Lack of work ethic often stems from the lack of competitiveness in young adults and youths, according to Nicholas Trotter, especially lack of competitiveness in sports and mostly youth sports. Trotter’s worry is rooted in the young generation and all the trophies and awards they get for participating, he believes that these awards will hurt future generations work ethic. His worry for the younger generations work ethic is not just in sports but just in everyday life as a whole. Trotter mimics this belief in order to bring awareness to this issue that he believes needs to be fixed. Through appealing to middle class values, Trotter urges the parents of younger generations to think of these kids future and to find a better way to reward kids than just handing out participation trophies out that they did not earn at all. …show more content…
His essay’s foundation is the use of sarcasm and that is how he lures his audience in to reading what he has to say. When Trotter says “they need to be sheltered at all cost” and “most americans want placing trophies,” this helps show us that that he is being sarcastic because he is appealing to middle class values and most middle class families would not believe in these things. Trotter uses this sarcasm to persuade families that these participation trophies not only hurt their kids now but will hurt their work ethic in the future as well. Trotter also uses sarcasm to show how the other sides argument is wrong and will be worse for their kids in the future. When he proclaims “the ones will be rewarded the same as everyone else” and “these trophies are good for everyone,” this helps demonstrate that we are all similar in not wanting this for future generations; by using sarcasm throughout the