Academic argument is used among many writers to portray their view on a certain situation. Authors writing academic argument are trying to persuade the reader to think about the issue they are passionate about. In The Humanist magazine, Julia Wilkins writes a strong article on school uniforms. “School Uniforms: The Answer to Violence in American Schools or A Cheap Educational Reform?” takes statements from The Manual on School Uniforms and explains Wilkins’ disagreeing opinion. While Wilkins’ article is not perfect, especially with contradictions, it is overall mostly effective by showing the readers how the issue is relevant to their lives, clearly revealing her stance with a strong thesis statement, and providing sufficient and relevant evidence …show more content…
The main problem is when she is talking about diminishing class distinction. In the first paragraph, Wilkins urges readers to realize that children will be able to tell their peers’ status’s whether they are wearing uniforms or not (21). She goes on to say that clothing is no longer the deciding factors on a family’s economic state, but rather the way the children talk, how they spend their free time, and how they treat others (21). While all of this may be true, Wilkins seems to contradict herself in the following paragraph. She argues that children forced into uniforms will never understand social differences and be rudely awakened when they enter into the real world (21). If children are intelligent at noticing peers’ status’s, as she implies in the first paragraph, they should not be unaware of the separation of social classes. Considering this is the only place that Wilkins contradicts herself, it is not a serious issue for the reader. If contradictions occurred multiple times and Wilkins stated facts that supported school uniforms while strongly stating her anti-uniform stance, an issue would arise. Along with this minor contradiction, Wilkins also struggles with finding sufficient and relevant evidence to back up her thesis