15. After-School Activities Make Educational Inequality Even Worse

In this article, Hilary Levey Freidman, an affiliate of the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy and the author of Playing to Win: Raising Children in a Competitive Culture, writes on the growing competitiveness in modern society as parent's pursue a quality education and outside activities to add upon their children's curriculums. She begins by pointing out that it is no longer true that what happens in the classroom will guarantee success and status as an adult. She highlights the gap that the pursuit of defining status has created between the privileged and the poorer classes, where those with money are guaranteed a better education and now an opportunity to fine-tune life skills through extracurricular activities. She continues by writing about the research she conducted with families whose kids were enrolled in extracurricular activities. In these families, most of them middle class, wanted their kids to gain five skills from these activities, which the author labeled "Competitive Kid Capital." The first of these skills is to be competitive and to get a hang of the policy that "the winner takes it all." Similarly, kids learn from these activities to bounce back even when they lose; getting something out of both spectrums of the game: win or lose. Many of these skills feed a certain mindset, one that can provide the kid with success and a competitiveness which will help them in the future. Furthermore, these parents want their children to learn to manage their time and adapt to challenging environments, yet remain "graceful" and confident even when being judged by a crowd. Freidman ends her article by emphasizing the point that although these activities help educate the child and create a beneficial outlook upon life, "they are another way that not everyone in the U.S. is playing to win on a level field."

In her article Friedman is proficient in her language use and is able to deliberate her argument clearly. Although she does not give much evidence on how the opportunity to practice extracurricular activities will affect a child's status as adults, she is careful and deliberate when she argues that not everyone has these opportunities available to them. Her argument is well supported, using data from her research and from the quotes of several different parents on the subject of promoting certain skills through extracurricular activities. Although they may not be credible sources, they support her ideas clearly and are capable of convincing the audience because they are appropriate in their contexts. Furthermore, her sentence structure and the fluidity of her article allow the reader to easily follow her thought process. Her paper clearly follows her thesis and is written in a persuasive tone. Although she is trying to inform the audience, she also provides an undertone of persuasion almost condemning this practice which further differentiates the poorer classes from the more privileged classes. The image used in her article is easy to understand and complements her article by providing a depiction of wealthier family sending their children off to play sports. Furthermore, the organization of her article by the use of subheadings for the different skills she explains, helps organize these ideas in the reader's mind. The headings also provide the reader with an idea of what is to come and emphasizes the point being conveyed. Overall her article is well written and is to the point, creating an easy to follow article while also enticing the reader to consider the changes which have overtaken society in this new era.   

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/11/after-school-activities-make-educational-inequality-even-worse/281416/