Argument 63 Arg 63 discontinue organized athletic competition for children under nine -o
The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Parkville Daily newspaper.
Throughout the country last year, as more and more children below the age of nine participated in youth-league sports, over 40,000 of these young players suffered injuries.When interviewed for a recent study, youth-league soccer players in several major cities also reported psychological pressure exerted by coaches and parents to win games.Furthermore, education experts say that long practice sessions for these sports take away time that could be used for academic activities.Since the disadvantages outweigh any advantages, we in Parkville should discontinue organized athletic competition for children under nine.
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
G1: Throughout the country last year, as more and more children below the age of nine participated in youth-league sports, over 40,000 of these young players suffered injuries.
G2: When interviewed for a recent study, youth-league soccer players in several major cities also reported psychological pressure exerted by coaches and parents to win games.
G3: Furthermore, education experts say that long practice sessions for these sports take away time that could be used for academic activities.
C1: Since the disadvantages outweigh any advantages, we in Parkville should discontinue organized athletic competition for children under nine.
A1 (G1, C1): the injuries are severe enough to justify discontinuing
A2 (G1, C1): the injured players are evenly distributed across age groups, sport categories and cities
A2 (G2, C1): The cases in the interviews are representative and psychological pressure are necessarily unhealthy.
A3 (G3, C1): Young children in Parkville spent a lot of time practicing and they need to spend more time on academic activities.
assumption 1: the injuries are severe enough to justify discontinuing
- perhaps many of the injury cases are minor
- maybe better training and supervision could reduce the number of injuries
- perhaps the injury rate is not very high compared to other activities
assumption 2: the injured players are evenly distributed across age groups, sport categories and cities
- maybe players of certain age groups are more vulnerable to injury (attention should be focused on such age group; not to discontinue players of all ages under 9)
- perhaps players of certain sports are more likely to get injured
- maybe injuries are not common in Parkville
assumption 3: the interview studies could represent all the youth league players and the pressure is necessarily bad
- only a dozen of players are interviewed (are they randomly selected from all the players)
- can soccer playerss experience represent players of other sports
- is situation in Parkville similar to the major cities
- pressure could be useful
assumption 4: all players practice for long sessions that only influence academic activities negatively
- maybe many players do not practice very long sessions
- perhaps the exercises can improve the health and the learning efficiency
- the competitive spirit could motivate the students to study harder