The Invisible Consequence, child education

While there are many programs designed to help people with substance abuse problems, there are few programs that focus on how substance abuse affects the family members of the user. In the essay, “Substance Abuse in Families,” published in the Childhood Education Journal in 1999, Rivka Greenberg provides her professional insights on children with substance abusing mothers. Greenberg claims that children with substance abusing mothers often perform badly in the classroom. Greenberg identifies the problem and she provides various possible solutions to educators and administrators. Using many rhetorical strategies, Greenberg persuades her educator and administrator audience to first get involved with the students and second share their knowledge with parents and other professionals. Greenberg utilizes titled sections and moderately formal language in order to appear professional and create a direct organized reading. For the purpose of being credible and being informative, Greenberg uses causal claims and variety of reliable sources to appeal to educators.

Source: A Public Health Approach to Drug Control i...

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Oftentimes, organization and the development of the student’s education are the primary concerns for instructors. By understanding the values and interests of her audiences, Greenberg formats her essay according to educator’s needs to advocate her argument. At the same time, the essay would have been more influential, if Greenberg had provided statistical evidence.

In Greenberg’s essay, she appears professional by presenting sections and subsections with headings. There are four main sections: “Educational Issues,” “Issues in Substance Abuse Treatment,” “Education and Educators,” and “Conclusion.” The titles of the main sections appear in bold and are located one space above the paragraph. Under the section, “Issues in Substance Abuse Treatment,” the paragraphs are further divided into four subsections: “Developmental and Education Concerns,” “Environmental Influences,” “Role Reversal,” and “Out of Home Placement.” The subsections also appear in bold. In contrast with the titles of the main...