...Grading 'Waiting for Superman' Dana Goldstein | September 23, 2010 Here's what you see in Waiting for Superman, the new documentary that celebrates the charter school movement while blaming teachers unions for much of what ails American education: working- and middle-class parents desperate to get their charming, healthy, well-behaved children into successful public charter schools. Here's what you don't see: the four out of five charters that are no better, on average, than traditional neighborhood public schools (and are sometimes much worse); charter school teachers, like those at the Green Dot schools in Los Angeles, who are unionized and like it that way; and noncharter neighborhood public schools, like PS 83 in East Harlem and the George Hall Elementary School in Mobile, Alabama, that are nationally recognized for successfully educating poor children. You don't see teen moms, households without an adult English speaker or headed by a drug addict, or any of the millions of children who never have a chance to enter a charter school lottery (or get help with their homework or a nice breakfast) because adults simply aren't engaged in their education. These children, of course, are often the ones who are most difficult to educate, and the ones neighborhood public schools can't turn away. You also don't learn that in the Finnish education system, much cited in the film as the best in the world, teachers are—gasp!—unionized and granted tenure, and families benefit from a...
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...Running head: THIS I DO BELIEVE ASSIGNMENT 5 EXPLORATORY ESSAY: THIS I DO BELIEVE KIM CARTER ENGLISH COMPOSTION PROFESSOR JANET WILLMAN NOVEMBER 07, 2011 THIS I DO BELIEVE This I do believe Some people have many different things or beliefs that they focus on to maintain and live by during challenging times in their lives. I have established a belief that gets me through challenging times in my life. “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me” (Philippian 4:13, King James Bible). As a single parent, battling with Breast Cancer, and going back to college, this I will do through Christ Jesus my strength and redeemer. As a single parent, years of raising two children by me were very difficult. There were not many times I had no time to carry out the many tasks that a good parent was required to do, nor did I have the strength. I was working night shift for twelve hours, coming home making sure that my children were prepared for the school day, figuring out what the meal would be when they returned home from school, doing house work and paying bills; all of this had to be done before I could get some rest. At some point I had no choice but to call on the name of Jesus Christ for strength to carry on. Without any hesitation I knew that “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me”. The years have traveled on by; I am still depending on Jesus Christ for strength. A time had come in my life when the enemy had attacked my body...
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...attend university as a mature age student was a decision I did not take lightly. I am working towards furthering my education in order to gain the necessary qualifications that will help me in my future business endeavour. I have found that after so long out of the education system it has been a difficult transition juggling study and work. The first units that were chosen for me in study period 2, I thought were difficult to understand having never written an essay before and without the knowledge or know how, I was not able to complete these units. SSK12 has given me a good understanding of what it takes at becoming a university student and in particular the skills on writing essays. As I have mentioned previously up until study period 2, I had never written an essay and did not fully comprehend how important the set out of a university essay was. Choosing an Essay Question was an important part of my learning in week 6 because this has now given me the beginning step in writing a university essay using the correct format. I am feeling a lot more confident when approaching the subject of essays as I now understand and have the knowledge on the procedure in completing an academic essay and what is required. I now know that by firstly choosing a question will then help you to with your thesis and this in turn will give you your main idea and sets the way in which to write your essay. During the time that I was employed by the government it was necessary for me...
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...to improve my writing skills. I strongly believe that I have achieved that purpose. While comparing the first draft of my Essay#1 to how I tackle an essay on the same topic now, I can see the almost meteoric improvement that I have achieved so far.In addition, I am proud of the skills I have learnt from this course. In fact, I believe that my achievements so far have superseded my expectations. I hope that whatever I have learnt in this course will form the basis for future improvements, and I will be able to make further strides in creative and scientific writing. While taking the English 120 online course, my attitude towards reading as well as writing has transformed drastically. For instance, after taking the course, I have learnt to look at issues in depth, instead of dealing with them superficially. In addition, the course has instilled in me a healthy appetite for reading and doing extensive research on a specific topic. Moreover, after the course, I have also started to read more in order to improve my vocabulary. I believe that this will help in my future endeavors....
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...A Catharsis for All Henry Louis Mencken’s essay, entitled "The Penalty of Death," is a persuasive essay about the death penalty. The author does not attempt to alter the reader’s opinion as to the merits of the death penalty. He attempts to answer two questions most commonly heard in his day. First, executing a person is a terrible business and it “degrades” (Mencken) those whom-ever choose to administer this style of justice as a profession. He addresses this first question by simply agreeing with it. Most people would agree that the prospect of being the hangman is a vocation that would be most unpleasant. He points out that although it may be unpleasant, it is still necessary for society to support such a profession. The second question he addresses is to those that view capital punishment as a useless deterrent to crime. The author contends that those who wish to abolish the death sentence are in error if their assumption is founded solely upon the mistaken belief that the “whole purpose” of punishing a criminal is to deter some potential future crime. Mencken believes that they are “confusing [a] part with the whole” (Mencken). The future deterrent is only a part of the “whole purpose” of punishing a criminal. There are many more reasons to list: like revenge, justice, or relief just to name a few. Mencken's primary purpose is to identify the motive for this type of punishment. He identifies this motive as a catharsis, and he describes it as a "healthy letting out of...
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...Writing the literacy narrative was a very interesting experience. Not only did I learn more about how to implement sociological factors and bring in a second lens, but I also got the opportunity to write about a single event in detail. I would say that throughout the course of writing this narrative, I have enjoyed employing the five vivid senses the most. This holds true because I prefer writing in ways that have the capacity to evoke realistic feelings, much like Markus Zusak, the author of The Book Thief. Since this was the first time I have really written a narrative about an event related to reading and/or writing, it was difficult for me to even choose what to write about. Hence, I believe that the biggest challenge that came my way...
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...Characteristics of Expository Essays What Characteristics make these essays expository? The two essays I chose to read were “Cochlear Implants” and “How to Clean a Fish.” When reading “How to Clean a Fish” the characteristics that make this an expository essay is that the author used facts to back up his or her opinion. The essay was very informational and used a great deal of detail on “How to Clean a Fish”; also the essay broke it down for you with diagrams and details. The essay was also presented in a non-bias manner. When reading “Cochlear Implant” the characteristic that make this an expository essay is that the author uses the facts to back up his or her opinion, the essay is very informational and gives examples of why the implants will work for someone that was deaf. This essay also was presented in a non-bias manner as well. Indentify the type of organizations each author used to develop the essay: topic, time order, space order, or informative process? Why do you think each author chose that type of organization for his or her essay? In what ways does this organizations choice make the essay effective? What effect might the author have achieved with another type of organization or another type of expository essay? I believe the author in “How to Clean a Fish” uses the informative process to arrange his or her essay. The author chose this process because his or her essay is on “How to” essay, what this means is that the essay is meant to teach...
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...English Composition I Professor Beth Riley October 23, 2013 Homelessness is More Appealing Many of us will never be homeless, and not everyone understands the benefit of having a wife, but after reading the essays’, Homeless (Quindlen, A. n.d.) and I Want a Wife (Brady, J. 1971), one can gain a better understanding of both. I am a wife. Therefore, I can certainly connect with the narrator’s story of I Want a Wife. This is a narrative essay, in which the narrator reflects on why she too would like to have a wife after a visit with a recently divorced male friend, who is looking for a new wife. The narrator gives a list of duties and activities she will and will not do if she had a wife, and she can visualize the benefits a wife could afford her with less responsibilities and more time for school or friends. My other essay of choice is quite different in theme, but it is still relatable. Anne Quindlen’s essay, Homeless (n.d.) is a short descriptive essay with the narrator retelling of an account when she met a woman, who she believes is homeless, at the bus terminal. It is during the encounter that the narrator reflects on homeless people in general, the homeless individual and about herself. Both of these essays’ are well written, however, I feel that Homeless (Quindlen, A. n.d.), is a more appealing essay than I Want a Wife (Brady, J. 1971), as it allows the reader to become more engaged in the descriptions and reflect on the details of the story. Whenever I first start reading...
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...My essay provides a clear and thorough refutation of Vliet’s arguments that follow the specific “defend the status quo” refutation strategy. Throughout my argument I used specific strategies that helped defend the current policy. I believe that my essay clearly refutes Vliet’s argument by providing counter examples from reliable sources to help counter her claims. Another strategy that I used in my essay was the identification of logical fallacies that Vliet stated in her argument. While searching for sources I searched for credible sources that provided reliable facts and evidence. I tried to locate sources that were void of any biases. Also, I did a thorough job explaining why the current policy needs to stay as is and not be changed, due...
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...are I believe I have some very good ideas, I think this a great aspect for me in coming up with ideas however one of my biggest weakness is trying to get my ideas down on paper, this has always been a problem for me since I can remember, so my plan moving forward, is to go to the writing center regularly, to try to get help putting my ideas on paper, so my hope is by the end of the semester to have improved on getting my ideas on paper to create a stronger essay any other strategy I use at home is voice to text on my I pad, this helps me move much faster and to create better ideas in my essays . I know this will take some hard work but I believe I can accomplish this goal in time to improve on my writing. Some challenges I...
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...What is the main point of this essay? Why education is important to societies and economic growth and how education is the backbone for our society to be innovative, competitive, and how increasing our national graduation rate contributes to economic growth What is the greatest strength of this essay? I believe paragraphs 2 & 3 were the greatest strengths of this essay talking about the death penalty information and the prison inmates who did not have an education beyond high school Does the introduction grab your interest and make you want to read on? Explain your answer. No the introduction did not grab my interest at all. I had a hard time getting past the first paragraph. There are many grammatical errors, run on sentences and a lot of spelling errors. You have to read between the lines so to speak to know what the author is trying to say here. What material does not seem to fit the main point of the essay or does not seem to be appropriate for the audience? I believe paragraph 3 does not really fit the main point of the essay in that it rambles and does not flow well. It is difficult to know exactly what the writer is saying here. Where should the author add more details or examples? Explain your answer. Paragraph 6 needs more details talking about our political figures always putting a time frame on improving our education system. I believe they could expound a little more just how our political figures do try to improve. This paragraph does not flow in...
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...Garett Reppenhagen the writer of the essay titled, “I was an American sniper and Chris Kyle’s war was not my war,” is trying to make a point to his audience. Garett’s purpose is to ensure that no one makes the mistake of thinking the hit movie The American Sniper depicts what Iraq and the war are all about. This article was first published on Salon, a website that has an audience favoring liberals more than conservatives. This article also has an audience of a younger generation that follows hit movies. Garett Reppenhagen served as a Cavalry Scout Sniper with the 1st Infantry Division in the US Army, and is also a veteran advocate and social justice organizer. Garett’s background has a lot of relevance to this topic. I would say he is credible towards this whole subject. He is qualified to make judgment and criticize the way this movie is trying to depict Iraq. Garett’s extrinsic ethos is that he has served in the military. He has made a profession of being a real life sniper so he knows most of the scenarios that go on in the movie. He could also describe what goes on as you enter a war zone and how each and every person reacts. Garett states, "But viewing the war only through his eyes gives us too narrow frame." I believe this quote shows he cares about the audience because he wants to share that the frame of Iraq is not narrow, in fact it is on the contrary. Iraq is full of hospitality, proud history, and old-soul wisdom. This quote also shows virtue and goodness because he...
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...Leonid Fridman wrote an essay titled, “America Needs Its Nerds”, in which he described the derogatory terms and meanings that accompany words such as “nerd” and “geek”. I disagree with Fridman’s view on this topic. Though the terms “nerd” and “geek” may have negative connotations, they are not always meant in a negative manner. Also, Fridman states that nerds and geeks “are ostracized but athletes are idolized” (Fridman 1). I do not always think that statement is true either. For example, in the Greencastle School District, there are many students who value schoolwork, and are not “ostracized” for their dedication to school. There are also students who are dedicated to both sports and academics, which is very respectable. I believe that the...
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...After reading a few essays I chose The Great Climate Experiment by Ken Caldeira. I picked this one because climate change is important to me. In my younger years I did not care about climate change because I had the attitude that it was something that would not really matter for many hundreds of years and my kids’ kids would not even be affected so why in the world should I care. I would like to think I have matured and now I know it is important to humans’ long-term survival. Yes, this issue does affect me currently because what we do today will have a long term impact on the climate in the future. This essay is not peer-reviewed because it will not come up under the APUS library when I refine my search and search for peer-reviewed articles. I feel the claim of the essay is, “In reality, carbon dioxide dumped into the atmosphere today will affect Earth hundreds of...
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...When I wrote my essay Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God I had some good parts and bad parts of the essay. I believe everyone can improve their writing in a certain way. No one is a “perfect” writer, and no one “never” makes mistakes. I could improve in two areas I noticed are my thesis in this essay and my visual pictures. Two things I did well on are the usage of rhetorical devices and introductory sentences. Pros and cons are what most people have in their essays or poems. My cons with my Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God are my thesis and my visual pictures. In my thesis I could improve them by just getting to the point in my essay and always referring back to it. The three main things that I need to work on to make a perfect thesis may be clearly identifies the subject of the paper, makes an assertion about that subject, one that allows for a range of discussion; and predicts the logical order you will follow in your discussion. With my visual pictures I need to create more enthusiasm and descriptive words. Or when giving quotes from the story I need to tie it back to the thesis or how they create visuals throughout the story. For my pros in my essay it was rhetorical devices and introductory sentences. For my rhetorical devices I scored high in this essay because I tied them into the story or back to the story really good. Also I identified them good; I can easily spot these rhetorical devices in a poem. My introductory sentences are also very good I believe, they...
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