Killing Futures One Budget Cut at a Time

     In “No, to Budget Cuts in Higher Education” is a persuasive research essay by Elizabeth Medina. In this persuasive essay Elizabeth’s purpose is to convince people that Georgia should not allow any budget cuts or tuition increase in higher education. The audience for this essay is the Georgia State Legislators specifically, but could also apply to any students, faculty, or community members located in Georgia. The arrangement of the essay starts by providing background information about the budget cuts. Medina then explains multiple examples of different parts of the community that would be affected by these budget cuts and tuition increase. She is very effective by showing the damage that the cuts would not only do to the students themselves, but also the staff and community members that the schools have. The sources she used were very valid and provided additional emphasis on her points. Medina’s conclusion was well written because not only did she wrap up her points effectively, but she also gave a solution to correct the unbalanced Georgia State budget by increasing the tax on tobacco. Also, she added that majority of Georgians were in favor of increasing that tax. The context behind this story is that Elizabeth Medina is obviously a college student that does not want to be negatively affected by this budget cut and tuition increase. She has a very formal and academic style throughout the essay.

     I completely agree with Medina on this entire essay. It would be ridiculous to cut the budget for higher education and increase the tuition prices. College is already expensive enough to where everyone student graduates with a significant amount of debt already. How does the government expect to have a successful future if the decrease the money spent on teaching people the skills they are going to use in their profession. I also agree with the solution that Medina has, things that are not important like tobacco and alcohol tax should be raised to pay for the deficit our State budget has.

Are you Insane?

     In "Why We Crave Horror Movies," Stephen King explores the reasoning behind our love of horror movies. He reveals that we all like movies that appeal to our insanity. He claims we have a "...potential lyncher in almost all of us," (159).
     King starts by stating that we are all mentally ill. He describes how we enjoy seeing people being killed. If you hurt people to curb your insanity, you will end up in jail. If you only talk to yourself, you are left alone. He describes our emotions as a muscle. It needs exercise to retain its shape. King declares that seeing horror movies keep the alligators downstairs fed, and keeps the sanity upstairs intact.
     I agree by King's definition of insanity that we all are insane. I have definitely talked to myself and smirked at cruel jokes. I enjoy horror movies because they allow me to figure out how I would act in certain situations. It also allows me to guess who will die first or last longest. It appeals to my addiction to adrenaline. I enjoy being on edge. I often say that if the world ended in 2012, it would be fun. It would be fun because everything would absolutely depend on ability and survival skills. I may be an adrenaline junkie or just a kid, but I am definitely insane.

A Modest Proposal?

     "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift, seeks to solve the problem of poverty in Ireland. He estimates there are 120,000 children born into poverty every year. His proposal is to use the poor mothers as breeders and to use their children as food. The children will be sold to the rich as a way for the mother to make ends meet.
     Using this cannibalistic approach would reduce the number of children who will live through poverty, but will not end poverty. The women will not become rich from their children and the poverty will not be solved. The mothers would have a new job of selling their children as treats. The outrageous proposal would solve the problem of abortion and mothers killing their children, but allow others to kill their children. Swift suggests that the children can be used at weddings and christenings. He even states that women might compete to have the fattest child for sale.
     It is obvious that Swift does not really believe in what he has written. He is using this ignorant and beastly approach to gain attention. It is a very effective approach and it will hopefully call someone to action. It is astounding to me that he can write so many words about something he does not believe in. It is amazing how many problems this approach solves while being so unforgiving. Swift gains even more attention by describing his own proposal as innocent. The cycle of events he has proposed is brilliant, but brutal.

Too Busy to Learn

In “Why Schools Don’t Educate” John Gatto uses this persuasive article to communicate his thesis of how television and the American school system has caused multiple pathologies to our youth. The context behind this story is that John Gatto was a very profound teacher, that won teacher of the year three times, that wrote multiple articles addressing similar issues about education. The arrangement of this article begins very straight forward by explaining the amount of free time along with the average amount of hours a kid spends watching television. He then explains how television and other types of entertainment eliminate the amount of free time children have. He then moves to his purpose, which is that this has caused many pathologies and characteristics in children like materialistic, no curiosity, lack of compassion, dependent, and have no sense of the past relating to the future. Gatto has a very bold and academic style throughout this article. He has a distinct opinion about that is comes across like he has no doubt that this is what causes these issues in children. The vocabulary that is used is a prime example of why this is an academic article. The audience that Gatto was trying to inform is everyone about this conflict. Everyone is applied to this weather you are in school, have children, in the television industry, or in the school system.
I believe that Gatto raises a valid point in this article. It is undeniable that television has caused children to have shortened attention spans, are more likely to imitate the things that they see on television. However, I am not convinced that all of these problems have resulted from kids spend their time on abstractions. There are activities that increase important skills that kids need like socialization, team work, musical activities, etc. The only point that I outright agree with Gatto on is that kids should not watch as much television.

Smokers vs Non-Smokers

In the persuasive research essay “A Deadly Education” T. Leigh Maxwell argues that smoking should be banned from the campus of Clayton State University. The essay was written for the Clayton State University community. The purpose of this essay was to communicate the extreme health problems that can arise from second hand smoke to persuade the audience that it needs to be banned on the Clayton State Campus. The arrangement of the essay was very effective in relaying his argument. He began by giving a brief background of second hand smoke then stated how in most public areas smoking is banned. He then gave multiple examples of the harm that second hand smoke causes from multiple reliable sources. Maxwell had an extremely academic style and used formal language throughout the entire essay.
The most effect tool Maxwell used was his context. He included a lot of information about the danger of second hand smoke that I have not ever heard of before which is rare because second hand smoke is such a popular health issue. When I first began reading the paper I did not see a major problem with smoking on campus because when you do encounter someone smoking, it is typically only for a couple of seconds. After reading the entire essay and never being a fan of cigarette smoke, the context of the essay actually changed my opinion on the subject. This was a very well written persuasive research essay.