Combined Skills Exercise 3

Read the selection and then choose the correct response to each question.

¹The latest rage in parenting seems to be pre-planning and genetically designing the children one will have; in scientific terms it is called reproductive technology. ²However, in everyday language, the term "designer kids" seems to best describe the new rage. ³Parents want special children with specific traits: blond hair, blue eyes, an IQ of 130, and athletic ability. ⁴Parents want perfect children. ⁵It seems that they want children who will outshine the neighbors' children. ⁶They have large houses in the suburbs, expensive cars, computers, televisions, VCRs, and designer clothes; therefore, they need perfect "designer children" to make the picture of their supposedly wonderful lives complete.

⁷As Americans head toward the twenty-first century, certain parents fear having a child with an imperfection. ⁸An imperfection could be shortness, limp hair, average cognitive ability, or awkwardness. ⁹These parents would cringe at the thought of a child who was born with a cleft palate, a lisp, a stutter, or Down's Syndrome. ¹⁰They also want to select the child's sex. ¹¹A boy might be too rowdy and mess up the white carpet; a girl might not fit their adventurous lifestyle of skiing and mountain climbing. ¹²These parents know what they want, and they will find a way to get it. ¹³They are not about to risk compromising their lives with a "burden."

¹⁴Some have resorted to running ads for sperm and egg donors. ¹⁵These donors must have the desired traits; it is hoped that this sort of pre-selection will eliminate the risky business of sexual intercourse and taking what comes nine months later. ¹⁶Others can rely on genetic tests that allow one to determine diseases a child might have prior to birth; with the information provided by these tests, the parents can choose to eliminate the less-than-perfect child prior to birth. ¹⁷One new company specializes in sorting through a father's sperm and separating the X's and Y's in an effort to give parents the boy or girl they desire.

¹⁸This new technology has a high price tag; therefore, it seems destined to be a tool of the affluent. ¹⁹The poor in society will continue to take the children which nature gives them. ²⁰It also seems to have a high moral and ethical price tag. ²¹We seem to want to be our own gods, gods who have neither compassion nor depth of spirit. ²²Perfection of character comes from struggle and acceptance; it cannot be designed in a lab.