Carolyn Franco 

May 11, 2021 

Professor McIntosh 

ENGL 21001: Critical Analysis 

A View on Parenthood

The COVID-19 pandemic has some people questioning if kids are worth having. We live in a time where we are currently facing many world problems such as a public health crisis, an economic crisis, and a climate crisis. But will having a baby pave the way to a solution for some of these crises? In the article, Why, Despite Everything, You Should Have Kids (if You Want Them), written by Dr. Tom Whyman who is a philosopher. Dr. Whyman successfully delivers his argument using ethos, pathos, and logos, on how the world has progressed from a century in where having a baby was considered selfish into now a more developed century in where having a baby is considered hope, but declining birth rates are showing that not many people are contributing into bringing a newborn into this world. 

Starting off his article, Dr. Whyman uses logos to capture the reader’s attention of the declining birth rates that are happening in this current year, “ In the United States, an estimated 300,000 fewer babies are expected in 2021. And Europe has experienced the most severe slump in its birth rate since the end of the 1970s.” The hypothesis of having a baby boom happening when the pandemic was coming to an end was proven wrong when research showed that not many couples were having kids even though they were locked away with each other. The reality of seeing how the virus was being handled from the beginning was scary to some people. People were getting sick and dying from this virus, so having a kid during this time isn’t the ideal solution to many people. In the article, Researchers expect the US to face underpopulation, blaming a falling birth rate and economic crises, written by Lidnsey Jacobson, it talks about how the trend in declining birth rate didn’t start when the Cvoid-19 pandemic hit, it started way before, “The U.S. birth rate in 2019 fell to its lowest level in 35 years, well below the requisite 2.1 babies per woman required to sustain our population through birth alone.” The declining birth rate problem has been an issue since 2021 and has been carried over to 2020 and 2021. The issue that contributes to this as well is the unemployment rate that increased when the pandemic hit, “Every 1 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate reduces births by 1 percent, according to Wellesley College economics professor Phil Levine.” The pandemic also is contributing to the fact that birth rates are declining, instead of a baby boom it was a baby bust.  

Going further into Dr. Whyman’s article, the reader is introduced to the history of how birth control was perceived in the 12th and 13th century. Some people might think that birth control can have something to do with the declining birth rates since technology has advanced these past decades. In Dr. Whyman’s article, fear was birth control, “In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Cathars, a heretic sect that flourished across southern France and northern Italy, preached that the material world was created by Satan and denounced reproduction as a sin.” Dr. Whyman used ethos to show how far we as people have come along in beliefs like these. Now in the present day, when someone announces that they are pregnant, we congratulate them and wish them the best. But back then, it was seen as selfish and a sin because you were bringing a baby into the world. One would think that these beliefs are gone but they still are brought up, “And in recent decades, the South African philosopher David Benatar has argued extensively in support of the doctrine of “anti-natalism” — the belief that birth is morally wrong.” This belief would gain a lot of criticism in the present day, having the population grow is what keeps the economy afloat, if the population were to decrease then there would be a ripple across many things but most importantly economically. The article, The US birth rate hit another record low in 2019. Experts fear we’re facing a ‘demographic time bomb’ that could be fast-tracked by the pandemic, written by Anna Medaris Miller, focuses on how parenthood is seen now in present day by young adults, “ More couples are delaying starting their families due to career and other personal reasons, Dr. Eric Forman, medical and lab director at Columbia University Fertility Center, told Insider, adding that the good news is that options to have children later in life “are better than ever.” In a more developed society, young adults can pursue careers that not many other people get to experience. Being able to take these opportunities are a privilege that not many people get, but they also come with consequences that contribute to the population and economy. 

Finally, coming to the end of Dr. In Whyman’s article, he uses pathos to end his argument strong on why it is beautiful to be able to have a kid who symbolizes hope for the future. Besides being a philosopher, Dr. Whyman is also a father, he described his first time finding out that he was going to be a part of fatherhood, “I first saw the shapes that would grow up into my son, Iggy. Wriggling around, he was bony and translucent, never sitting still long enough for the technician to get the measurements she needed — an involuntary mischief, which nevertheless made me feel strangely proud. “As the reader, one gets to see the emotions and feelings Dr. Whyman felt when he found out that he was becoming a father. Now in the present day, we get to experience how other people transition parenthood, many people enjoy it, and some don’t. Being able to become a parent is something that not many people get to experience whether it be because they can’t have children due to health problems or simply because they choose to be the cool aunt/uncle. What many people miss is that children will always be the future, and it is not wrong to delay having a kid, because today, young adults deal with many things. In the article, Experts sound the alarm on declining birth rates among younger generations: “It’s a crisis”, it touches on the topic about society and how it has changed, boomers wouldn’t understand that student debt is crazy high and mental health exists, ““The cost of housing, the cost of education, all these things have become more and more difficult,” Dowell said. “I think the boomers themselves don’t realize how much harder it is for millennials today. And they think, ‘Oh yeah, when we were young, we had to live, you know, on very little money, and we made do, and you can do the same.’ That’s the story, right? Well, no, it really is a lot harder for young people today. It’s amazing how much harder it is.”” Times have changed, having a kid isn’t so easy now in today’s day, being financially stable is very important when one is going to take on the responsibility of taking care of someone. Becoming a parent is a life changing decision, luckily there is enough time to be able to create a family whether one would want that choice later in life, in the previous article above by Anna Medaris Miller, it mentioned the choice one has in being able to put a pause on childbearing, “There are excellent options to preserve fertility if the time is not right to have a child, for example, with egg freezing.” Being able to experience the feeling of finding out you are going to become a parent is always a choice you can make when you are ready to do so. 

Overall, Dr. Whyman’s article successfully delivers his argument on the privilege of being able to become a parent in the present day. The mention of 12th and 13th century beliefs and the emotions he felt to be able to become a parent in the present day, helps deliver his argument that becoming a parent not only is an amazing feeling, it also a privilege to have, and it shouldn’t be wasted. You don’t have to have a child if you don’t want to, but Dr. Whyman believes that it shouldn’t be an opportunity you should pass on. Of course, being financially and mentally stable comes first in one’s life, but down the line, giving the thought into becoming a parent shouldn’t be so bad. 

Reflection

Carolyn Franco 

May 13, 2021 

Professor McIntosh 

Final Thoughts on Critical Analysis

            Thesis statements are always the most difficult part of a paper in my opinion. Coming up with a thesis for this paper was difficult because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to talk about in my paper overall. But this was all because I was confused at first on what we were supposed to write in this paper, but once I got my questions answered and I had a sense of what this paper was focusing on, I had a clear understanding on what I wanted to include in my thesis statement. I knew I wanted my thesis statement to be clear and straightforward so there wouldn’t be any misunderstanding while one read my paper. During peer review, nobody had pointed out that my thesis needed work, so that was a sign that my thesis was clear in the beginning and laid out what my paper was going to be about. Another thing I found difficult while writing this paper was being able to analyze my sources, I use to have a problem where I would analyze way too much to the point where I had to cut some stuff out but now in this paper, I had to add more analyzation because I realized I relied too much on my evidence to support my thesis. So, I did have to go back for my revisions and go through each piece of evidence and see what I can analyze even more to take my thinking process a step further for it to support my thesis. Surprisingly, I did not have trouble finding sources that supported the argument I was making in my paper. There were some outdated sources that I avoided but many of the sources that I found were either a year old or up to date which helped well with supporting my thesis. While doing this, I did cut out some sources that I didn’t end up using for my final draft, I realized that a source I had picked wasn’t really supporting my thesis at all, though it did support the main argument of declining birth rates, it was more specific on a certain topic that I did not touch on in my paper, so it ended up being discarded from the final piece. Overall, this assignment had to be one of the most challenging assignments I’ve done this semester, but it was the most entertaining in a way that we had to break up the article we chose and explain why the argument in the article was successful or not. 

Bibliography

Jacobson, Lindsey. “Researchers Expect the US to Face Underpopulation, Blaming a Falling 

Birth Rate and Economic Crises.” CNBC, CNBC, 6 Jan. 2021, www.cnbc.com/2021/01/05/us-may-see-underpopulation-not-overpopulation-due-falling-birth-rate.html.

Miller, Anna Medaris. “The US Birth Rate Hit Another Record Low in 2019. Experts Fear 

We’re Facing a ‘Demographic Time Bomb’ That Could Be Fast-Tracked by the Pandemic.” Insider, Insider, 9 Oct. 2020, www.insider.com/us-birth-rate-record-low-2019-demographic-time-bomb-cdc-2020-10.

“Experts Sound the Alarm on Declining Birth Rates among Younger Generations: ‘It’s a 

Crisis.’” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 3 Mar. 2021, www.cbsnews.com/news/birth-rate-declining-younger-generations-crisis/.

Whyman, Tom. “Why, Despite Everything, You Should Have Kids (If You Want Them).” The 

New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Apr. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/opinion/baby-bust-covid-philosophy-natalism.html.