Content Descriptions

• Places like SeaWorld have no educational value
• People are forced into thinking that SeaWorld is beneficial to children
• Watching whales perform tricks in a small pool does not teach you anything about how they live out in the wild
• Keeping animals in captivity serves no purpose rather than entertainment
  • Cruelty and poor treatment towards these animals
  • Making them perform tricks they would never do in the wild

1.Working Hypothesis 1:

Supporting bringing children to SeaWorld as an educational experience is clearly counterintuitive since they do not learn anything about the animals real environment. Watching the whales perform tricks in a pool makes the children think that they are naturally born to do these tricks and that they belong in a pool in these aquariums.

Schools promote bringing their students to aquariums for field trips because they think it is an educational experience for them. But really these kids are having fun watching the whales jump in the air doing flips and tricks like playing with a beach ball. Having them watch these shows teaches them nothing about how the whales actually survive in the wild. They do not know that they have to hunt for their food and kill other fish, they just think they always eat the small fish that is thrown at them by their trainers. They believe that these animals actually perform these tricks out in the wild so it is okay for them to be doing these shows in SeaWorld.

Purposeful Summary: SeaWorld Doesn’t ‘Educate’ Students

https://www.thedodo.com/seaworld-fails-to-educate-stud-775279102.html

This article talks about how places like SeaWorld have no educational value to children and they don’t learn anything valuable by going, they are just told false information. Schools usually take their students to an aquarium to be an educational experience and to learn about the marine life. But they are really just learning that whales are supposed to be living in these small pools because that is what they see when they go to these aquariums. They do not learn about their real habitats and most of them don’t even know what kind of whale they are watching, they just know it is “Shamu from SeaWorld”. Taking these children here is promoting cruelty, dishonesty, and hypocrisy. Studies prove that kids learn no new facts by attending aquariums and get no valuable lessons out of it so they should stop making it an educational field trip for them overall.

Working Hypothesis 2:

Capturing whales and forcing them to do unnatural things such as constantly breed, perform tricks, and swim alone in circles for the purpose of entertainment shows is cruel and harmful for their well being both mentally and physically.

Most people do not know about the negative effects these whales have from putting on shows and being kept in these tiny pools. SeaWorld tries to hide what goes on behind the scenes because their business would fail if everyone knew the truth. These animals suffer solely for the entertainment of us humans. People try to hide the negative effects for the whales by saying that it is an educational learning experience so it is okay, which it is neither.

Purposeful Summary: SeaWorld’s Lies Sink to New Low

http://www.globalanimal.org/2014/05/28/seaworlds-lies-sink-to-new-low/

This article talks about how SeaWorld claims that the whales bent dorsal fin is due to genetics and how it is just a natural thing to occur. They are lying to the public to try and cover up for their actions. This deformity in their fin is due to their confinement and studies show the difference between a wild orcas injured fin and a collapsed fin on an orca because of captivity and they look nothing alike. SeaWorld tricks people into thinking that this dorsal fin collapse is normal and that it is very common among whales, which it is not. It is most commonly seen in whales that are kept in captivity and rarely seen on wile orcas. If people know the truth then they will be less likely to buy a ticket that is why they made this lie up to make it seem like being in captivity is good for them.

2. Topics For Smaller Papers

• Definition/Classification Argument: 

For this I might need to explain how a wild orca survives and lives in it’s environment to show the difference of the orcas that are living in the SeaWorld swimming pools. I could talk about how they hunt, what they eat, how much they swim per day and facts like that to show how much a whale in captivities life differs.

• Cause/Effect Argument:

I can explain that by keeping these whales captive for entertainment shows is not an educational experience, especially to the children since they are not learning anything about how these whales actually live.

• Rebuttal Argument:

A counterargument could be that during these shows the trainers do say some educational facts such as the whales diet and what they like to do in their free time. I could also argue that these shows allow people to see these animals up close and watch them interact with each other, which you would not be able to do if these aquariums did not exist.

3. Current State of Research Paper:

I think I still need to do some more research to gain as much information as possible. I also feel that I can accomplish a lot with both of my hypothesis but I am going to work on choosing one and making it better. I am feeling pretty good about the progress I have made and I know exactly what I want to write about.