Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Composition 2
Rhetorical Analysis
Does homework have an impact on a childs life? Homework is wrecking our children.
Homework should be banned from elementary school children. Homework is not good for
children because it leads to problems such as personal relationships, limits physical activity and
relies on parents to do their homework. Kids slide into the habit of relying on adults to help
with homework or, in many cases, do their homework (Shumaker). Elementary children do not
need homework because they are learning other important responsibilities. Shumakers article is
effective because of ethos such as facts and sources, pathos such as tone and diction, logos such
as statistics.
The author use of ethos show the audience that she has done research. The author is well
qualified in this subject because she has a major in sociology and she has two children in school.
She uses well qualified sources to back up her argument. She uses sufficient facts by giving
The author expresses pathos by using a serious and concerned tone. Shumakers use of
diction expresses how she conveys the audience. She uses words like overtired, academic
performance, and patrol cop to express to affect the readers attitude. Shumakers intended
audience are teachers and school officials. Parents are her secondary audience because she is
The author uses a minimum amount, of logos which makes her argument weak. The
authors argument does make sense, but should include more facts. She shows minimum
statistics to support her claim. This comprehensive analysis of multiple research studies found
no evidence of academic benefit at the elementary level. It did, however, find a negative impact
on childrens attitudes toward school (Shumaker). The statistics that the author used are invalid
because they show that homework does have a benefit but at specific grade levels. The facts that
Shumakers use of rhetorical devices helps communicate her argument better. She uses
epizeuxis to show emphasis by repeating words such as ban, responsibility and benefit.
Homework has no place in a young childs life. With no academic benefit, there are simply
better uses for after-school hours(Shumaker). She repeats these words to convince the audience.
She uses syntax to show various sentence structures and to help influence the readers
Shumakers argument is effective because she uses the appeals of ethos, pathos and
logos. Although the author needs more logos it is made up by ethos and pathos. The author can
Works Cited
Shumaker, Heather. "Homework Is Wrecking Our Kids: The Research Is Clear, Lets Ban
http://www.salon.com/2016/03/05/homework_is_wrecking_our_kids_the_research_is_cle
ar_lets_ban_elementary_homework/