyone to showed up.


~Effective: Though seemingly effective at the time to boost a child's self esteem, it only cripples them for the future. Without going through necessary stresses in life, those who grew up being fed by fallacies will collapse under the pressure of the real world.


Credits: The article refereed to in this post was written by Leo Lewis in Tokyo, and was published by Times Online. To see the article click here.