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English 103- Prof. Bailey Hofmann

Assignment Overview

Write a (minimum) 5 page double-spaced essay*addressing the prompt below with an introduction, conclusion, and body paragraphs with examples and evidence from the readings and elsewhere supporting your points.
Write a (minimum) 5 page double-spaced essay*addressing the prompt below with an introduction, conclusion, and body paragraphs with examples and evidence from the readings and elsewhere supporting your points.

Prompt

Using any of our class readings and also at least 5 additional peer-reviewed sources to build your argument, address the following prompt in 5 double-spaced pages:

Imagine you are the next Secretary of Education. You can redesign the American educational system in any way you want. (You don't have to state this premise in the essay.)

What changes would you make to college, and why? (There is no minimum number of changes that you must propose. You can spend the whole essay on one needed change, if you like. But your essay should not re-use more than one paragraph of your Essay 1. Most students suggest 2-3 changes.)

Your thesis statement should indicate what changes you propose, and each topic sentence should address one of the changes.

Develop each change section with an explanation of why the change is needed and why/how your change is better than the status quo. Use research to support your assertions (to help you show the problem, the solution, or both).

You can suggest changes to any aspect of college, such as the ones we have discussed - changing the grading system (Asao), teaching styles (Friere), abandoning the enforcement of standard English (Young, Asao), empowering minoritized groups through the Community Cultural Wealth model (Yosso) - to issues we have not discussed, such as financial aspects, to required classes, to how classes are taught, who teaches them, when college meets, what happens in class, curriculum, majors, length of college, what services are available to students, etc.