We have read several essays that deal with inequities and racism in education.. Jean Anyon, in her study “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work,” observes that class differences lead to radical qualitative differences in the way students are prepared for their future lives. Gloria Anzaldua in her essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” gives a first hand account of how she faced oppression as not only a student but also an academic in education.
Based off of these readings and any additional outside research (at least two outside sources), I would like you to write an essay in which you create the ideal school. You could focus on the high-school level, two-year college level, or university level. What would your school do differently than others? How would you change things?
In the process of pursuing your own argument on education, you will need to turn to the language of the authors’ arguments, to take key phrases and passages from these arguments and see how they might be used to support your argument.
Additionally, you will need to provide careful detail of illustrations that connect to your support points: these could include events that you observed or experienced, perhaps the exact wording of a conversation or detailed recollection of a part of your “schooling”.
Successful essays will…
Be written so that someone not in our class could understand the topic. Assume your audience has not read these texts. That means you’ll need to briefly summarize them to provide contextual, introductory background for your topic and source;
Use your critical/academic voice to connect your experience with the texts arguments and, ultimately, with the larger definition of being educated. Consider why your audience should care about your position;
If you use exact words or paraphrased passages from a text, cite responsibly using quotation marks and/or parenthetical in-text citations following MLA format.
Have a clearly identified, argumentative thesis;
And have sound essay structure (introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion).
