Using Language to Persuade Example
Using Language to Persuade – ‘Bans Will Protect Your Unruly Little Darlings’ Jo Thornely.
The recent news of Drummoyne Public School’s ban on handstands has led to much criticism of parents being overprotective of their children. In her article, ‘Bans will protect your unruly little darlings’ (featured in the daily Telegraph, August 29, 2012), Jo Thornely argues that Parents are too safety conscious of their children and are breathing down schools’ backs in order to keep their children safe. Thornely sarcastically proposes some other bans that schools may want to impose. The intended audience for the piece are parents whose children are at a school going age. The article is accompanied by a visual piece; a photograph of students doing handstands and jumping in the presence of adult supervisors. The image is accompanied by a caption reading ‘children need to be children, don’t smother their natural instincts to play.’
Thornely begins the piece by listing the many things schools have banned or proposed on banning such as ‘energy drinks, mayonnaise, kiwi fruit, hugging and the word Easter,’ in order to attempt to show readers how out of hand schools have gotten in banning. The list is a way of ridiculing schools and makes the reader feel as if the schools banning is ridiculous. Thornely sarcastically goes on to propose some things schools should look to ban. One of the things that is proposed is hard bread crust. She uses something as ridiculous as bread crust to mock the schools bans. She follow this up by bringing up a common myth or joke about bread crust saying ‘let’s just eliminate crust altogether… the bonus here is a reduction in curly-haired children.’ She uses the mockery and the joke to humour the reader and making them agree that the schools bans are too out of hand. The article is supported by a photograph depicting supervisors in the presence of children jumping and performing handstands. The image has two supervisors, one behind the children and the
The recent news of Drummoyne Public School’s ban on handstands has led to much criticism of parents being overprotective of their children. In her article, ‘Bans will protect your unruly little darlings’ (featured in the daily Telegraph, August 29, 2012), Jo Thornely argues that Parents are too safety conscious of their children and are breathing down schools’ backs in order to keep their children safe. Thornely sarcastically proposes some other bans that schools may want to impose. The intended audience for the piece are parents whose children are at a school going age. The article is accompanied by a visual piece; a photograph of students doing handstands and jumping in the presence of adult supervisors. The image is accompanied by a caption reading ‘children need to be children, don’t smother their natural instincts to play.’
Thornely begins the piece by listing the many things schools have banned or proposed on banning such as ‘energy drinks, mayonnaise, kiwi fruit, hugging and the word Easter,’ in order to attempt to show readers how out of hand schools have gotten in banning. The list is a way of ridiculing schools and makes the reader feel as if the schools banning is ridiculous. Thornely sarcastically goes on to propose some things schools should look to ban. One of the things that is proposed is hard bread crust. She uses something as ridiculous as bread crust to mock the schools bans. She follow this up by bringing up a common myth or joke about bread crust saying ‘let’s just eliminate crust altogether… the bonus here is a reduction in curly-haired children.’ She uses the mockery and the joke to humour the reader and making them agree that the schools bans are too out of hand. The article is supported by a photograph depicting supervisors in the presence of children jumping and performing handstands. The image has two supervisors, one behind the children and the