Rogerian Argument

Our next assignment is a Rogerian Argument.  In this essay we have to take our informative essay that we recently finished and turn it into a discussion where you argue your side and convince your audience to side with you.  Within this essay we are required to use logos, pathos, and ethos to support your evidence.  We also have to include “naysayers” and agree to disagree with their point of views. This paper needs to be at least 2000 words this time instead of the usual 1500, which is something I will probably struggle with but I’m optimistic.

Informative Research Paper Self Review

The topic that I’ve decided to research and write about is “The Effects of Forcing Sports on Children”. With this topic being a very debatable topic, it is important to inform people of the effects. Also being from a small town where youth and adult sports is important, this topic sort of hits home so I hard time not expressing my opinion. My paper still needs some work for sure but I feel like I’ve made some progress from my last paper. I noticed that I do need to follow the self-review questions a little closer and try not to wonder off topic but I’m confident I will it will be fine.

Unnecessary Pressure

The topic that I chose to write about is the effects of forcing children to play sports.  During my research I’ve discovered some of the top reasons why children quit playing sports and it has a lot to do with parents.  Everyone knows someone that is reliving their school ball days or just living through their child’s sports. This may sound funny to some but it’s a real problem and is causing children to quit sports due to the pressure of their parents and coaches.  This sort of pressure can be the result of players not performing on the level that is expected, parents and coaches getting too worked up about situations, and/or players not getting enough playing time. (Lancaster) It’s one thing to encourage your child to play and have fun but it’s another to yell and get upset and make yourself look like a fool.  I can relate to the intensity of playing a sport and being a spectator because I can get pretty caught up in the game but what needs to be recognized is the fact that we are there for the children, to encourage them to give it their all, and  feed them positive criticism. We need to use the old saying of “practice what you preach” because you wouldn’t want you child to act out because a play was called incorrectly, right?

 

Works Cited

 

Lancaster, Scott. "Why Kids Quit Sports & 7 Things to Do When Your Child Wants to Quit." Why Kids Quit Sports & 7 Things to Do When Your Child Wants to Quit. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

Appearance is Everything

Normally appearance isn’t everything but when it comes to the look of a document or web site it is.  Mike Rundle said it well when he the principals are nothing but C.R.A.P.  He explained that in order to have a great looking site you have to have Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. To have contrast you need to have your features be dramatically different, you don’t want the reader to confuse what is related and what is not.  Use Repetition; be consistent with your styles, you don’t it to look chaotic.  It’s always good to have a good Alignment; all elements need to be aligned and have a nice flow for the reader’s eye. Finally use Proximity; group your features together just like you would group apples with apples and oranges with oranges.  Don’t mix apples and oranges together.   The bottom line is if anything is attractive then it will get a second glance no matter what.  It’s good to be your own critic on this; ask yourself if you would want to stop and read this or move on to something bigger and better. Just face it if you would spend the time to build a good flowing site then no one will want to check it out.

Miracles

My selected reading is a story called “I Survived….Plunging Into An Icy River” by Daniella Overtt.  The story is about a woman and her 2 year old daughter, Ashlyn, that had been visiting her parents in Atlanta and needed to get back home.  Her father works for an airline so she had the pleasure of flying for free as long as there was an opening. On the day of departure she and Ashlyn had been bumped from flight to flight and could be delayed for days so they decided to rent a car and drive 13 hours to get home.  After driving three fourths of the way home the mother fell asleep at the wheel on a bridge and they plunged into a frozen river.  Somehow they both made it out of the car with moderate injuries but still worried about freezing to death while trying to get someone to stop to help them.  Finally after running a ways she was able to make a driver stop in a parking lot and called 911.  When the car was pulled out of the water no one could believe that they made it out alive.

The only way that this story persuaded me was to not fall asleep at the wheel and to pull over when I’m that sleepy.  I liked reading this story because it shows how someone can be so brave in such horrible situation but it also scares me because having a wreck and plunging into water is one of my fears.  All that I can think about is how am I going to get my boys out if this happens.

What does the future hold?

The causes of media and campaign misinformation are the fact that it is easier to lie than tell the truth.  The media and the campaign supporters are out to get the juiciest information possible and if the information is positive they want to pick any negative out and blow it up.  When election year rolls around I am sick and tired of hearing about who did what in the past and what they promise for the future.  When really the fact of the matter is they just are telling us what they think we want to hear and we are fooled once again and by the time we are to cast our vote, who really knows who the right candidate is.  The sad thing is that these people are the ones that we trust to run our country.  The only way to really solve the problems with media and campaign misinformation is to increase the amount of people checking for the facts.  And even then can we trust that information is the whole truth, it seems like we could be checking the facts until we turn blue in the face.  The whole situation is frustrating and I worry about what the future holds for my children.

The Real Loser: Truth

I have to admit that it took me a few times reading this essay to understand what Kruse was trying to tell us.  What I gathered from it was that just like when we were kids, it was easier to lie or bend the truth than tell the truth. Of course in politics we hear about a person’s life mistakes rather than what has been done right. Kruse begins with giving us a history of how far back bending the truth goes. He goes on with giving specific examples of how politicians will go to the ends of the earth to win an election; by that point you realize that any correct or incorrect information is game and really the only loser is the truth because it’s not given a fair chance.

 I understand that when you are running for an office you of course want to win. But at who’s cost and do you really want to ruin someone’s life by not telling the truth? Kruse’s statement about how easy it is to fool the voters long enough to get their vote and get into the White House is the truth because how many times has that happened.  This essay is just sad; it makes me worry about what won’t do to get ahead.