Kyle Wagner
English 015
Proposal- Gun Control
I will begin my paper by describing some of the events in the Columbine school shooting in detail to catch the audience’s attention. The US has some of the highest gun violence statistics in the world. I will present these statistics. I will discuss how easy it is for people to obtain guns, and why this is a problem in our society.
Some may say that these negative statistics and the continuing acts of gun violence can be prevented by simply banning guns. I will share a quote from someone who has this viewpoint. Next, I will dispute this viewpoint and will explain how banning guns does not benefit anyone. By doing this, you are preventing law abiding citizens from legally owning guns. At the same time, the criminal access to guns remains largely the same. Criminals still have access to guns off the black market and through other illegal methods.
I will propose a solution to this problem that will have a positive effect on society. This proposal includes extremely intense background checks and longer waiting periods. If buyers are 21 and have completely clean records, they would be able to purchase nearly any gun available to them.
This proposal would be possible by simply putting a few new laws into place. I will talk about the current gun laws and discuss how they will change with my proposal. Extensive background checks will be more effective in keeping guns out of criminal hands. At the same time, law abiding citizens will be able to obtain the guns they wish. These citizens will not be unfairly punished because of the reckless and violent acts of criminals in the past.
Society, as a whole, will remain largely the same; however, it will be safer due to increased background checks.
[
This is good. A little short, but I like your idea. Consider a couple of things, though: 1) you need to explain why current background checks are often not effective (or not enforced) 2) you should, also, at the beginning, consider Canada as a counterargument to banning guns. Canadians have a larger gun ownership but significantly lower instances of gun violence. Overall, though, this is off to a good start.]
Work Cited
Chapman, Steve. "A pointless ban on handguns". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Ill.: Nov 13, 2005. pg. 11
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=12&did=925646931&SrchMode=1&sid=5&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1132155728&clientId=1360∞
Radefeld, Matthew A. "Commentary: Ever heard of the Lautenberg Amendment? You're not alone". Daily Record and the Kansas City Daily News-Press. Kansas City, Mo.: Nov 5, 2005. pg. 1
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Rosenfeld, Richard. "Firearms Research and Crime Drop". Criminology. Beverly Hills: Nov 2005.Vol.4, Iss. 4; pg. 799, 7 pgs
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Washington, Linn, Jr. "Getting rid of guns won't end the violence". Philadelphia Tribune. Philadelphia, Pa.: Apr 5, 2005.Vol.121, Iss. 40; pg. 7A
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Kyle Wagner
Remix Proposal
Standardized testing
My final Paper project will be dealing with standardized testing and its effectiveness in education. I will argue that standardized testing does not truly represent a student’s ability or knowledge. Here in the beginning of my paper, I will present statistics that show that these tests do not represent students’ knowledge. I will argue that standardized testing results are overemphasized in education today and often cause a misrepresentation in the selection of students for further education such as college.
Because the standardized testing system is flawed, other methods must be considered in order to fix the problem that is occurring. Standardized tests do not take into account many factors involved in education and success. The most important of these factors is hard work. These tests do not take into account how hard a student works. A student can work very hard in school and get good grades. That same student has the potential to do poorly on standardized tests. This just goes to show that these tests do not represent how well a student may do in college. In college, a student will have the opportunity to work hard and study a lot. This is why these tests are not a good representation.
A solution to this problem is to simply make college selection not based so heavily on standardized test scores. I will present statistics of how much some colleges weight that SAT scores in their selection and discuss specific cases of people being unfairly denied from schools. It would be quite simple to make the SAT scores worth a lot less, or to not even have them at all. Students could make portfolios of their work to display an overall picture of themselves as a student. I will present the opinions of some professionals in the field about this idea. While this may take more time to grade than a standardized test, it will be a much better factor in determining how the student will perform in furthering his education. I will go on to talk about the practicality of this idea. Changing these policies will allow every student to have a fair shot at a college education. No longer would good student’s get unfairly treated for simply not performing well on a single test.
This would be fairly simple to accomplish. The simplest way would be just to eliminate standardized testing and count GPA and other accomplishments as more important. This would require little or no effort whatsoever. The idea of creating portfolios would be a little more difficult. Students would have to keep their work over the course of their high school. This could also be done by teachers. In addition, these portfolios would be used similarly to a resume for the student. This portfolio would be in their file and would be viewed by potential colleges or potentially employers. It would take much longer for colleges to go through the acceptance process; however, it would be much fairer for the student being judged.
Sources
Karen W. Arenson. “Study of college Readiness finds no progress in decade.” New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Oct 14, 2004. pg. A.26
Emma Vaughn. “California Students are Struggling”. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif.: Oct 20, 2005. pg. A.20
Lynn Olson. “Purpose of testing needs to shift, Experts say”.Education Week. Washington: Oct 19, 2005.Vol.25, Iss. 8; pg. 7, 1 pgs