Analyzing an Argument - Essay Example

In today’s world most families have both parents out in the workforce. It is no longer standard for the woman to stay at home and raise the children.This leads to the subject, what happens to your children during the-in between hours of the day when they are not in school but the parents are not at home. The mall has become the answer. It provides a safe environment with a type of supervision. Leaving children at the mall is not necessarily the correct type of baby-sitting. But what do you do teenagers who are too old for a sitter but not quite old enough to be completely on their own.

Kowinski’s main argument is that leaving your children at the mall is not all that bad. It does provide a type of structure that in its own way replaces life at home and is needed by teenagers. In fact many teens prefer the mall over their own home life. It is a common denominator for the majority of teenagers all over the country (Kowinski, pg). Despite this preference the mall does provide many experiences that are important in a teenager’s life. The article does not insist that Kowinski’s opinion is the be all and end all on the situation.

He calmly states examples and explanations for teenager’s behavior. He presents many perspectives on the topic of teenagers and malls and ultimately lets the reader make their own decision. It is interesting to note that despite the fact most teenagers like to hang out at the mall, malls were not originally designed for this purpose. A study was done by the International Council of shopping centers that stated even though teenagers act out in malls, they ultimately do not act out as badly as students who don’t frequent malls (Kowinski, pg).

There are consequences to behavior at the mall as there is a level of supervision in the form of management and security. Ultimately malls want teenagers because they learn to value what shopping centers want, consumers. People who find value in owning the coolest and newest gadgets or styles. Malls are training teenagers to be shoppers. This lesson on consumption can be considered as both positive and negative. Kowinski refers to a psychologist, Dr. David Elkand, a writer, Karen Lansky, CBS report, and Laurence Steinberg of the University of California at Irving on their opinions of teenagers growing up in malls.

These sources may not be leaders in the field of sociology or consumer studies but they have a good deal of knowledge on the subject and raise some interesting points. Karen Lansky agrees that malls do substitute and provide some structure for teenagers. Particularly those teenagers that don’t have any structure at home (Kowinski, pg). But these substitutes appear to be superficial compared to what may be considered “traditional” values learned at home. Dr. Elkand states that the focus on consumption causes teenagers to grow up too fast.

They are forced into an adult world without the experience needed to successfully maneuver through this world (Kowinski, pg). Malls also do not cause teenagers to aspire towards higher goals. The CBS report had excellent examples of how teenager’s goals are not very lofty due to the type of work offered to them at the mall. Teenage workers wanted to make the best ice cream cone. They realized that there wasn’t much chance to advance and aspire for greater things, but that what they were was what they had at the moment (Kowinski, pg).

This is unfortunate as teenagers should still dream, or being astronauts, singers, movie stars, scientists, what ever they want to. They should aspire to be anything they want to and not just settle with being a fast food worker. It is possible to work at the mall and still dream and work towards a goal but many don’t anymore. It is a trend for children to be more on their own at a younger age. It is unfortunate that family values have changed to the point where much of society is focused on money.

But other areas, such as malls, are providing input into teenager’s lives that aren’t all bad. Ultimately the experience teenagers have at malls is pushing them towards where much of society is heading. Who are we to say if this is positive or negative though it will be interesting to determine how this will change the coming generations when they have finished with their teen years and gained adulthood. References:Kowinski, W. S., Kids in the Mall Growing Up Controlled, Elements of Argument, year, 116-122