The article, “Obesity Rate Falls for New York School Children” reports that the number of obese children in New York City fell by 5.5% over the past five years. This is the largest decline for any large city in the United States.
Anemona Hartocollis is a writer for New York Times and covers health issues for New York City.
This article is written in response to a report published by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Their studies show that declines in obesity were higher among middle class children than poorer children. Also, declines were higher among white and Asian children, compared to black and Hispanic.
The purpose of this article was to offer a glimmer of optimism about one of the country’s biggest problems. Dr. Thomas A. Farley, the city’s health commissioner talked about the 5.5% drop: “This comes after decades of relentless increases. What’s impressive is the fact that it’s falling at all” (1). Because this problem of obesity is so stubborn, this small reduction is an affirmation of public health initiatives (2).
The audience intended for this article is readers of the New York Times and people interested in learning about the effects of switching out high fat foods in school for healthy and nutritional foods.
One major rhetorical devices used is an appeal to logos. The author used countless statistics and facts, for example, “By age group, the decline was highest among 5 and 6 years olds, at 9.9%. By race, the drop was highest among white children, at 12.5% and Asian children at 7.6%...” (3). Hartocollis also references obesity experts. She quotes doctors and authorities, for example, Marlene Schwartz, deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University.
The writer does achieve her purpose. She used so many facts and statistics for a purpose that is fairly agreeable on, so I was convinced.
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