Background: The following article was posted in the Atlanta Journal Constitution in the opinion blog section of the AJC website. The published content appeared on the site on 9:39 a.m. Monday, November 14,2o11. It was submitted by Marc Urbach. The topic that is being addressed concerns what role parents should be playing in their students' life concerning their education and the impact that it has on a student's performance. In the article Marc Urbach concludes that the parental enforcement of implementing and stressing the importance of academics in their student's everyday living will guarantee their student's success in school. Inclusive of the conclusion, Marc Urbach implicitly expresses that the teacher's role is merely a 'reinforced' one in instilling good educational values, implementing the curriculum, and giving students the tools they need to advance in school and in life.
'If parents set limits, students would learn article source:http://www.ajc.com/opinion/if-parents-set-limits-1225655.html#.TsP9bQspAMk.email
Analysis: Marc Urbach does a moderately good job at raising the question of why students may succeed or fail in school and life. What I find interesting is the section of the article where he introduces an example of a plan of action that can be taken to ensure a student's success. It is found within the first paragraph of the article. In it he states " If parents are serious about their child becoming successful in school and in life, they will implement the following rules:
● No television, computers, video games until you are earning all A’s.
● No listening to music until you are earning all A’s.
● No playing sports until you are earning all A’s.
● No going to the mall or friends’ houses until you are earning all A’s."
The focus of this argument is definitely targeting students who are not yet in college as Marc Urbach makes clear reference to the parents role in the jovial student's life as opposed to a college student who is generally understood to be independent in his/her studies and academic responsibilities. However, it is not explicit in indicating whether or not the point of discussion includes elementary, middle school and high school students as a collective, or just an isolated group of students, being only elementary, middle school, or high school students. My guess as to the audience of students that Marc Urbach is referring to is high school level students, because in the article it states that he teaches social studies at a public high school in metro Atlanta, and I assume that his opinions would come from his point of reference. However, that is simply not enough information to know which audience of students Mr. Urbach is speaking to. For instance, if Marc Urbach has experience in other levels of education, he maybe speaking from that point of reference, which in turn makes it difficult to conclude his target audience since he did not explicitly state what that audience was.
In summary the cohesive argument is as follows:
P1: If parents are serious about their child becoming successful in school and in life, they will implement certain rules.
P2: If parents are serious about their child becoming successful in school and in life, they will implement: No television, computers, video games until you are earning all A’s
P3:If parents are serious about their child becoming successful in school and in life, they will implement :No listening to music until you are earning all A’s.
P4: If parents are serious about their child becoming successful in school and in life, they will implement: No playing sports until you are earning all A’s.
P5:If parents are serious about their child becoming successful in school and in life, they will implement:No going to the mall or friends’ houses until you are earning all A’s.
Conclusion:If parents set limits, students would learn
This is a case of an argument from the 'Begging the Question' fallacy. By definition the 'Begging the Question' fallacy states that the truth of the conclusion is assumed by the premises in a slightly different premises in a slightly different form. In more difficult cases, the premises is a consequence of the conclusion.
This argument clearly exemplifies the 'Begging the Question' fallacy which is easily spotted in Marc Urbach's argument's premises " If parents are serious about their child becoming successful in school and in life, they will implement certain rules.".... If parents do this, then it will lead to their students learning. In line with the 'Begging the Question' fallacy, this argument shows that in order to believe that the premises are true we must already agree that the conclusion is true. Marc Urbach undeniably takes the stance of, "because I have a qualified background as a teacher, I'm not lying,and therefore it follows that I'm telling the truth, which is a fallacy.
Although this argument in particular is strong it still needs fixing which is why I have given it a diagnosis of 'Moderate Condition'.
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