Homework #1 for August 28:
Read Cal Newport’s claim from his book excerpt from So Good They Can’t Ignore You that the Passion Hypothesis is dangerous and should be replaced by the craftsman mindset and in a 200-word paragraph explain how he arrives at his claim.
Essay 1 Options with Suggested Outlines for Essay 1 Due on September 16
Option 1:
In an essay of 1,000 words, defend, refute, or complicate Cal Newport’s claim from his book excerpt from So Good They Can’t Ignore You that the Passion Hypothesis is dangerous and should be replaced by the craftsman mindset. Your second source will be “In the Name of Love” by Miya Tokumitsu. You won’t receive credit unless you have an MLA format Works Cited page at the end of your essay.
Suggested Outline:
Paragraph 1: Write a cautionary tale of someone who followed the Passion Hypothesis or simply define the Passion Hypothesis.
Paragraph 2: Make a claim or argument in defense or refutation of Newport's thesis that the Passion Hypothesis is an impediment to success.
Paragraphs 3-6: Develop body paragraphs that support your claim.
Paragraph 7: Write a counterargument and rebuttal to show reader you've considered opposing views.
Paragraph 8: Write a conclusion that restates your claim or thesis with emotional power.
Option 2:
Read Karl Taro Greenfeld’s “My Daughter’s Homework Is Killing Me” and Andrea Townsend "A Teacher's Defense of Homework" and develop an argumentative essay about giving homework to middle school and high school students.
Suggested Outline
Paragraph 1: For your introduction, summarize Karl Taro's Greenfeld's description of burnout as he and his daughter attempt to do what appears to be an onslaught of homework and the teacher's response when the father presents his complaint.
Paragraph 2: Make a claim that argues for or against the kind of rigorous homework discussed in the two essays above.
Paragraphs 3-6: Develop body paragraphs that support your claim.
Paragraph 7: Write a counterargument and rebuttal.
Paragraph 8: Write a conclusion that restates your thesis with emotional power
Option 3:
Develop an argumentative thesis that addresses Ibram X. Kendi’s claim in “There Is No Middle Ground on Reparations” that we as a society are morally compelled to implement reparations as a response to slavery and Jim Crow.
Essay Outline
Paragraph 1: Summarize Kendi's arguments for reparations.
Paragraph 2: Develop a claim that supports or refutes Kendi's claim.
Paragraphs 3-6: Develop body paragraphs that support your claim.
Paragraph 7: Develop a counterargument-rebuttal.
Paragraph 8: Write a conclusion that restates your claim with emotional power.
Signal Phrases
We use signal phrases to signal to the reader that we are going to cite research material in the form of direct quotes, paraphrase or summary.
We include the author's background information to give author credibility or ethos in our argumentation.
After we cite the information, we present our own analysis to show how this material supports our argument.
Examples of a signal phrases:
We are fools if we think we were put on Planet Earth to be happy. That is the fantasy of a four-year-old child. Ironically, this infantile pursuit of happiness makes us unhappy. In the words of John Mellencamp: “I don’t think we’re put on this earth to live happy lives. I think we’re put here to challenge ourselves physically, emotionally, intellectually.”
The idea of a meritocracy is that a healthy society allows people with merits, regardless of their economic privilege, to rise to the top of the power hierarchy. However, such a meritocracy does not exist as privilege, not merit, is the dominant force of acquiring power. As we read in Yale Law School professor Daniel Markovits' essay "How Life Became an Endless Terrible Competition": "Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale collectively enroll more students from households in the top 1 percent of the income distribution than from households in the bottom 60 percent. Legacy preferences, nepotism, and outright fraud continue to give rich applicants corrupt advantages. But the dominant causes of this skew toward wealth can be traced to meritocracy. On average, children whose parents make more than $200,000 a year score about 250 points higher on the SAT than children whose parents make $40,000 to $60,000. Only about one in 200 children from the poorest third of households achieves SAT scores at Yale’s median. Meanwhile, the top banks and law firms, along with other high-paying employers, recruit almost exclusively from a few elite colleges."
Variation of the above:
The idea of a meritocracy is that a healthy society allows people with merits, regardless of their economic privilege, to rise to the top of the power hierarchy. However, such a meritocracy does not exist as privilege, not merit, is the dominant force of acquiring power. According to Yale Law School professor Daniel Markovits in his essay "How Life Became an Endless Terrible Competition": "Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale collectively enroll more students from households in the top 1 percent of the income distribution than from households in the bottom 60 percent. Legacy preferences, nepotism, and outright fraud continue to give rich applicants corrupt advantages. But the dominant causes of this skew toward wealth can be traced to meritocracy. On average, children whose parents make more than $200,000 a year score about 250 points higher on the SAT than children whose parents make $40,000 to $60,000. Only about one in 200 children from the poorest third of households achieves SAT scores at Yale’s median. Meanwhile, the top banks and law firms, along with other high-paying employers, recruit almost exclusively from a few elite colleges."
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