🔥🔥🔥 Write An Essay On How The Other Half Lives By Crevecoeur

Of the fifty states, forty-eight lie between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and between Canada and Write An Essay On How The Other Half Lives By Crevecoeur, while two, Alaska and Hawaii, lie in the north-west corner of the Flight Crew Personal Statement and the Pacific Ocean, respectively. Lirriper's Legacy English as Author Mrs. Daniell, F. The Write An Essay On How The Other Half Lives By Crevecoeur had meet in as teenagers, then renewed the acquaintance in As Gallion reports, these lessons have litle to do with academ- ics vitamin c experiment more to do cat in the hat story practical skills.

Letters from an American Farmer by J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur (Summary \u0026 Outline)

Their comes here every day an hundred boys to learn latin. Indeed, John Quincy then began to write out a history of the school from a French guidebook that his father had lent him, translating the prose as he went: This place was formerly a charity house of a Convent of Religious women. It is in french but I will translate it as well as I can into English. Pappa and Mr.

He seems to have been really eager to fit in. The prematurely mature fellow who went to St. Petersburg on a diplomatic mission at the age of fourteen and learned to speak eight foreign languages? Not our Johnny Quincy! No, no, you must mean Charles. See the Boston investigation starting here. This story unveils a side of the oldest Adams boy we hardly ever see. He had brought his two oldest sons to Europe with him.

John Quincy had just turned thirteen, and Charles was ten. John Thaxter had come along as a secretary for the minister and an occasional tutor for the boys, but he was back in Paris, and their father wanted them to have formal schooling. Le Roi went with us to a School and left us here. How long we shall stay here I can not tell. He hosted the Adamses in Amsterdam, particularly the boys, and helped John Adams translate documents. A couple of years later as the war simmered down, Herman Le Roy sailed back to America.

He formed a mercantile firm with his in-law William Bayard and made a lot of money from trade and developing land in western New York. The building then used by the school is now, much altered, occupied by the city police. The picture above shows that school building painted by Jacob Smies around Explore that painting more, courtesy of the Rijksmuseum and Google Arts and Culture, here. Monday, 27 March, — P. During her six-week stay Phillis would have the opportunity to meet many notables, one of whom was American founding father Benjamin Franklin.

This play by Debbie Weiss imagines the meeting of these two Colonial American icons. Local actors Cathryn Philippe and Steve Auger will present a special version of the full-length play as a staged reading. This is an online event, and folks can register through this page. Tuesday, 28 March, — P. Who Was Prince Hall? Pires, chairman of African Lodge No. This free event will be available both in-person at the Paul Revere House complex and online. For some of the limited number of in-person tickets, register here.

Streaming will be provided on YouTube and Facebook. The picture above is from an advertisement that Borden ran during the Bicentennial. They have a little calf named Beauregard, which I suppose is better than Orville. Tippecanoe and Strawberry, Too? Benjamin Franklin Fudge? Paul Revere Peach? Tea Party Toffee? Radical Nut? Labels: food , remembering the Revolution. Further series carried the magazine until This work involved sifting original content from the reprinted material every magazine depended on, listing all the subjects of every article, and trying to identify writers' pseudonyms. While touching on many topics, The Lady's Magazine devoted a lot of pages to clothing.

At first the articles focused on what was appropriate, economical, or characteristic of other countries. After , there were regular reports on the latest changing fashions. Many more items covered the womanly arts of sewing. Batchelor was particularly interested in the embroidery patterns printed in the magazine, counting about listed in the contents tables. However, those pages were designed to be removed and used, so most surviving copies offered no more than tantalizing descriptions of missing patterns. Labels: clothing , digital historiography , handcrafts , John Horne Tooke , language , printers , Radagunda Roberts , school , women. Boston He is particularly interested in the experiences of children in He has published scholarly papers and popular articles for both children and adults.

Subscribe thru Follow. Articles by J. Bell Books by J. James Thacher 16 George R. John Cuming 7 Dr. Samuel Prescott 7 Dr. Samuel Curtis 6 Dr. Charles Jarvis 5 Dr. Joseph Gardner 5 Dr. Bela Lincoln 4 Dr. Cotton Tufts 4 Dr. Elisha Story 4 Dr. Joshua Frost 4 Dr. Nathaniel Ames 4 Dr. Alexander Hamilton 3 Dr. Azor Betts 3 Dr. David Townsend 3 Dr. Ezekiel Brown 3 Dr. Isaac Rand 3 Dr. James Latham 3 Dr. Joseph Lee 3 Dr. Lemuel Hopkins 3 Dr. Richard Hope 3 Dr.

Samuel Adams 3 Dr. Samuel Plumer 3 Dr. Silvester Gardiner 3 Dr. Simon Tufts 3 Dr. Thomas Harrison McCalla 3 Dr. William Cullen 3 Dr. Abraham Haskell 2 Dr. Arnold Elzey 2 Dr. Ebenezer Dexter 2 Dr. Edward Flynt 2 Dr. Enoch Dole 2 Dr. Ezekiel Hersey 2 Dr. Isaac Foster 2 Dr. Isaac Senter 2 Dr. Isaac Winslow 2 Dr. John Homans 2 Dr. John Pope 2 Dr. John Taylor 2 Dr. Joseph Fiske 2 Dr. Nathaniel Perkins 2 Dr. Peter Oliver 2 Dr. Samuel Rogers 2 Dr. Thomas Bulfinch 2 Dr. Abijah Cheever 1 Dr. Abraham Watson 1 Dr.

Albigence Waldo 1 Dr. Alexander Grant 1 Dr. Amos Cotting 1 Dr. Amos Holbrook 1 Dr. Linnaeus established six distinct varieties of homo sapiens , grouped according to characteristics, complexion, and continent, adding unspeaking wild men and monstrous peoples including pygmies in Africa, supposed giants in Patagonia, and Indians who flattened the heads of infants to sanguine and inventive white Europeans; lazy, careless, and cunning black Africans; melancholy, haughty, and tradition-bound yellow Asians; and red warlike Indians who lived by habit. Other scholars practiced natural history while insisting on the gulf that separated humanity from beasts.

Buffon counted six races discarding monsters and wild men , while acknowledging individual diversity within races and stressing that environmental influences associated with human migration would produce degeneration over time and place. Other scholars worked to refine racial classifications. The earliest categorizations of diverse nations into single races can be seen with respect to Africans and those descended from Africans; but similar taxonomic practices were applied to Indians, whose diversity colonizers had long emphasized, in the 18th century.

Most of these were not essentialist. Buffon, for instance, believed that all American Indians were underdeveloped in body and mind, as were other species of American flora and fauna, because the American land was unhealthy. Some writers fused theories of stages and theories of genealogy. De Pauw and William Robertson, for instance, applied savagery to the presumed shared ancestry of all the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Although the view was heretical, some early-modern theorists insisted that the seeming cultural, linguistic, and physical difference of Africans and American Indians to other peoples indicated that they shared no common descent.

By the middle of the 18th century, towering intellectual figures such as Hume and Voltaire spoke unambiguously of races being different species of humanity that possessed inferior characters and capacities. Among the most inflammatory, because the orthodox considered it so insidious, was that of Henry Home, Lord Kames. Sketches of the History of Man suggested that the story of the Tower of Babel, in which God confused human tongues and dispersed nations, should be interpreted as casting humanity into a savagery from which different peoples emerged at differing rates, just as they would have if different nations had descended from different original pairs.

By the final quarter of the 18th century, views of separate creations and of distinct species of a human genus, had achieved unprecedented respectability, with some colonials, such as Edward Long and the surveyor Bernard Romans, offering more straightforward views of polygenesis. Even for ordinary Americans who knew little of philosophical debates, notions that large swaths of population were separated from one another by traits, perhaps inherent, that included way of life and moral character as much as appearance grew increasingly common by the midth century.

In the ethnically diverse mid-Atlantic, especially outside of the city of New York where slaves were nearly a fifth of the population , immigrants and their descendants recognized little common ground with other Europeans before the midth century. Hector St. A white racial identity also emerged from the narrowing of diverse early-modern forms of bonded labor to the stark binary of enslaved and free, and the gradual emancipation of slaves in states north of Maryland in the early years of the U. Racial lines defined citizenship in the early republic. Mexicans, Catholic like the Irish and guaranteed citizenship under the Treaty of Guadelupe-Hidalgo , were disfranchised on racial grounds.

Sanford , the U. Racial categories also gained significance among people of Native and African descent. This new diasporic identity, rooted in a sense of pride, suffering, and racial difference from Europeans, was not limited to black intellectuals alone. In the wave of post-revolutionary emancipation, free blacks established churches e. Each rested upon and deepened the shared history and identity among people of African descent.

Diasporic ties and a national identity, however, remained at odds. Colonists did not identify with pagans, and the black public in the United States rejected colonization as demeaning of itself and as a slaveholder strategy to strengthen the institution by removing free blacks. These tensions were especially charged in the wake of the Haitian Revolution, which heightened race-based hopes and fears. In advocating a black uprising, Walker offered a jarring, and for many a terrifying, alternative to complacent calls for colonization or the gradual amelioration of slavery and prejudice. A racial identity also emerged among some Natives in the 18th century. Indians had long noticed physical distinctions, but did not consider them immutable.

While initially this likely referred to the traditional moiety division among Creeks with red denoting war and white peace , in the succeeding decades the designation clearly came to refer to skin color. This message was most fully amplified at mid-century by Neolin Delaware , whose message inspired Pontiac Ottawa , and many others. In the first two decades of the 19th century, Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh Shawnee , as well as Hillis Hadjo Creek , offered similar messages to similar effect, inspiring numerous warriors to attempt to drive back whites.

These radical racial messages sought to create a unified pan-Indian identity, but they also divided Indians precisely because they cut against older, more familiar identifications with village, clan, language, and tribe. Racial ideas also flourished among those who very deliberately adapted Euro-American religion and political economy. Drawing, in part, on indigenous views of separate creations, many Catawbas, Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws adapted traditional notions of captivity to plantation slavery. Diverse southern New England and upper Hudson Valley Algonquians came together to form the communities of Stockbridge and Brothertown, but frustrated by white prejudice and pressure, they relocated to live among the Oneidas, ethnically distinct traditional rivals but fellow Christians.

Racial ideas also provided a means of social criticism. Apess and others drew upon tribal and Indian identities in an era when whites not only forced Indian removal to the West but also denied the existence of Native people who remained in the East. These racial identities played a crucial role in the U. The question of whether races could change received sustained attention in the context of revolutionary natural rights ideology and gradual emancipation in the North. Figures whose race seemed to be in some way unstable, such as the black Virginian Henry Moss, sparked the curiosity of popular crowds and debates among the learned. Benjamin Rush thought Moss confirmed his theory that blackness was a form of leprosy, demanding strict prohibitions on interracial sex, while Samuel Stanhope Smith accepted Moss as proof that a free American environment was gradually eliminating blackness, a process that intermixture with whites would accelerate.

Moss himself believed his transformation to be the work of Providence, perhaps because exhibiting himself provided the means to purchase his freedom. Medical discourses remained crucial to racial notions. In slave markets, blackness was a sign of health and strength for field hands, though lighter skin was preferred for domestics, despite its association with intelligence and the risk of slaves running away and passing as free.

The Mobile physician Josiah Nott predicted the extermination of whites and blacks if intermixture proceeded, which the craniologist Samuel G. Morton refined into an elaborate polygenetic theory of hybridization that postulated the possibility, contra Buffon, of distinct species producing fertile offspring, but with fertility diminishing with biological distance. Such theories shaped the defense of slavery as a positive good as well as state laws, plantation management, and even international diplomacy.

Calhoun drew upon the results of the deeply flawed census, which recorded implausible levels of insanity and suicide among northern free blacks, in a proslavery defense of Texas annexation. The malleability of physical differences was a hotly contested issue in these years, though theories of fixity steadily gained in prominence throughout the first half of the 19th century. Samuel Stanhope Smith argued that skin color resulted from the reciprocal effects of climate and social state.

While some authorities, such as the eminent British ethnologist James Cowles Prichard, cited him in defense of their own environmentalist theories, American opponents such as Charles Caldwell and John Augustine Smith, ridiculed such explanations of difference. Work by John C. Warren and Samuel G. In subsequent publications he explicitly argued for polygenesis. His associate George Gliddon elaborated these views in public lectures and polemical, stridently anticlerical articles based upon physical ethnology and hieroglyphics. Indians also captured attention, frequently focused on Indian origins and broader debates about polygenesis. Language was a crucial field of investigation. In the retired missionary John Heckewelder and the lawyer Peter S. Such theories converged with similar work in Europe, such as that of Wilhelm von Humboldt, who formulated his views in conversation with American philologists.

Schoolcraft, philology could seem to undermine philanthropy. Learned and popular interest in Indian antiquities and customs was also central to racial theories. Most of these peoples were interpreted in light of a racial binary that associated dark skin with servility and native status with savagery; possessors of the former were disqualified from republican citizenship, while possessors of the latter were incapable of civilization.

In addition, innumerable representations and misrepresentations of European and nonwhite peoples, societies, and histories appeared in the popular press. Despite the importance of racial theories to proslavery, removal, and conquest, some ethnologists argued against the most pernicious forms of racism. Some nonwhites challenged race science even more deeply. William W. Racial ideas were fiercely debated in early America. Did the races share a common ancestry? Were the races fixed, or capable of alteration or improvement? For all this uncertainty, however, race acquired legal power and social significance—for whites circumscribing the boundaries of democracy; for Indians and blacks defending their lands and their freedom—in the U.

The earliest histories of the emergence of modern, biological ideas about race in the midth century appeared in the civil rights era. Winthrop D. George M. For an overview, see Alden T. Studies of Indians have focused on the emergence of ideas of savagery. Among the most important contributions have been made by those scholars who have centered questions of gender and sex to constructions of race, such as Kathleen M. The centrality of lineage to ideas of race has been increasingly appreciated. Spear, Goetz, and Harvey build on this insight.

Many titles have traced the emergence of racial ideas among diverse groups. On ideas of whiteness, see David R. McLoughlin and Walter H. Cosner Jr. Some find essentialist understandings of difference present in classical sources and clearly articulated in the early modern era. Jordan, Berkhofer, Chaplin, and Goetz each argued that racial ideas crystallized before the 18th century. Dowd, Shoemaker, Silverman, Snyder, and Silver point to the intensification of white settlement, the expansion of slavery, and increasing territorial and cultural pressure on Indians in crystallizing ideas of race in the mid-to-late 18th century.

To these, Sweet adds the effects of emancipation. For a general overview that stresses race as a body of folk beliefs and social stratification, rather than a set of philosophical or scientific theories, see Audrey Smedley , Race in North America: The Origin and Evolution of a Worldview Innumerable sources contain material pertinent to ideas about race or its component parts, including ancestry and physical and cultural traits. Early travel narratives are invaluable, though they vary by richness as well as in the quality of indexes and editorial notes.

For eastern Indians in the 17th and early 18th centuries, the seventy-two volumes of the Jesuit Relations are unparalleled, well-indexed in an edition by Reuben Gold Thwaites, and now available as searchable digital sources courtesy of Creighton University. Numerous translations of journals kept by German-speaking Moravian missionaries among the Iroquoians and Algonquians of the mid-Atlantic in the mid- to late 18th century are also tremendously valuable.

Jane E. Mangan , trans. William N. Fenton and Elizabeth L. Moore , 2 vols. Kathryn E. Holland Braund , contain significant ethnographic information, but privilege the question of lineage over that of social condition. The latter provides an especially important window into the racial views of ordinary people. Researchers will find scattered material in the publications of state historical societies and learned societies. Morton, and Ephraim G. A number of other titles provide a sense of expanding ethnographic knowledge. Students must keep debate going on campus, warns a leading political igure. Or does our public safety demand that we curb it? A columnist argues for private responsibility instead of public regula- tion.

One student argues that guns can make us safer. Another insists they do the opposite. A cartoonist mocks the way both sides discuss gun violence. An Oklahoma poet explores her own fear of guns. So should athletes on their teams get a cut? Should it? A student celebrates the diversity of her relationship and explores what it means for the changing face of part- nership. Are we making the world too hot for us to handle? An activist responds to a popular accusation from the right. One of the leading climate-change scientists lays out the problem and a possible solution. A student responds to half-informed environmental outrage on campus. The mother of the modern conservation movement imagines what might be at stake. Evolutionary biology has something to say about how we form opinions, maintains the author of a book on the roots of political orientation.

Magazine, January 12 our battered Economy: is the american dream over? Should that be our standard for a prosperous society? Listed below are eight of the most common rhetorical categories with a brief account of how they are generally used in both verbal and visual texts. Nearly every selection in the book relies on more than one category, so you will ind that several selections appear multiple times. Mona Charen Modern Family? At the end of the following list, you will ind a collection of the Debates in America Now. America Now collects very recent essays and articles that have been care- fully selected to encourage reading, provoke discussion, and stimulate writing.

Writen by journalists and columnists, public igures and activists, as well as by professors and students from all over the country, the selections illustrate the types of material read by millions of Ameri- cans every day. Such advertising texts allow the reader to pinpoint and discuss speciic techniques of verbal and visual persuasion that are critical in the formation of public opinion. As you respond to the read- ings in your discussion and writing, you will be actively taking part in some of the major controversies of our time.

Selections within a unit usually illustrate the most commonly held opinions on a topic so that readers will get a reasonably good sense of how the issue has been framed and the public discourse and debate it has generated. Be assured that questions following every selection will encourage you to analyze and critically challenge whatever opinion or perspective is expressed in that selection. Participation is the key to this collection.

I encourage you to view reading and writing as a form of participation. If you do these things, you will develop three skills necessary for successful work in college and beyond: the abil- ity to read critically, to discuss topics intelligently, and to write persua- sively. A vital democracy depends on them. America Now invites you to see reading, discussion, and writing as closely related activities. As you read a selection, imagine that you have entered into a discussion with the author.

Take notes as you read. Ques- tion the selection. Challenge its point of view or its evidence. Consider how diferent economic classes or other groups are likely to respond. What is America Now? Trust your own observations and experiences. It requires a variety of essential skills: speaking, listening, thinking, and preparing. Take an active speaking role. Good discussion demands that every- one participates, not as so oten happens just a vocal few.

Many students remain detached from discussion because they are afraid to speak in a group. It helps to remember that most people will be more interested in what you say than in how you say it. Once you get over the initial fear of speaking in public, your conidence will improve with practice. Listen atentively. A good listener not only hears what someone is saying but also understands why he or she is saying it. Listening carefully also leads to good questions, and when interesting questions begin to emerge, you know good discussion has truly begun. Examine all sides of an issue. Good discussion requires that we be patient with complexity.

Diicult problems rarely have obvious and simple solutions, nor can they be easily summarized in popular slo- gans. Complex issues demand to be turned over in our minds so that we can see them from a variety of angles. Group discussion broadens our perspective and deepens our insight into diicult issues and ideas. Suspend judgment. To fully explore ideas and issues, you need to be open-minded and tolerant of other opinions, even when they contra- dict your own.

Remember, a discussion is not a debate. Its primary purpose is communication, not competition. Avoid abusive or insulting language. Free and open discussion occurs only when we respect the beliefs and opinions of others. If we speak in ways that fail to show respect for difering viewpoints — if we resort to name-calling or use demeaning and malicious expressions, for example — not only do we embarrass ourselves, but we also close of the possibility for an intelligent and productive exchange of ideas. Some popular radio and television talk shows are poor models of dis- cussion: Shouting insults and engaging in hate speech are usually the last resort of those who have litle to say. Be prepared. Discussion is not merely random conversation. It demands a certain degree of preparation and focus.

To participate in class discussion, you must consider assigned topics beforehand and read whatever is required. Develop the habit of reading with pen in hand, underlining key points, and joting down questions, impres- sions, and ideas in your notebook. When your class discusses a selection, be especially atentive to what others think of it. Observe the range of opinion. Try to understand why and how people arrive at diferent conclusions. Do some seem to miss the point? Keep a record of the discussion in your notebook. What Are Opinions? One of the primary aims of America Now is to help you learn through models and instructional material how to express your opinions in a per- suasive, reasonable, civil, and productive fashion.

Where do they come from? When we say we have an opinion about something, we usually mean that we have come to a conclusion that something appears true or seems to be valid. Opinion does not imply certainty and, in fact, is accompanied by some degree of doubt and skepticism. As a result, opinions are most likely to be found in those areas of thought and discussion where our judgments are uncer- tain.

Because human beings know so few things for certain, much of what we believe, or discuss and debate, falls into various realms of probability or possibility. Journalists oten make a distinction between fact and opinion. Facts can be conirmed and veriied and therefore do not involve opinions. For example, it makes no sense to argue whether Washington, D. But it would be legitimate to form an opinion about whether that city is the best location for the U.

Further, simply not knowing whether something is a fact does not necessarily make it a mater of opinion. In real-life disputes, a fact is not always so readily distinguished from an opinion; people argue all the time about whether something is a fact. Debates over abortion, for example, oten hinge on biological facts about embryonic development that are themselves disputed by medical experts. An opinion almost always exists in the climate of other, conlict- ing opinions. In discourse, we refer to this overall context of competing opinions as public controversy.

Every age has its controversies. Oten the controversy is reduced to two opposing positions; for example, we are asked whether we are pro-life or pro-choice; for or against government health care; in favor of or opposed to same-sex marriage; and so on. One sure way of know- ing that something is a mater of opinion is that the public is divided on the topic. We oten experience these divisions irsthand as we mature and increasingly come into contact with those who disagree with our opinions. Some opinions are deeply held — so deeply, in fact, that those who hold them refuse to see them as opinions.

For some people on certain issues there can be no diference of opinion; they possess the Truth, and all who difer hold erroneous opinions. For example, someone may feel so certain that marriage can exist only between a man and a woman that he or she can- not acknowledge the possibility of another position. To be open and productive, public discussion depends on the capac- ity of all involved to view their own positions, no mater how cherished, as opinions that can be subject to opposition.

Of course not. In such instances, we respect the opinion of a trained physician. And even when we consult a physician, in serious maters we oten seek second and even third opinions just to be sure. Will anyone take our opinion seriously? On what authority do we base our position? What is the source of the opinion? How reliable is it? How biased? Who actually saw, heard, felt, counted, named the thing, about which you have an opinion? How Do We Form Opinions? How can we possibly have reasonable opinions on all the issues of the day? One of the strains of living in a democracy that encourages a diversity of perspectives is that every responsible citizen is expected to have informed opinions on practically every public question.

What do you think about the death penalty? About dependency on foreign oil? About the way the media cover the news? About the extent of racial dis- crimination? Certainly no one person possesses inside information or access to reliable data on every topic that becomes part of public contro- versy. Still, many people, by the time they are able to vote, have formed numerous opinions. Where do these opinions come from? Although social scientists and psychologists have been studying opinion formation for decades, the sources of opinion are multiple and constantly shiting, and individuals difer so widely in experience, cul- tural background, and temperament that eforts to identify and classify the various ways opinion is formed are bound to be tentative and incom- plete.

What follows is a brief, though realistic, atempt to list some of the practical ways that Americans come by the opinions they hold. Inherited opinions. For example, young people may identify themselves as either Democrats or Republicans because of their family ailiations. Although these opinions may change as we mature, they are oten ingrained. Involuntary opinions.

Brainwashing is an extreme example of how one acquires opinions involuntarily. Adaptive opinions. Many opinions grow out of our willingness — or even eagerness — to adapt to the prevailing views of particular groups, subgroups, or institutions to which we belong or desire to belong. Moreover, acting out of self-interest, people oten adapt their opinions to conform to the views of bosses or authority igures, or they prefer to succumb to peer pressure rather than oppose it.

An employee inds himself accepting or agreeing with an opinion because a job or career depends on it; a student may adapt her opinions to suit those of a professor in the hope of receiving a beter grade; a professor may tailor his opinions in conformity with the prevailing beliefs of col- leagues. Adaptive opinions are oten weakly held and readily changed, depending on circumstances. But over time they can become habitual and turn into convictions. Concealed opinions. Linked opinions. Many opinions are closely linked to other opin- ions. Unlike adaptive opinions, which are usually stimulated by conve- nience and an incentive to conform, these are opinions we derive from an enthusiastic and dedicated ailiation with certain groups, institu- tions, or parties.

In other words, once we accept opinions A and B, we are more likely to accept C and D, and so on down the chain. Considered opinions. Wide reading on a subject and exposure to diverse views help ensure that our opinions are based on solid information and tested against compet- ing opinions. One simple way to judge whether your opinion is care- fully thought out is to list your reasons for holding it. Some people who express opinions on a topic are not able to ofer a single reason for why they have those opinions. Nor are the sources and types above mutually exclusive; the opinions of any individual may derive from all six sources or represent a mixture of several. As you learn to express your opinions efectively, you will ind it useful to question yourself about the origins and development of those opinions.

By tracing the process that led to the formation of our present opinions, we can beter understand ourselves — our convictions, our inconsistencies, our biases, and our blind spots. From Discussion to Writing As this book amply demonstrates, we live in a world of conlicting opinions. Each of us over time has inherited, adopted, and gradually formed many opinions on a variety of topics. Of course, there are also a good number of public issues or questions about which we have not formed opinions or have undecided atitudes.

In many public debates, members have unequal shares at stake. Some public questions personally afect us more than others. But whether you take a particular interest in a given topic or not, this book invites you to share in the spirit of public controversy. Many students, once introduced to the opposing sides of a debate or the multiple positions taken toward a public issue, will begin to take a closer look at the merits of diferent opinions.

Ater all, we are all part of the public, and to a certain extent all questions afect us: Ask the eighteen-year-old if he or she will be equipped to deal with the medical and inancial needs of elderly par- ents, and an issue that appears to afect only those near retirement will seem much closer to home. As mentioned earlier, America Now is designed to stimulate discus- sion and writing grounded in response to a variety of public issues.

A key to using this book is to think about discussion and writing not as separate activities but as interrelated processes. In discussion, we hear other opin- ions and formulate our own; in writing, we express our opinions in the context of other opinions. Both discussion and writing require articu- lation and deliberation. Both require an aptitude for listening carefully to others. Discussion stimulates writing, and writing in turn stimulates further discussion. Group discussion stimulates and enhances your writing in several important ways. First, it supplies you with ideas. One of your classmates mentions some of the problems a mixed ethnic background can cause. But suppose you also come from a mixed background, and when you think about it, you believe that your mixed heri- tage has given you more advantages than disadvantages.

Hearing her view- point may inspire you to express your difering perspective on the issue. Your perspective could lead to an interesting personal essay. Suppose you now start writing that essay. Discussion has already given you a few good leads. You can begin your paper by explaining that some people view a divided ethnic identity as a psychological burden. You can then explain your own perspective on this topic. Of course, you will need to give several examples showing why a mixed background has been an advantage for you. Whatever the topic, your writing will beneit from reading and dis- cussion, activities that will give your essays a clear purpose or goal. In that way, your papers will resemble the selections found in this book: hey will be a response to the opinions, atitudes, experiences, issues, ideas, and proposals that inform current public discourse.

America Now consists entirely of such writing. I hope you will read the selections with enjoyment, discuss the issues with an open mind, and write about the topics with purpose and enthusiasm. The Practice of Writing Suppose you wanted to learn to play the guitar. What would you do irst? Would you run to the library and read a lot of books on music? Would you then read some instructional books on guitar playing? Might you try to memorize all the chord positions? Ater all that, if someone handed you an electric guitar, would you immediately be able to play like Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton?

You probably would start out by strumming the guitar, geting the feel of it, trying to pick out something familiar. You probably would want to take lessons from some- one who knows how to play. And you would practice, practice, practice. Every now and then your instruction book would come in handy. It would give you basic information on frets, notes, and chord positions, for example. You might need to refer to that information constantly in the beginning. But knowing the chords is not the same as knowing how to manipulate your ingers correctly to produce the right sounds.

You need to be able to play the chords, not just know them. Learning to read and write well is not that much diferent. Even though instructional books can give you a great deal of advice and infor- mation, the only way anyone really learns to read and write is through constant practice. If we did, we would all be good at just about everything. We want to pick up the instrument and sound like a professional in ten minutes. We would never have to go through the slow process of consulting a dictionary whenever we stum- bled across an unfamiliar word. But, unfortunately, life is not so easy. To succeed at anything worthwhile requires patience and dedication. Watch a young igure skater trying to perfect her skills and you will see patience and dedication at work; or watch an accident victim learning how to maneuver a wheelchair so that he can begin again an independent existence; or observe a new American struggling to learn English.

None of these skills are quickly or easily acquired. Like building a vocabulary, they all take time and efort. And they require something even more important: the willingness to make mistakes. Can someone learn to skate without taking a spill? Or learn a new language without mispronouncing a word? One part of the writing process may seem more diicult than others — correct English. Yes, nearly all of what you read will be writen in rela- tively correct English.

Even skilled professional writers make mistakes that require correction. Suppose you went to a vegetable stand and asked for a pound of peppers and the storekeeper gave you a half pound but charged you for a full one. In all cultures, languages — especially writen languages — have gradually developed certain general rules and principles to make communication as clear and eicient as possible. Writing as a Public activity 13 You probably already have a guidebook or handbook that systemati- cally sets out certain rules of English grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Like our guitar instruction book, these handbooks serve a very practi- cal purpose. Most writers — even experienced authors — need to con- sult them periodically. Beginning writers may need to rely on them far more regularly. Writing is an activity, a process. Learning how to do it — like learn- ing to ride a bike or prepare a tasty stew — requires doing it. Correct English is not something that comes irst. As in any activity, correc- tions are part of the learning process. You drat a paper about the neighborhood you live in, and as you or a classmate or instructor read it over, you notice that certain words and expressions could stand some improvement. And step by step, sentence by sentence, you begin to write beter.

Writing as a Public Activity Many people have the wrong idea about writing. A few poets, novelists, and essayists do write in total isolation and search deep inside themselves for thoughts and stories. But most writers have far more contact with public life. Nearly all the selections in this book illustrate this type of writing. As you work on your own papers, remember that writing is very much a public activity. It proved to be an enabling experience.

Writing is oten a response to public events. Most of the articles you encounter every day in newspapers and magazines respond directly to timely or important issues and ideas, topics that people are currently talk- ing about. Writers report on these topics, supply information about them, and discuss and debate the difering viewpoints. In fact, all of the topics were chosen because they emerged so frequently in college newspapers. She knows that it is a serious issue, and she is aware that a wide variety of opinions have been expressed about it. She has not read everything on the subject but usually knows enough about the diferent arguments to state her own position or atitude persuasively. In fact, what helps make her writing persuasive is that she takes into account the opinions of others.

Her own essay, then, becomes a part of the continuing debate and discussion, one that you in turn may want to join. Such issues are not only maters for formal and impersonal debate. Many of the selec- tions in this book show how writers participate in the discussion of issues by drawing on their experiences. You will ind that nearly every unit of America Now contains a selection that illustrates how you can use your personal experiences to discuss and debate a public issue.

Writing is public in yet another way. Practically all published writ- ing is reviewed, edited, and re-edited by diferent people before it goes to press. By the time you see the article in a magazine, it has gone through numerous read- ings and probably quite a few revisions. Although the article is credited to a particular author, it was no doubt read and worked on by others who helped with suggestions and improvements. How to Support Opinions In everyday life, we express many opinions, ranging from as the chapters in this collection indicate weighty issues such as race relations or the envi- ronment to personal maters such as our Facebook proile. In conversa- tion, we oten express our opinions as assertions.

An assertion is merely an opinionated claim — usually of our likes or dislikes, agreements or disagreements — that is not supported by evidence or reasons. When entering public discussion and debate, we have an obligation to support our opinions. Experts and authority. You support the view that your state needs tougher drunk driving laws by citing statistics that show that fatalities from drunk driving have increased 20 percent in the past two years; you support the claim that Americans now prefer smaller, more fuel-eicient cars by citing surveys that reveal a 30 percent drop in SUV and truck sales over the past six months.

You support your opinion that magazine advertising is becoming increasingly pornographic by describing several recent instances from diferent periodicals; you defend your claim that women can be top-ranked chess players by identifying several women who are. Note that when using examples to prove your point, you will almost always require several; one example will seldom convince anyone. Personal experience. Although you may not be an expert or author- ity in any area, your personal experience can count as evidence in support of an opinion. Such personal knowledge, assuming it is not false or exaggerated, would plausibly support your position. Many reporters back up their coverage with their eyewitness testimony. Possible consequences.

You defend an opinion that space explo- ration is necessary by arguing that it could lead to the discovery of much-needed new energy resources; you support an opinion that expanding the rights of gun ownership is a mistake by arguing that it will result in more crime and gun-related deaths. Note that providing support for an opinion does not automatically make it true or valid; someone will invariably coun- ter your expert with an opposing expert, discover conlicting statistical data, produce counterexamples, or ofer personal testimony that contradicts your own.

Our discussion on public issues is largely framed by these ailiations, as well as by the big political parties Republicans and Democrats and the smaller ones Tea Party, Green, and others that are formed to advance the causes of those ailiations in government. But for the most part, the distinctions revolve around two key questions: What role should government play in regulating our behavior? Most Americans agree on having a representative government that is elected and can be removed and is responsible to the people. Commentators and op-ed columnists on all stretches of the spectrum more or less take this for granted. We also prety much agree that the government should intervene in our lives at times, and should be restrained at other times.

Our debates are nearly always about exactly how much the state should intervene socially and economically. In general, American liberals believe the government has a major role in regulating the economy, providing services that are available to every- one, and promoting economic equality among citizens. Liberals gravitate towards government as the economic engine, while conservatives believe that engine is the private sector. Socially, conservatives tend to believe that individuals should be held to a standard of conduct consistent with past tradition.

Many main- stream conservatives disapprove of same-sex marriage and abortion, think criminals should be punished harshly, and want religion to be a part of public life to some degree. Liberals mistrust government in the social sphere, and they tend to promote extended liberties, such as legal- ized same-sex marriage, and consider bans on abortion or severe penal- ties for drug use an invasion of personal privacy. Other points of view hover between these ideological pillars. Libertarians dislike the power of government in both the economic and social spheres.

Many libertarians go further than both mainstream liberals and conservatives, arguing for instance that drugs should be legalized and the government should not deliberately manipu- late the money supply. Opposite the libertarians are statists, believers in big government, who are economically liberal but socially conservative — this ideology is rather rare in the recent American political climate and the term is rarely used with positive connotations. Centrists, on the other hand, are common but diicult to analyze. For instance, a centrist position on gun control might be that government should be allowed to ban assault and automatic weapons, but individuals should have the right to keep handguns. Many centrists feel that the economy should shit to be more equitable, but very gradually.

Centrists are not, of course, lethargic or dispassionate in their beliefs — their beliefs are simply in the middle. Politicians who are called moderate Democrats or moderate Republicans tend to be centrists. Recently, progressives have oten atacked mainstream liberal positions, and a number of politicians now call themselves progressives instead of liberals. Populists, meanwhile, believe in the power of the people collectively, and desire the outcome that provides the most beneit to the most peo- ple. However, populists are typically antagonistic to government itself, which they believe to be part of a privileged elite. Despite the many ideologies in the American political landscape, conversation is most oten framed by the division between the two major political parties.

It is oversimpliied to say that Democrats are liberals and Republicans are conservatives, but it is a convenient place to start. Recently, the Tea Party has made a signiicant impact with an ideology that focuses on eco- nomic libertarianism. Analysts debate whether Tea Party members are just conservative Republicans most elected Tea Party oicials actually run as Republicans or a libertarian party.

Some progressives and populists vote for the Green Party, which emphasizes the environment but also advocates for high taxes on the rich and wealth redistribution. Some issues, however, throw the Republican-conservative-Democratic- liberal equation of entirely. Not knowing any beter, one might imagine Democrats would approve more of foreign wars, which cost money, create government jobs, and enhance the power of the govern- ment.

However, those wars have, until recently, found more support from Republicans. In response to these complications, many sociologists have devel- oped a more geographical approach to the origin of American opin- ion. In these areas, religion, gun culture, and the military are traditional forces of social cohesion, perhaps explaining some of the anomalies listed above. Liberals, on the other hand, are far more heavily concentrated in cit- ies, where they are close to their neighbors, rely more heavily on gov- ernment services like police and sanitation, and have more contact with people on all parts of the economic ladder. Writing for the Classroom: Two Annotated Student Essays he following student essays perfectly characterize the kind of writing that America Now features and examines.

Writen by Kati Mather, a stu- dent at Wheaton College in Massachusets, and Erika Gallion, a student at Ashland University in Ohio, the essays will provide you with a conve- nient and efective model of how to express an opinion on a public issue in a concise and convincing manner. In fact, each essay was especially commissioned to perform a double service: to show a writer clearly expressing opinions on a timely topic that personally maters to her and, at the same time, demonstrate how arguments can be shaped to advance the possibility of further discussion instead of ending it.

In addi- tion, the second example shows how opinions can be expressed with ref- erences to reading and research. Each essay is annotated to help you focus on some of the most efec- tive means of expressing an opinion. First, read through each essay and consider the points the writer is making. It is an analytical process you should begin to put into practice on your own as you read and explore the many issues in this collection. A detailed explanation of the highlighted passages fol- lows each selection. In her argument that Americans have grown so predisposed to a college education that they dismiss other forms of education as inferior, Mather shows how this common atitude can lead to unfair stereotypes. Her essay cites no formal evidence or outside sources — no research, studies, quota- tions, other opinions, or assigned readings.

Instead, she relies on her own educational experience and the conclusions she draws from it to support her position. When I was 1 Opens with per- younger, higher education was not a particular dream of sonal perspective mine, but I understood that it was the expected path. Education is important, but I believe our common expectations — that everyone can and should go to college, and that a college education is necessary to succeed — and the stigmas atached to those who forgo higher education, are false and unfair.

In the past, only certain fortunate people could atain 2 a college education. But over time, America modernized its approach to education, beginning with compulsory high 2 school atendance in most states, and then evolving into Establishes main point early a system with numerous options for higher learning. In our frenzy to adhere to the American dream, which means, among other things, that everyone is entitled to an educa- tion, the schooling system has become too focused on the social expectations that come with a college education. It is normally considered to be the gateway to higher income and an upwardly mobile career. But we would all be beter served if the system were instead focused on learning, and on what learning means to the individual.

It is admirable that we are commited to education in 3 this country, but not everyone should be expected to take the college track. Vocational education, for instance, seems to be increasingly a thing of the past, which is regretable because careers that do not require a college degree are as vital as those that do. If vocational schooling were more widely presented as an option — and one that everyone should take the time to consider — we would not be so quick to stereotype those who do not atend traditional academic institutions. Specialized labor such as construc- 3 Supports main tion, plumbing, and automobile repair are crucial to a point healthy, functioning society.

Despite the developments in our educational system that 4 make college more accessible, inancial constraints exist for many — as do family pressures and expectations, intellectual limitations, and a host of other obstacles. I did not stop to consider their situations, or that they might simply be on a diferent path in life than I was. Looking back, it was unfair to stereotype others in this way. Many of them are hard-working and fulilled individu- als today. Many famous actors, musicians, artists, and professional athletes will freely 4 admit that they never inished high school or college, and Provides examples of alternatives to these are people we admire, who could very well be making college more money in a year than an entire graduating class com- bined.

But banking on a paying career in the arts or sports is not a safe bet, which is why it is so important to open all practical avenues to young people and to respect the choices they make. We should focus on this diversity instead of perpetuat- 5 ing the belief that everyone should pursue a formal col- lege education and that those who do not are somehow inadequate. As a student myself, I will readily admit that a college education plays an important role in a successful life.

Writing is one of the most useful skills taught in college because writen communication is necessary in so many diferent aspects of life. I hope that my college education will lead to success and 6 upward mobility in my career. But I can also allow that, once out of college, most students want to ind a job that relates to their studies. In these hard times, however, that may not always be the case. I know from my own experience that other jobs — including those that do not require a college education — can be meaningful to anyone with the will to work and contribute. Writing for the classroom 23 he widespread belief that everyone must go to college 7 to be a success, and that everyone can go to college, is not wholly true.

Of course, many people will beneit greatly from 6 Closes by summa- a quality education, and a quality education is more accessi- rizing position ble today than ever before. But college is not the only option. We can all disprove stereotypes. While I will not deny that my education has helped me along my chosen path, I irmly believe that, had I taken a diferent one, it too would have enabled me to make a valu- able contribution to our society. Opens with personal perspective. Mather begins her essay with an efective opening sentence that at once identiies her background and establishes the personal tone and perspective she will take through- out.

As a reader, you may want to consider how this per- spective afects your response to arguments against atending college; for example, would you be more persuaded if the same argument had been advanced by someone who decided against a college education? Establishes main point early. Mather states the main point of her essay at the end of paragraph 1. Supports main point. Although Mather does not ofer sta- tistical evidence supporting her assumption that a college education is today considered a necessity, she backs up that belief with a brief history of how the increasing accessibility of higher education in the United States has evolved to the point that a college degree now appears to be a universal entitlement.

Provides examples of alternatives to college. In paragraph 3, Mather introduces the subject of vocational education as an alternative to college. In paragraph 4, she acknowledges how she personally failed to consider the diferent situ- ations and options faced by other students from her high school class. Ofers balanced view of alternatives. In paragraph 5, Mather shows that she is atempting to take a balanced view of various educa- tional options.

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