No Child Left Inside

1051 Words5 Pages
In or Out? The article “Leave No Child Inside”, by Richard Louv is a very concerning and insightful piece. This article is really aimed to make people think and maybe reconsider what is happening right in front of their very eyes. The author is very concerned with the fact that children in this generation are not taking advantage and using nature as a way to learn, exert energy, and stay healthy. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the article by breaking it down into pieces, taking a look at the rhetorical components, and finding out Louv’s purpose in this article. Some of the main rhetoric used in Louv’s article is his personal experiences that he shares with the readers. Louv writes in a way that is soothing to us as readers but also encourages us to think out our past experiences with nature and how it affected us, as well as him, in our childhoods. In the article the author is speaking to many people. In some parts of the article he is speaking directly to doctors and physicians when he suggests that they should jumpstart this change in lifestyle by putting up posters in their offices, hand out pamphlets, and use personal persuasion to promote physical and mental health and the benefits of playing in nature. By doing so this could help to eliminate child obesity. Louv also asks questions in the article that directly target the field of education. He asks, “Why have school districts cancelled field trips and recess and environmental education? Why don’t schools have windows that open or show any natural light”(1)? The California Department of Education has conducted studies that have shown that students in outdoor-science programs improved their test scores by 27%. According to an array of studies, children in outdoor education show increases in self-esteem, problem solving, and also helps to give children the motivation to learn (1).

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