Dodgeball Persuasive Essay

Authors often use persuasive techniques such as Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to help support the claim being made. In the articles “Position on Dodgeball in Physical Education,” by The National Association for Sport and Physical Education, and “The Weak Shall Inherit the Gym,” by Rick Reilly, both authors focus on using persuasive techniques to make claims about the relevance of dodgeball in physical education. To begin, in the article “Position on Dodgeball in Physical Education” the National Association for Sport and Physical Education uses Ethos and Pathos to support their claim on why Dodgeball should be banned from schools. For instance, when trying to explain the purpose of PE, the author states, “NASPE believes that dodgeball is not an

In one case, as a counterclaim the author states, “Neil Williams, a physical education professor at Eastern Connecticut State, says dodgeball has to go because it “encourages the best to pick on the weak.” Noooo! You mean there is weak in the world?” (1008). What the author is trying to convey is a counterclaim which he argues too by saying there are weak in the world and that is inevitable and banning dodgeball will not help. This has meaning because Reilly uses the persuasive technique of Ethos to present a counterclaim from a credible source which he quickly rejects and argues against because he believes the banning of dodgeball will only make kids weaker. Additionally, when speaking about his personal experience the author said, “We had a bully, Big Joe, in our seventh grade. Must have weighed 225 pounds,...We also had a kid named Melvin, who was so thin we could’ve faxed him from class to class.” (1008). This gives the readers a type of nostalgia and makes them think back to their bullying experiences as a child which generally has an emotional effect on the reader. This is essential because the author is using Pathos the persuasive technique which targets the reader's emotions and helps convince them of the claim being made. Evidently, in the article “The Weak Shall Inherit the Gym” written by Rick Reilley, the author uses Ethos and Pathos, two persuasive techniques to support his claim on how banning dodgeball will only contribute to the pussifieng of children in