John Tierney's Can A Playground Be Too Safe

In John Tierney’s article “Can a Playground Be Too Safe?” published in The New York Times during the summer of 2011, he examines what playgrounds are like currently in New York. He points out that the structures have become smaller, closer the ground and rubberized. Tierney criticizes the idea of safer playgrounds that reduce physical injuries and reveals that safe playgrounds may be creating more harm than good. He argues that these playgrounds will stunt emotional development, generating more anxieties and fears within children. The author’s goal of this argumentative piece is to raise consciousness of the issue and to hopefully instill change on these playgrounds. Tierney adequately convinced his readers through a variety of appeals to logic, emotion, and character. John Tierney is a well-qualified journalist spending his whole life involved in this field. He studied and graduated from Yale and began as a newspaper reporter for four years, then transitioned as a magazine writer for popular publications like, Discover, Esquire, National Geographic Traveler, and, Rolling Stone. He has since been with The New York Times for twenty-seven years writing in their Sciences and Findings columns. The audience of The New
He does a sufficient job at engaging the reader's emotions and credibility, while he lacks at using enough hard statistics, he does have a bulk of reasons, credible observations and studies. Tierney’s main goal of this article is not necessarily to have contractors directly go out and reconstruct all of the playgrounds, but rather to raise consciousness of the public. Perhaps the goal is to apply this knowledge of taking risks at a young age to adults and their children in other areas as opposed to just the