"Violent Media Is Good For Kids" Homework

Identifying Elements of Argument
1. Violent Media has a positive impact on children's development.

2.

•  He explains the impact that the Incredible Hulk comics had on him and his strengths and career path.
•  He explains the impact Tarzan had on his son who was afraid to be like his peers.
•  The little girl who used her violent stories to become self-controlled, socially competent, and a leader        among her peers

3. 

• Touches upon school shootings
• States that violent entertainment has inspired people to real-life violence
• He refutes them by inferring that violent media has helped more than it has harmed. It helps if people learn to use it well.

4. Sheltering children from violence hurts them more than it helps. They'll never learn self-control or how be powerful and demonstrate leadership.

Exercise 2.4: Annotating

• Writer is focusing on the impact that violent media has on children's development
• The writer is clearly arguing the benefits violent media has on children's development
• Violent media has a positive impact on children's development
• The writer could relate to this topic and used personal experiences to support his argument
• The writer is probably addressing parents, schools, anyone leery about violence
• The writer assumes that some will not agree with the essay's position, so he refutes the counter argument and demonstrates what's right and wrong about it
• The writer uses personal information to support the thesis and provides a sufficient amount of evidence. He could have included more, but he conveys his point well enough with what he has
• The writer refutes the opposing arguments in a way that convinces you that they are wrong
• Writer uses easy to understand vocabulary
• Good use of references
• Valid points/premises

Exercise 2.8: Writing A Critical Response

According to Gerald Jones, violent media can actually have positive effects on young people because it teaches them important lessons on life, such as how to be a strong-minded person, how to lead, how to overcome fear, and how to be more vocal and social. Jones also believes that violent media are a positive influence on children because it trains them to be open-minded, so that they aren't sheltered from the world. Jones makes some good points. For example, he says that "the dual-identity concept at the heart of many superhero stories helps kids negotiate the conflicts between the inner self and the public self as they work through the early stages of socialization" (Jones). What he means by this is, the split personalities, or facades, teaches kids about common conflicts about the person they are inside and the person they reflect to the world and helps them overcome the struggles of early socialization. However, he refutes for the opposing argument, expressing that violent media can actually inspire people to be violent in real life, but he refutes this counter argument by inferring that violent media benefits more than it hurts. All in all, violent media is beneficial to a child's early development.