|
|
|
In the following introduction paragraph, the student author uses summary at
the beginning as she engages the reader with the topic of the essay she is about
to critique. (See underlined section.) Later, she moves from summary to
critique; that is, she makes a judgment about how the Brandt essay works (and
doesn’t work). (See italicized section.)
Religion Vs. Kids
Who needs religion? There are many people in the world who do not believe in
any religion. There are also parents who do not teach their children any sort of
religion either. This is the dilemma raised in Anthony Brandt’s essay called “Do
Kids Need Religion.” He looks at all the particulars in religious parents and
children, and non-religious parents and children. Brandt also asks questions
such as “What does a secular society offer a child,” and “ What do parents with
no religious beliefs do when their children start asking those difficult
questions about where Grandpa has gone, or why Jesus was crucified, and why
people are so mean, and what will happen to them when they die?” (192) As
one could see, this is a very controversial problem, which raises a lot of
diverse questions, and this dilemma could be hard to take a side on. This is
the main problem that Anthony Brandt seemed to have while writing his essay,
just as most of the people he interviewed did and his readers did too. Although
he makes the essay interesting, he never directly states where he stands in the
argument. The use of psychologist’s opinion in his essay also makes the article
uneasy and leaves the readers left out in the cold. If Brandt wrote the essay to
overcome his own indecisiveness, he did not accomplish it in this essay.
|
 |
