You’ve read Bachman’s position on jobs for teenagers during high school. You know that he is concerned primarily with academic success in high school and problem behaviors of high school students. In other words, he is interested in the short-term effects of high school students having jobs, and he recommends against high school students working jobs that require more than 15 hours of work during a week.

In the next activity (a graphic organizer), you will analyze a contrasting argument about jobs for teenagers. You will be asked to look for the issue, the perspective, the position, a proposal, any concessions or qualifications, and the type of evidence the writer uses as support.

When you read an article or an essay that presents an argument, you should be primarily concerned with the relevance, quality, and credibility of the evidence. You should also, however, be looking for the author’s perspective on the issue, and you should understand the purpose of concessions and qualifications.

Finally, you need to make use of all the evidence the writer presents (and whatever additional evidence you need to research on your own) to make up your own mind about the issue.