Critical Analysis

work. This prevents children from access to any

sort of education. Although the number of child laborers has declined recently, the basic needs

of children such as food, health, and education have yet to be sufficiently provided, as well

as there needs to be more of a commitment to put an end to such disasterous events.

Throughout this essay Parker is not only trying to educate the general public on the

negative effects that child labor has on children, he is also trying to bring awareness to the

fact that child labor is ongoing. To support this he uses a statistic in paragraph 5,

"Officially, more than 320 million children under age sixteen work worldwide and 25 percent of

children do not complete a primary school education. In addidtion, almost 150 million children

labor in the worst forms of work as defined by the ILO." While this supports his purpose of

making people aware that child labor still occurs, it is unfortunatly the only piece of

concrete evidence that is given throughout the entire essay. While he does state specifc laws

and treaties that have been put in place to prevent and protect children from child labor, this

does nothing to prove that child labor is still an issue. If anything, this refutes the second

half of his thesis that states "all nations must commit to regulating child labor and

protecting their children." Is passing laws and treaties to help regulate and protect children

from child labor not a form of commitment? Parker fails to specify and support his purpose that

more needs to be done on top of what is already in place. While Parker does a good job at

explaining how, in his opinion, child labor is detrimental to children's health, education, and

safety, once again he lacks any concrete evidence that these problems are occuring as a

result of child labor. He does, however, use his personal experience as a form of evidence

throughout the essay. Which leads to the issue of his credibility, or lack...