Argument Analysis In a recent article titled “Can Students Have Too Much Tech?” published in the editorial of the New York Times, opinion columnist makes a genuine attempt to question certain policies announced by president Obama in regards with the promotion of “free and open Internet” for the education of American children. The article is highly effective in convincing the audience that encouraging students, especially those from low income families, to use network devices will not necessarily guarantee academic progress. The writer makes a forensic argument by citing several examples from the past which helps the readers understand the possible outcome of the topic in question.
The writer enriches the argument by making a logical appeal to the audience and presenting research findings conducted by economists and education researchers. As Everything’s an Argument (Lunsford, Ruszkiewicz and Walters, 2013) explains about logical appeal that “audiences respond well to the use of reasons and evidence (i.e. logical appeal) — to the presentation of facts, statistics, credible testimony, cogent examples in support of the argument” (p. 27). For example, the writer presents research conducted in early 2000s by Duke University economists Jacob Vigdor and Helen Ladd. The research was aimed to study the academic progress of nearly one million disadvantaged middle-school students when they were given access to networked computers. The economists concluded: “Students who gain access to a home computer between the 5th and 8th grades tend to witness a persistent decline in reading and math scores”. In another instance, the writer provides evidence for the reason why the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child project, started in 2006, envisioned at providing each student over 6 years old with a laptop, failed in achieving the desired level of success. All these examples also point out