Summary and Critical Response (Coursework Sample)

Summary and Critical Response
Summary:
In the article "Working at McDonald’s" written by Amitai Etzioni, the author emphasized the harmful effects on the teenagers, working in fast food restaurants specifically at McDonald’s. He is of the opinion that teenagers should not work in fast food restaurants as it hinder their educational endeavors. According to him, these jobs not only affect their school attendance but are also responsible for their lack of interest in their academics. He further argues that the traditional American jobs actually trained the teenagers to become independent and disciplined whereas, to him working at McDonald’s does not provide any room for change or opportunity as the work style is not creative. Moreover, here the teenagers do not learn how to do the job in their own style rather they are being taught how to fulfill their duties. Amitai asserts that working at a fast food restaurant promotes teenagers to run away from their responsibilities and school. There is no supervision provided so as the teenagers are not experienced they do not learn anything rather they waste their time working long hours just to get paid and then spent carelessly. In the end he suggests teens to stay focused to their academics instead of focusing on work.
Word Count: 204
Critical Response:
Etzioni’s article "Working at McDonald’s”, is quite stimulating and creative. Author’s purpose is to convince the audience especially the parents of the teenagers about the harmful effects of working at the fast food chains preferably McDonald’s through his supportive arguments as parents play an important role in the lives of the children. The article is very much informative. The writer has used simple language and uncomplicated sentence structure. In order to convince his audience he has not overstated anywhere in the article. The author could not be blamed for any of his claims in the article as he has supported his claims with valid references. The only thing author was not able to provide were the concrete statistical data from different studies. That is the only drawback of the article.
To begin with, Etzioni’s article is interesting and creative. He has tried to motivate and convince his audience by providing strong reasons and confrontations. He tries to be précised and avoids using irrelevant details. His creativity could be seen in the first statement of his article and seems very interesting, "McDonald’s is bad for your kids" (Etzioni 316). He attempts to grab reader’s attention by beginning the article with this inquisitive statement. After reading the statement reader may think that the article is about some harmful effects of the products from McDonald’s. However, in his next sentence, "I do not mean the flat patties and the white- flour buns" (Etzioni 316) he has made his audience clear what he actually mean.
Furthermore, he had tried to convince parents about the negativity of working in fast food chains preferably McDonald’s through his supportive arguments like, "The employees develop many skills such as how to operate a food- preparation machine and a cash register. However, little attention is paid to how long it takes to acquire such a skill or what its significance is" (Etzioni 316-317). Here author affirms by claiming that teenagers learn nothing at such kinds of jobs. They just learn how to comply with their duties. They do not acquire any beneficial skills such as creativity by working at fast food restaurants. He is of the opinion that teenagers should not work in places such as fast food chains as these jobs does not aid the teens instead they are just a source of income to them to meet their needs.
Moreover, the author provided handful information about the teenagers working at McDonald’s. The author through his efficient and thorough observations and evidences from researches creates an article highlighting the three harmful effects of employment on educational endeavors. The three adverse effects he stresses are the long working hours obstruct with school attendance, teens do not acquire any skills working at McDonald’s and these jobs are educational.
Next, Etzioni’s sentence structure is simple and clear. He has used unambiguous and precise words in his article. He tries to motivate his readers by giving them a clear picture of the consequences on teenagers of working at McDonald’s. By giving simple examples of traditional jobs and comp...