Olga Khazan No Spanking No Time Analysis

Ulterior Motives : an analysis of Olga Khazan’s “No Spanking, No Time-out, No Problem” Any parent can relate to having at least a few, if not a plethora of, instances they can recall their children exhibiting some form of problematic behavior. If there is a perfect parent out there who, on a long shot, has not experienced disobedient behavior from their children then feel free to object or perhaps approve of Khazan’s article suggesting that positive reinforcement promotes the ability to be more successful in achieving desired behavior in children rather than punishment. Most parents might feel as if they have tried everything to alleviate problematic behavior from their children’s lives, Khazan explores capitalizing on certain parents willingness

Olga Khazan recommends an alternative to a typically unmentionable topic, how parents choose to punish their children for problem behavior, with intentions of informing and persuading said parents on how to more successfully achieve desired behavior from their children. Khazan initially highlights the issue he endorses by posing the question “The answer is to punish them, right?” and then introducing Alan Kazdin by stating, “Not so, says Alan Kazdin … Punishment might make you feel better, but it won’t change the kid’s behavior” (Khazan paragraph 1). Khazan obviously strives to solve humanities problem of disobedience. Khazan interviews Alan Kazdin for more insight on the proclamation. Interviewing Kazdin specifically, Director of the Yale Parenting Center, Khazan establishes Kazdin’s qualification for being able to make such acclamations and

Khazan displays his style through the use of tone implying line of questioning, in order to answer or raise any questions the audience may be asking themselves; while Kazdin promotes his style by using many real life allusions and metaphorical examples, with intentions of establishing a personal connection with the audience. Extremely vital to the overall credibility of the entire article, the introduction of Kazdin as “Director of the Yale Parenting Center” (Khazan para 1), by Khazan, justifies his proclamations. Introducing Kazdin with specifically bringing attention to his credentials, Khazan has enabled amongst the audience a sense of trustworthiness and validity. Although the ethos appeal plays an essential role to the credibility of the article as a whole, Kazdin’s use of the pathos appeal fundamentally establishes a more personal connection that the audience are able to relate to. Implementing similar lessons from Jay Heinrichs Thank You For Arguing such as “A person’s life persuades better than his word,” said one of Aristotle’s contemporaries” (Heinrichs Thank you for Arguing ch. 4), Kazdin applies this technique when he responds to Khazan’s question about a teen example, using an applicable anecdote to incorporate a symbol of relatability (Khazan para.