Analysis of persuasive techniques used in response to the question "should parents of delinquents recieve classes to improve" wriiten in the Herald Sun

In the article Parent Plan too Pushy, published in the Herald Sun on 29/1/03, the writer, Robyn Riley argues against Mark Latham's proposed parenting classes. Ms Riley challenges that such a suggestion wrongly holds parents solely accountable and lets government agencies easily off the 'hook'. Throughout the article the writer uses a number of persuasive devices in order to manipulate the audience's response. These include, rhetorical question, attack and emotive language One example of a persuasive …

…are viewed as being more friendly, treating the audiences more as equals and not aggressively forcing their viewpoint upon the reader. In this particular article the anecdote serves the writer very well as he is obviously someone with a professional background. By using an anecdote it gives the piece a lighter touch, ensuring that the article itself is not too intimidating to the reader. This approach is more likely to coerce agreement from the reader.