TOW #5: "We're Still in the Dark About Kids and Concussions" by Dr. Robert Cantu

The brain is the most important and possibly one of the most delicate parts
of the body.  Unfortunately, the brains of many young athletes are at
risk due to concussions, which often happen repeatedly.

Many kids and teenagers play sports, which typically involve a lot of physical contact and roughhousing and can result in severe injuries as well as concussions.  This fact has received a lot of press lately as seriously concussed young athletes, their families, and doctors go public with their experiences.  In this article featured in Time Magazine, Dr. Robert Cantu argues that many doctors are unsure about how risky certain sports are and the exact effects of concussions on children, then goes on to outline a study that would expose unknowns such as these.  Fortunately, his piece is written in terms that anyone, not just medical professionals, could understand, but it would probably resonate best with young athletes, their parents, and doctors who work with children who play sports.
As the article is about a serious medical topic, a reader would have to know the writer is credible in order to believe that the information is true.  Throughout the piece, Cantu writes in the first person, using the word "we" to refer to a group made up of himself and other medical professionals.  He talks about speaking to pediatricians and how he has "more than 375 papers published in peer-reviewed journals".  The clincher comes at the end when his qualifications are listed, stating that he works at Boston University as a clinical professor in the department of neurosurgery and as their co-director for the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy.  All of these culminate in an excellent appeal to ethos, proving to the reader that Cantu knows what he is writing about and is qualified to make the conclusions he does.  "We're Still in the Dark About Kids and Concussions" is an opinion piece about a serious problem, so Cantu also offers a potential solution to the problem: in order to find out how concussions affect children, a ten-year study of athletes playing many different sports would take place.  This addresses a concern he mentioned earlier that there is not enough information about concussions to justify banning sports for children under certain ages or mandating more safety gear.  Cantu therefore addresses the opposition, but not to show them that they're wrong, but to prove that one day the safety measures he supports will be fully justified.
Though Cantu writes very well and makes a convincing argument, it would not go over well with those who love to play sports; when people enjoy something, they sometimes dismiss the problems with it.  Also, he notes the expense of the study he proposes, so his financially-minded readers would too be concerned and possibly disagree with him.


Link: http://ideas.time.com/2013/10/10/were-still-in-the-dark-about-kids-and-concussions/?iid=op-main-belt