Thinking Skills

June 2009

Paper 2, question 3(slightly adapted 2012)

Main ConclusiionIntermediate Conclussion & Main SUPPORTING Reason. Supporting ReasonsCounter ArgumentExample

1

There is pressure on young couples to have babies. But young people, especially educated women, are increasingly choosing not to have children, or to have fewer of them. Many may call such people selfish. But having children is actually the selfish option. Ensuring the survival of your own genes is entirely for your own benefit. Producing children just so that they can wipe your dribble and listen to you moaning when you are old and infirm is hardly an altruistic act.

Main ConclusiionIntermediate Conclussion & Main SUPPORTING Reason. Supporting ReasonsCounter ArgumentExample

2

Who knows how many parents and children make each other miserable on this Earth? Many parents mistreat their children because they entered the parent-child relationship rashly and are not ready for the responsibility of a child. Others try to live their own lives through their children and push their young to achieve all the things they did not. It is unfair to the children to have such demands placed on them. Such parents would have been better thinking through the decision to reproduce.

3

Children are hugely expensive consumers. They need food, clothing, medical care, trendy gadgets, football equipment, dancing lessons, cars… This can be a problem for parents. More importantly, the Earth will struggle to cope. Unless we have fewer children, the world will get more and more crowded. For every child born, more of the world’s precious resources will be used up on a wasteful, unnecessary lifestyle. So making the decision not to have children is actually unselfish. Main Conclusiion

Intermediate Conclussion & Main SUPPORTING Reason. Supporting ReasonsCounter ArgumentExample

4

People speak of the joy of having children – and there undoubtedly is a kind of biological reward that makes even intelligent people go gooey when their baby gurgles at them. But this cannot compensate for all the sacrifices a parent must make. Children take over your life and eclipse your identity. Your friends don’t want to know you anymore, you can’t go out, you can’t have an adult conversation… Your kids demand constant service and attention to their needs, as if you were a maidservant, but can’t manage to be polite to you. And they last for more than twenty years. In short, the responsibility is great and the rewards very small: the decision not to have children is clearly a reasonable one.

(a) ANALYSIS – 2 marksUsing the exact words from the passage as far as possible, identify the main conclusion.

2 marks:

The decision not to have children is clearly a reasonable one

1 mark:

The responsibility is great and the rewards very small: the decision not to have children is clearly a reasonable one

(b) ANALYSIS – 3 marksUsing the exact words from the passage as far as possible, identify three reasons used to support the main conclusion. Any three of the following, 1 mark each:

Having children is the selfish option Such parents would have been better thinking through the decision

to reproduce (OR Parents who mistreat their children or demand too much from them

would have been better thinking through the decision to reproduce) The Earth will struggle to cope The decision not to have children is actually unselfish This cannot compensate for all the sacrifices

(OR The joy of having children cannot compensate for all the sacrifices) Children take over your life and eclipse your identity The responsibility is great and the rewards very small

(c) EVALUATION – 5 marksEvaluate the reasoning in the argument. In your answer you should consider any strengths, weaknesses, flaws and unstated assumptions.

Paragraph 1

Restricts the options – gives only two fairly extreme reasons for having children (passing on genes, and being looked after in old age)

Assumes there are not other, more positive, reasons for having children

Uses an emotive description (“wipe your dribble and listen to you moaning”) to mock this attitude(instead of using logical reasoning)

(c) EVALUATION (continued)

Paragraph 2

Uses a rhetorical question (“Who knows how many …?)for dramatic effect (instead of using logical reasoning)

Vague generalisation (“many”, “others”, “such parents”)

Again restricts the options, and assumes there are only these extreme cases (mistreating children, and living through them)

Just because some parents make these mistakes does not mean it happens generally

(c) EVALUATION (continued)

Paragraph 3

Unjustified generalisation (“Children are…) which assumes that no child will go on to live a careful and prudent lifestyle rather than a wasteful one

Fails to consider other possibilities (such as families which are environmentally-conscious; or the low consumption of poor populations)

Confuses needs and wants (referring to both as needs)

(c) EVALUATION (continued)

Paragraph 4

Straw person CA, by reducing the joy of having children to “(going) gooey when their baby gurgles at them” (and using emotive language to make fun of such reactions)

Exaggerates the sacrifices; and this also contradicts the earlier claim that having children is selfish

Generalises, by assuming that no child is caring, polite and grateful (that all children are unreasonably demanding, impolite and ungrateful)

Fails to consider that the way a child is brought up can make a big difference

(c) EVALUATION (continued)

Overall

The argument is especially weakened by generalisations, exaggeration and contradiction

The reasoning might support a conclusion that the decision not to have children can be reasonable for some people

It does not adequately support the stated conclusion that it simply is a reasonable decision (implicitly for all would-be parents)

Identifying assumptions

Remember:

An assumption is implicit, not explicit

– so it is not actually stated in the text

‘Implicit assumption’, ‘unstated assumption’ or ‘underlying assumption’ all mean the same

Assertions are often mis-identified as assumptions, especially unsupported/unjustified assertions

(d) FURTHER ARGUMENT – 5 marks‘Children have the right to demand what they want from their parents.’Write your own argument to support or challenge this claim. The conclusion of your argument must be stated.

Main conclusion

Reasons

An example

Probably a counter argument

Perhaps an intermediate conclusion

(c) FURTHER ARGUMENT

MC: Children do not have the right to demand whatever they want from their parents

CA: Some people say that children’s natural desires should not be repressed, but

R1: Children whose parents put no limits on their behaviour will grow up to be totally spoilt and inconsiderate of others

R2: Children need someone with experience to make good decisions about following a healthy and productive

lifestyle R3: What is more, children only gradually develop a sense of

right and wrong IC: So they need their parents to guide them Ex. For example, if a child demands cocaine, it would be

criminally irresponsible for a parent to give it to them

(c) FURTHER ARGUMENT

Children do not have the right to demand whatever they want from

their parents. Some people say that children’s natural desires should

not be repressed, but children whose parents put no limits on their

behaviour will grow up to be totally spoilt and inconsiderate of others.

Children require someone with experience to make good decisions

about following a healthy and productive lifestyle. What is more,

children only gradually develop a sense of right and wrong, so they

need their parents to guide them. For example, if a child demands

cocaine, it would be criminally irresponsible for a parent to give it to

them . (103 words)