TOW #3: "My Daughter's Homework is Killing Me" by Karl Taro Greenfeld (via The Atlantic)

     Karl Taro Greenfeld, a father of two, was alarmed at how late his 13-year-old daughter Esmee was staying up to finish her homework. In an attempt to show the world (excluding students, who already know) the toll that hours upon hours of homework can take on someone, Greenfeld decided to do all of Esmee's homework with her for one week. Greenfeld is not a regular writer for The Atlantic (though he is the author of six books), but to get his story out, he recorded it as a magazine article.
     Organization is a key aspect of Greenfeld's article. He introduces his topic briefly, stating that he decided to try to do his daughter's homework for a week after noticing how little sleep she got. He then organizes the rest of the essay into days: each section begins with a description of the homework, how hard/easy it was, and the total time (usually around three hours). Immediately after that, Greenfeld recounts a story from his childhood or from experiences as a parent, and applies the story to his experiences with Esmee's homework. This use of organization easily shows readers the time commitment of homework and, if they'd like to do a bit more reading, shows them why it creates such a huge time commitment.
     Later on in the essay, Greenfeld uses statistics to appeal to logos. He discusses how America scores lower on testing than countries like Japan or Denmark, which actually give out less homework. (And, incidentally, countries such as Thailand and Greece, which assign more, score lower.) However, American schools haven't learned from this. Greenfeld writes, "According to a University of Michigan study, the average time spent weekly on homework increased from two hours and 38 minutes in 1981 to three hours and 58 minutes in 2004." Greenfeld's use of statistics can convince even a doubtful reader that there's something wrong with the monstrous amounts of homework American students receive.
     To show the world that middle and high school students have too much homework, Greenfeld appeals to logos. He uses a chronological organization with prominent headers to quickly show readers the amount of time he and his daughter spent on homework each day and why. To further convince any doubtful readers, Greenfeld uses statistics from reputable sources that show the increase in American homework and how it may not actually be beneficial.

Too Much Homework:

This is far too much homework for any student to have, especially a 13-year-old.

(Incidentally, the day after you (Mr. Yost) recommended my class to read this article, I actually had five and a half hours of homework.)

(Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/my-daughters-homework-is-killing-me/309514/?single_page=true)